Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains committed to its vision for an integrated and community-based hearing service in Scotland. However, in considering the future direction for the audiology sector, it is right that we move forward in step with the work of the Independent Review of Audiology and this – together with the wider financial and strategic context in which we are currently operating – has necessitated the re-phasing of our commitment on community hearing. We will continue to meet with Professional Bodies, NHS services, third sector, private providers and individuals with lived experience to help inform decision-making as our work progresses.

The 2025-26 Budget provides record funding of £21 billion for health and social care - with NHS boards receiving an additional £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. Ear, Nose and Throat will be an important part of this work, with over £9 million being allocated as part of this funding.

In addition, NHS Boards have been proactive in addressing waiting times by releasing additional appointments and reducing their failed to attend rate.

There has also been substantial work to redesign patient pathways and Specialist Audiologists/Diagnosticians now handle referrals traditionally made through Ear Nose and Throat. This practice not only reduces Board costs for unnecessary medic time and expertise, but also directs the patient to the correct speciality and reduces the number of appointments needed overall.

Health and safety legislation applies to all employers across the UK without exception and is a reserved matter under the authority of the UK Parliament.

It is an employer’s duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff and where death or injuries at work occur, there are a range of reserved offences which can be used to hold employers to account, if they are found to be criminally liable.

The Health and Safety Executive states one factor that Scotland’s higher workplace death rate is in part due to more workers in high-risk industries.

The Scottish Government promotes workplace health and safety through its Fair Work policy and supports initiatives like Healthy Working Lives, a Public Health Scotland programme offering resources and training to improve workplace wellbeing.

The Mental Welfare Commission publishes percentage of all place of safety orders under 18 but not the numbers.

In addition, the Commission does not publish numbers that small: as a rule it suppresses any figures equal to and under 5 and in some cases it uses secondary suppression to ensure that there is no statistical disclosure.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36648 on 29 April 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.

In line with the Labour Party Motion, it is for Scottish Enterprise to decide the scope, timescale, and terms of reference of the review. The Scottish Government has remained in close contact with Scottish Enterprise on this work, exchanging relevant advice and views.

The Safe Delivery of Care in acute settings maternity inspections were introduced to ensure that all service users in maternity services receive the highest standard of care, as well as to identify opportunities for learning for all NHS Boards. NHS Boards are expected to address the requirements identified by Healthcare Improvement Scotland during inspections as a priority and within the timescales set out in their Improvement Action Plan. We expect that all NHS Boards will consider the findings in these reports and my officials continue to work with maternity service leaders to ensure that the findings are communicated effectively and to identify any national level actions required to improve care.

We remain committed to continuous improvement in maternity services across Scotland. As part of this, we have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop a set of maternity standards designed to drive improvements in care at a local level, expected to publish in Spring 2026. In parallel, our Scottish Patient Safety Perinatal Improvement Programme continues to work with maternity services across Scotland to drive improvements in care for mothers and babies.

As part of our’ Best Start’ Programme we published the new Pathway of Maternity Care in February 2025. This Pathway illustrates compassionate, individualised, person-centred core maternity care that all women and their babies should receive.

The number of public service vehicles, passenger journeys, and distance travelled by local bus services are published each year within Transport Scotland's Scottish Transport Statistics publication. The most recent version of the bus tables can be found at https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/ea2pp3vv/sts-chapter-02-bus-and-coach-travel-reference-tables-accessible.xls.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of bus services. This information is held by the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, with the most recent figures included in the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain Annual Report 2023-24 available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-annual-report-2023-to-2024.

The Scottish Government’s supplementary Financial Memorandum, to reflect the scaled-back care reform proposals for the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, was published on the Health, Social Care & Sport Committee’s website on 25 March 2025.

The treatment and disposal of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) is the responsibility of those who collect this material – local authorities and private businesses.

However, as part of the Government-commission report published in October 2024 ("Landfill Ban Assurance Study"), commentary was provided on residual waste markets external to Scotland and their "capability to contribute towards managing any capacity deficit in Scotland from 2026".

Officials continue to work with waste sector partners, including local authorities on these matters.

The Scottish Government understand the importance of sport and physical activity and the positive impact that it has on the physical, mental, and social health of people in Scotland. We value the role that hockey plays in encouraging participation in sport, particularly for women and girls.

sportscotland, our national agency for sport, has provided Scottish Hockey with a direct investment of £815,175 in the current financial year to help support a wide range of activity that encourages and supports people to participate in hockey, including club, coaching, and performance sport.

In 2024-2025 sportscotland also provided additional investment of £296,506 into the sport of hockey through their athlete personal award programme, Direct Club Investment (DCI), Sports Facility Fund (SFF), support services, Awards for All investment, and expert resource.

In addition, sportscotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools network. Active Schools aims to provide more and higher quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime and after school, and to develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community. In the 2022-23 academic year, hockey was the tenth most popular Active Schools activity (sixth for girls), with over 114,000 visits to around 5,500 Active Schools hockey sessions