Chamber and committees

Under the new model, neonatal intensive care will be delivered in three Neonatal Units in Scotland, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

Of the 44,835 births in the year to 31 March 2024, numbers fluctuate, but Public Health Scotland data reports that around 4554 babies, in the same period, were admitted to neonatal care. The vast majority of babies (around 2300) needed Special Care or Transitional Care (delivered on postnatal wards). A further 1,200 needed High Dependency care, and around 800 were admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care. Around 50 – 60 of these babies a year will be affected by the change in model of care and will have their care delivered in one of the three neonatal intensive care units.

Babies will normally be cared for in the unit closest to home. In the north of Scotland, the Aberdeen neonatal unit already cares for babies from Grampian, Highland and the Island Boards, and at times of extreme pressure on neonatal intensive care, may also care for babies from other parts of Scotland.

Under the new model the smallest and sickest Tayside babies would be transferred to Aberdeen or Edinburgh. In 2024, 11 babies were born at less than 27 weeks gestation in Tayside Health Board, plus a small number of babies who require complex intensive care.

Scottish Government commissioned Consulting firm RSM UK Consulting LLP to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model. The report was published on the 29 May 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

The National Oncology Taskforce commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network to undertake an Oncology Workforce Review, completed January 2023 with a proposal for an Oncology Transformation Programme (OTP). We have mobilised the ambitious Oncology Transformation Programme and work to progress this is moving at pace. This includes consideration of workforce and training requirements, recognising that our NHS workforce is fundamental in delivering excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.

Regulations implementing international obligations in relation to public procurement permit bidders to be excluded from tender exercises in certain circumstances. This includes when the bidder can be shown to have engaged in grave professional misconduct. The Scottish Government's long-standing view is that the exploitation of assets in illegal settlements is likely to be regarded as constituting grave professional misconduct for this purpose. Any decision to exclude a bidder from a procurement process must, however, be taken on a case-by-case basis by the contracting authority awarding the contract, and must be grounded in evidence. To that end, the Minister for Business wrote to public bodies in October 2024 to inform them that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) database of companies active in listed activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory had been updated, and that this should be considered as part of due diligence processes.

As I confirmed in response to S6O-04782 on 11 June 2025, I have asked officials to advise on what further work can be done to strengthen our approach here.

All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at Official Report: search what was said in Parliament | Scottish Parliament Website

As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental public body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. The Care Inspectorate therefore issues its own guidance independently from the Scottish Government to maintain its role as an impartial and objective regulator.

As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental public body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. Therefore, it is for the Care Inspectorate, not the Scottish Government, to decide which organisations they work with.

Scottish Government holds regular discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) about Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) sites. SFRS continually review and develop their operational response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe.

SFRS is responsible for enforcing general fire safety under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, while process-related fire risks at Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) sites fall under the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) via the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Monitoring these sites is the duty holder’s responsibility.

No national impact assessment has been conducted in relation to fire risk of BESS applications and developments. Where new development proposals come forward, our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) ensures the impacts of proposals on communities and nature, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are subject to site specific assessments.

The Scottish Government is a partner in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership, which is working to ensure that all school aged children in Scotland will be given the opportunity to be equipped with CPR skills and increase defibrillator familiarisation across Scotland.

This has included delivery of Restart a Heart Day Live last year. This was a live stream CPR training event targeted at school-age children, which included information on defibrillation. The Scottish Government has committed to working with Save a Life for Scotland to support Restart a Heart Day Live again in 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested regarding CPR training in each local authority area.

Decisions on whether to install defibrillators in schools are a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government published a guide in 2018 providing advice on purchasing and installing a public access defibrillator. This can be found at the following link: Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: guide to public access defibrillators - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested regarding defibrillators in nurseries and schools.