Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not know at this juncture, what the rolling out of Jess’s Rule will require in terms of implementation either by GPs or NHS England or what the impact will be for patients. We will monitor the implementation by NHS England.

We recognise the distress and pain that migraines cause and we take the issue of migraine seriously.

The Scottish Government funded £221,176 to the Migraine Trust across 2022-2024 to work upskilling community, primary and secondary care pharmacists across NHS Grampian to help people with migraine manage their condition more effectively. This included funding to partner other health boards to extend the reach of this model and increase care and support for people living with migraine.

An eLearning programme for NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) platform TURAS was developed through the project, comprising a suite of training materials available for all pharmacists and pharmacy teams in Scotland to access.

We are currently working with all NHS Health Boards to identify investment priorities across Scotland, that includes NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Historic real terms cuts to our block grant from the UK Government have put pressure on our capital budget and we have only recently received clarity from the UK Treasury for our capital and FT funding up to 2029-30.

As part of our own Scottish Spending Review, we are undertaking a full review of our capital spending to prioritise available funding towards projects that drive progress against our priorities. We will provide clarity over which projects will receive funding in the medium term when we publish this review, alongside our new Infrastructure Pipeline.

If a person is diagnosed with endometriosis, the Scottish Government wants them to be treated as close to home as clinically appropriate. Most individuals can be managed by a gynaecologist with expertise and training in endometriosis within secondary care.

Specialist endometriosis centres in Scotland provide coordinated, multidisciplinary treatment to women who have complex symptoms of endometriosis and to those who need complex surgery. Patients who meet the criteria of the specialist centres should be fully supported to access these services.

Patient travel expenses reimbursement schemes provide financial assistance for patients and authorised escorts travelling to hospital appointments, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. The Scottish Government provides guidance to NHS Boards, which are responsible for developing and applying their own policies and reimbursement rates, ensuring patient care and safety.

The next phase of the Women’s Health Plan is expected to be published in January 2026.

Although we are not aware of any bespoke programmes aimed at supporting graduates in immunology or pharmacology to find employment, graduates of all disciplines have access to careers support from a variety of sources.

Although the exact provision will depend on the institution, graduates from university will normally have access to the university careers service for a period of time after they graduate. This typically includes digital resources; appointments with careers advisers; assistance finding and applying for jobs; attendance at employer events; and access to webinars and workshops. Graduates are encouraged to make use of their university’s resources to help find employment in their chosen field.

In addition, careers advice and support is available to all individuals, including graduates, from Skills Development Scotland. Careers advisers are based in locations throughout Scotland and can be contacted by phone, digitally or in person at a local careers centre.

A commitment to a round-the-clock thrombectomy service was set out in our Stroke Improvement Plan and this remains our aim for the thrombectomy service.

Work is ongoing to align the governance and delivery of thrombectomy with similar national programmes. This alignment with wider health service planning aims to support oversight of thrombectomy planning, for the NHS Chief Executive Group and encourage greater collaboration between NHS Boards in delivering this vital service.

This work will inform the future expansion of the service, including angiography capacity, and will support consistency across thrombectomy services in Scotland, ensuring the service maximises use of existing resources.

Since 8 March 2025, Transport Scotland have continued to engage with the Ferries Community Board, both in relation to performance management of the new contract, and also the nature of their ongoing role post-award. This was invaluable to inform the suite of performance indicators, and the role of the Ferries Community Board has been formally embedded within the new arrangements, ensuring that the Ferries Community Board will continue to be engaged on strategic matters throughout the life of the contract.

Since 8 March 2025 officials have engaged with local authorities, including at the Roundtable event on 19 March 2025, and through the Islands Transport Forum, local area ferry groups such as the Argyll Ferry Infrastructure Group and Western Isles Ferry Group, and vessel and infrastructure project working groups, but have not discussed the detailed specification with them; whilst CMAL, as owners of the fleet, have been engaged on a number of technical matters relating to the specification.

Well managed productive forestry plantations, along with native woodlands managed for habitat conservation, all provide environmental benefits. The Forestry Grant Scheme has committed £183.8m of support for woodland creation and sustainable forest management since 2021-22. £69.8m of this funding has supported solely native woodland creation and management, with the remaining £114m spent on activities supporting woodland creation and sustainable forest management across both native and productive woodlands. This includes sums on deer management, which takes place across both native and productive woodlands.

Transport Scotland engaged with a number of partners on the development of the specification. This included sharing the draft specification with CalMac Ferries Ltd, in addition to discussing specific elements with CMAL, to ensure that operational and technical issues were appropriately addressed to reflect current practice.

Some elements of the specification were also shared and discussed with the Ferries Community Board, specifically regarding key performance indicators and the embedding of the Ferries Community Board in the specification. This input was invaluable to inform the suite of performance indicators, and the Ferries Community Board will continue to be engaged on strategic matters throughout the life of the contract to provide us with an independent community voice.