Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00484 on 8 June 2026. 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.

This year's Budget included £36 million for the walk-in pilot programme.

The Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for, and regularly review support to enable each learner to benefit fully from education, including those who are neurodiverse. Education authorities can ask other agencies (including Social Work Services, Health Boards and Skills Development Scotland) for help in carrying out their duties under the Act. Education authorities and schools take a needs-led rather than diagnosis-led approach. The recommendations of the McManus Review, which will include a new National Staged Intervention model, will inform this new administration’s approach to ASL.

To support parents and carers, young people and children, the Scottish Government funds Enquire, the national advice and information service on additional support for learning, as well as My Rights My Say which supports children aged 12 and over, to access advice and to exercise their rights. Education Scotland provides free professional learning resources and information for educators to better understand and support children and young people who may have or have been diagnosed with Autism/ADHD.

We will engage constructively with all relevant stakeholders to support considered and informed discussion on this policy, and to ensure effective implementation that delivers on our core aim of making the weekly shop more affordable.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00342 on 5 June 2026. 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.

All pharmacies in Great Britain, including those providing on-line services, must be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and meet their standards for registered pharmacies. These standards cover areas such as governance arrangements, safeguarding, environment and conditions, service delivery, premises and equipment. Not meeting the GPhC’s standards could result in them taking enforcement action and investigating the fitness to practise of all the pharmacy professionals involved.

In addition, in Scotland Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) regulates independent, on-line services, and as part of its role provides information to the public on how to keep safe when getting medicines or treatment online. Unfortunately many prescription medicines obtained online originate from outside the UK and are not regulated by the GPhC, HIS or other UK regulatory authorities. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has overall responsibility for medicine safety, regulation and licensing and the Scottish Government works in close partnership with them to raise awareness of the risk of buying prescription-only medicines online without consulting a suitable NHS healthcare professional.

Specifically in schools, children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents as part of Curriculum for Excellence and the Scottish Government is working with the MHRA and Education Scotland to strengthen medicines safety information in the Scottish curriculum. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that students can engage with student support, wellbeing and/or learning support services.

Scottish Ministers will be considering options with the Scottish Ambulance Service to increase the availability of this service across Scotland, this will be informed by an evaluation of the current three sites funded by the Scottish Government in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee. We expect the evaluation to be available by the end of summer 2026.

There are a number of public sector reform programmes currently underway in justice, including Summary Case Management (SCM) and the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability to reduce police time spent at court. The national rollout of SCM across all sheriffdoms was completed in January 2026. A report published in May 2026 estimates that, during the rollout period, over 100,000 fewer police officers were cited to give evidence. These reforms are improving efficiency across the system by reducing unnecessary trials, minimising witness citations, and helping to address court backlogs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00342 on 5 June 2026. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00472 on 8 June 2026. 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.

Qualifications Scotland is a Non-Departmental Public Body and acts as a data controller in relation to the personal data it processes, including exam candidates’ access to their marker comments.

The Scottish Government expects all public authorities to comply with their statutory duties under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.