Chamber and committees

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine programme is having a huge impact on preventing cancers for those who have been vaccinated.

A study by PHS No cervical cancer cases detected in vaccinated women following HPV immunisation - News - Public Health Scotland shows that no cervical cancer cases have yet been detected in fully vaccinated girls who have received the first HPV vaccine dose at age 12-13 years, for those who entered the programme when it commenced in 2008. This demonstrates that HPV vaccination is a key step in preventing the development of cervical cancer and a cornerstone of the Scottish Government’s commitment to eliminating cervical cancer.

Human papillomaviruses not only cause cervical cancer, but can also cause other diseases, including anogenital, head and neck cancers and genital warts. To increase everyone’s protection against these diseases, the HPV vaccination offer was extended to all young people in 2019. HPV vaccination is also offered to gay and bisexual men in sexual health clinics.

Health Boards are working with Local Authority education partners to improve uptake of HPV and other vaccinations delivered in school settings. This includes the delivery of workshops and education sessions by vaccination teams to deepen both pupils’ and teachers’ understanding of the benefits of vaccination.

PHS, Health Boards and third sector partners work collaboratively to increase vaccination uptake, support those eligible for vaccination and address any inequalities through the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) Inequalities and Inclusion Group.

The Scottish Government is grateful to Professor David Weller for his work on the LungScot study, which has provided valuable evidence and insights into identifying individuals at high risk of lung cancer. The findings of the study informed the work of the Scottish Expert Advisory Group for lung screening, of which Professor Weller was a valued member.

We acknowledge the importance and benefits of early diagnosis of lung screening, and recognise that evidence shows that lung screening can save lives. It is on this basis that we have announced a pilot for targeted lung screening in our Population Health Framework, published in June this year, as part of the work towards a phased roll out of a national targeted lung screening programme.

Following the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation for a targeted lung cancer screening program, the Scottish Government established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group for lung screening to provide advice on the scoping, implementation, establishment and delivery of a targeted lung cancer screening programme within Scotland.

The group concluded that due to the complexities of rolling out a lung screening programme, which were also recognised by the UK NSC, it will take 7-10 years for a full programme to be implemented. Complexities include establishing necessary resources and infrastructure; developing a robust diagnostic pathway; and understanding the implications for wider health services, for example, as a result of incidental findings.

In our Population Health Plan, published in June, the Scottish Government announced a lung screening pilot, which will be developed by Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland (SOAS). SOAS will also prepare for a phased implementation of targeted lung cancer screening.

I will launch the Bus Infrastructure Fund in the coming weeks and will publish details once they have been finalised. In the meantime, my officials are in discussion with those voluntary Bus Partnerships that have submitted proposals to the fund. They also keeping COSLA, the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers and the Confederation of Passenger Transport updated.

Statistics on people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts, by main charge, are published as Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. This includes people with a main charge of a bail-related offence. However, it is not possible to definitively link these offences to the original case where bail conditions were breached and therefore we cannot determine whether they represented a domestic abuse offence.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering sustainable public services that continue to meet the needs of the people of Scotland. As set out in our Public Service Reform Strategy: Delivering for Scotland (June 2025), our approach to achieving £1 billion in annualised savings over the next five years is founded on improving efficiency, reducing duplication, and reforming how services are delivered — not on cutting frontline provision.

We are clear that this is not about reducing service provision or transferring services out of public hands. Rather, it is about ensuring that public services are delivered more effectively and efficiently. The strategy outlines a range of systemic reforms to secure these savings, including expanding shared services, simplifying the delivery landscape, scaling intelligent automation, and implementing digital solutions.

We have already delivered cash releasing and cash avoiding savings via our Single Scottish Estate, National Collaborative Procurement, Commercial Value for Money and digital programmes, which are securing cost avoiding and cash releasing savings. The programmes saved just over £320m over a two-year period to the end of 2024-25 , with further projected savings of nearly £300m over the following two financial years to the end of 2026-27.

We are committed to working closely with public bodies to drive this focus on system wide efficiency and are working towards an operational summit this year to drive that collaborative approach.

Statistics on people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts, by main charge, are published as Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. The most recent data held by Criminal Proceedings in Scotland is for the year 2022-23. However, Criminal Proceedings in Scotland do not hold data on individuals arrested therefore we cannot determine if a condition or undertaking was breached from an original domestic abuse offence.

Information on average waiting times for psychological services specifically following (a) pregnancy loss, (b) stillbirth, and (c) neonatal death is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Psychological services are delivered by NHS Boards. Boards report their overall performance against the 18 week referral to treatment standard, and this data, published quarterly by Public Health Scotland, does not include the reason for referral at this level of detail.

We continue to work with all NHS Boards to improve access to mental health and psychological services, including specific support for perinatal mental health and bereavement.

The operational guidance used to keep firefighters safe is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Currently every frontline fire appliance has 4 sets of Breathing Apparatus (BA), 2 of which have integrated radio communication. SFRS will shortly be procuring BA sets to an upgraded standard and all of these will have integrated communication as standard.

The operational guidance used to keep firefighters safe is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Firefighters in Scotland do not currently have wearable tracking devices to record their heart and breathing rates. SFRS is exploring whether the specification for replacement Breathing Apparatus can monitor breathing rates as part of the integrated communication capability.