Chamber and committees

Scottish Government is fully aware of the recommendations contained within Public Health Scotland's report into Alcohol Brief Interventions.

The SG response will be incorporated into work currently being done to develop an alcohol specific actions as part of the broader planning being done to design the future direction of alcohol and drug treatment in Scotland following the end of the current National Mission which ends in 2026.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill sets out Scottish Government’s assumptions on the likely impact of a Building Safety Levy in Scotland.

New build house sales make up just 9% of all Scottish residential sales in 2024-25. This, in addition to the existence of the secondary market for housing, means that residential housing developers do not have significant price setting power over the market as a whole. The Scottish Government’s assessment is, therefore, that the likelihood of the costs of the Levy leading to increased house prices is low.

With limited scope for developers to pass through the cost of the levy onto house buyers, the more likely scenario is that developers will seek to pass on the costs of the Levy on through paying a lower price for the land to be developed. This reflects evidence from the Competition and Markets Authority and the Scottish Land Commission, and was underlined in feedback provided by stakeholders as part of the consultation and engagement undertaken prior to the introduction of the Bill.

The Scottish Government is working hard to crack down on scammers and deliver better support for those targeted by scams.

We provided funding of £500,000 in 2021-22 to various members of Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy Group to carry out targeted scams prevention and awareness work.

Our supported work includes the roll out by Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) of nearly 1,000 free call blocking devices to vulnerable individuals who were most at risk from scammers and rogue traders. The Scottish Government has also supported a project carried out by Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) to enhance the referral pathways available for connecting victims of scams to appropriate sources of support, and has provided separate funding to ADS to raise awareness of romance and companionship scams.

Since 2023, Consumer Scotland, which is funded by the Scottish Government, has been working with consumer organisations such as TSS to fund scams awareness campaigns, including the yearly Shut Out Scammers campaign. In April 2025, Consumer Scotland formally assumed responsibility for scams prevention and awareness work, supported by £175,000 of funding for this financial year.

The Scottish Government also funds the national consumer helpline, delivered by ADS and contactable at consumer advice or on 0808 164 6000. Suspicious activity can be reported to ADS or, where appropriate, to Police Scotland by calling 101.

Treatment outcomes for people on medication assisted treatment are recorded on the Drugs and Alcohol Information System.

Public Health Scotland uses its DAISy system as the basis for many regular reports.

The Scottish Government holds no information on long term recovery outcomes.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care. More than £106 million additional funding has been allocated to Health Boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations, including more than £5 million targeted funding for General Surgery (the speciality that covers hernia operations).

The decision to offer home dialysis to patients is primarily a matter for NHS Boards. As set out in my answer to S6W-38515 on 17 June 2025, NHS Boards are required to develop plans to address racialised healthcare inequalities.

Last year, we agreed a national policy to reimburse patients for the additional electricity costs of home dialysis so that patients are not exposed to the impact of high energy prices. It also removes the financial disincentive to making a choice for home dialysis over in-centre treatments, allowing personal choice in where and how to receive treatment.

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 recognises that while Scotland is ranked among the top OECD countries and top performing UK regions in Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) spend as a percentage of GDP, Scotland’s Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) spend as a share of GDP is below the OECD average. While Scotland outperforms the EU27 average, the Scottish Government published its National Innovation Strategy in 2023 to increase innovation levels across Scotland, including business R&D spending.

The ten year strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world and will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength such as: energy transition; health and life sciences; advanced manufacturing; and the application of data and digital technologies. Specifically, the strategy’s commercialisation programme will support our world-class universities to consistently and effectively convert cutting edge research and technologies into scaling companies.

Scotland’s Innovation Strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world. We will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength.

Scotland’s Enterprise agencies; Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, support Scotland’s businesses to innovate and develop new products and services through several programmes including SMART:SCOTLAND grants.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has recently launched a competitive £2.9 million proof of concept fund to support researchers from Scotland’s universities develop innovative ideas into new products and services.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times data mart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, for patients who have completed their wait the procedures that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after they were admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national data mart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

More detailed information on the procedures that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS boards.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Chronic Kidney Disease are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We are running our public consultation on the Long Term Conditions Framework from 23 April to 20 July 2025. This is available at Health: Long Term Conditions Framework - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space.

We will take the results of the consultation into account when developing the framework which will include identifying areas where targeted condition-specific action will still be needed.

Detailed requirements were outlined by Scottish Government in DL23 (2024) providing guidance on the development of NHS Board Anti-Racism plans was issued to Health Boards on 9 September 2024. This guidance requires Health Board Anti-racism plans to focus on equity within the guidance to Health Boards and emphasises an anti-racism approach in addressing racialised healthcare inequalities.

The guidance challenges specific priorities, and aims to support aligned local and national actions, to tackle racialised health inequalities. By implementing these strategies and initiatives, the Scottish Government aims to create a more accessible, equitable, and patient-centred healthcare system for all, including Black and Minority Ethnic communities in Scotland.