Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the safety of the people in Scotland under threat of being victims of transplant-related offences, including when those offences take place in other countries. The Human Tissue (Supply of Information about Transplants) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 1 July 2025, place a duty on all clinicians in Scotland to report to the UK Human Tissue Authority (1) suspicions about transplant-related crimes, that arise in the course of the clinician’s profession; and (2) information about overseas transplants. The duty applies to doctors and nurses practising in transplant and non-transplant centres across Scotland to ensure that the duty applies to all clinicians who may come across these patients.

The Regulations, which are in line with the arrangements that are in place in the rest of the UK, give clarity to clinicians in Scotland around when, and to whom, they should report relevant suspected offences in the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 or the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Guidance has been issued to clinicians about the implementation of the Regulations. The Regulations have been brought to the attention of NHS Boards and others in Scotland. Any reports that the Human Tissue Authority receives will be considered and, where relevant, findings will be passed on to Police Scotland for further investigation.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has received an abbreviated submission from the marketing authorisation holder, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, for vanzacaftor–tezacaftor–deutivacaftor (Alyftrek®), for the treatment of cystic fibrosis in people aged six years and older who have at least one non-class I mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. The appraisal of Alyftrek® via this abbreviated process is ongoing, and NHS National Procurement (NP) is continuing to work with Vertex Pharmaceuticals on the commercial arrangements.

The medicine product page on the SMC’s website will be updated with the advice in due course, once published.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40546 on 24 September 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports open competitive grant and fellowship schemes for applied health research in Scotland. These schemes provide funding opportunities for research across the clinical spectrum inclusive of research relating to all types of cancers. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

Funding awarded through these schemes in the years from 2022 onwards for research relating to cancer has included:

Brain cancer

2023- £299,918

2024- £340,000

2025 - £349,033

Liver cancer

2022 - £246,841

Oesophageal cancer

2025- £349,366

Pancreatic cancer

2022 - £20,000

2024 - £207,732

2025 - £348,150

No funding has been awarded for research specifically relating to lung or stomach cancer over this period.

In addition, CSO contributes financially to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in order that NIHR research programmes are open to applications from researchers in Scotland. These programmes also provide research funding opportunities for cancer research.

CSO also provides funding to support NHS Research Scotland infrastructure, enabling NHS Boards to host and participate in clinical studies and trials funded by public, charitable, and industry sectors. This includes dedicated support for a Cancer Research Network, which facilitates the setup and delivery of cancer studies across Scotland. Annual funding for this network is approximately £1 million encompassing both the NHS Research Scotland Cancer Research Network and the CSO’s contribution to the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMCs) in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The ECMCs are jointly funded on a 50:50 basis with Cancer Research UK.

(a) The Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team’s (AWET) role is to ensure compliance with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order, which sets out minimum pay and conditions for workers in the sector. The Order does not specifically cover the standard of accommodation but during wages inspections workers are given the opportunity to raise any concerns associated with their employment. If a worker raises any accommodation concerns, this information would be recorded and passed on to the relevant authority. In the last three calendar years, no migrant workers have raised accommodation concerns as part of an inspection.

(b) No outcomes arose as no migrant workers reported accommodation concerns to the AWET.

Responsibility for monitoring and enforcing standards of tied or seasonal worker accommodation rests with local authorities, primarily through their environmental health and housing functions. For migrant workers, the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme’s (SWV) guidance states that any housing or other concerns should be reported to their Scheme Operators (SOs), as they have a duty to ensure workers are housed in hygienic and safe accommodation that is in a good state of repair. All migrant workers receive this guidance in their induction pack. In addition, all SOs provide a confidential helpline through which workers can report their concerns.

As a condition of their licence, SOs are responsible for the welfare of workers, which includes ensuring that accommodation provided is safe, suitable and hygienic.

The Scottish Government takes matters of building safety seriously. While building owners have responsibility for their properties, the matter of Large Panel System buildings has been considered by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety and discussed within the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum. This Forum has been established to ensure that potential building safety issues are identified and shared amongst those who may have an interest, to allow them to take action where necessary.

Owners are advised to engage appropriate expert consultants to advise them using the authoritative guidance on Large Panel Systems from the Building Research Establishment and the Institution of Structural Engineers

Scotland does not have a legislative provision for safety certification of Large Panel System buildings. Local authorities in Scotland have statutory powers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to address buildings that pose a risk to public safety due to structural instability or other hazards.

Owners of LPS buildings can use the long established guidance from the Building Research Establishment to assess and manage their property and can use information from The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) website: An update about Large Panel System (LPS) - The Institution of Structural Engineers.

Delivery of ASN continues to be a joint endeavour with Local Authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education and responsibility to identify, provide for and review the needs of their pupils, including those with dyslexia.

I can confirm that the joint letter with COSLA, outlining key polices, best practice and available resources on support for dyslexia in Scottish schools is due to be issued shortly to all Education Authorities.

It will issue in the context of record investment in ASL - over £1bn was spent by local authorities in 2023-24. We have continued to invest £15m each year since 2020 to help schools respond to the individual needs of children and young people and the 2025-26 budget sets out a further £29m of additional investment for ASN.

In June 2023, as Minister for Higher Education, Further Education & Minister for Veterans, I was gifted a framed piece of ceramic artwork of the Hotel de Ville from the Mayor of Arras. The value of the gift was estimated to be in the region of £80 of which was declared on my proactive release entry available on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-june-2023/

In May 2025, I also received a limited edition (2/20) Nicolaus Widerberg lithograph – liberation convoy from Dag Lee CEO, the Chairman and Board Member Entrepreneurial VC and PE Investor. The value of the gift was estimated to be in the region of £340 of which will be declared on my proactive release entry for May 2025 due to be published late September.

Gifts under the value of £140 are not recorded by the Scottish Government or published. However, on this occasion the gift from June 2023 was recorded and published.

As Minister for Higher Education, Further Education & Minister for Veterans, I was gifted a framed piece of ceramic artwork in June 2023 and a lithograph in May 2025. The framed ceramic artwork was included in my proactive release entry for June 2023, and the lithograph will be included in the May 2025 release, which is due to be published in late September. These can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/