Chamber and committees

Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP) sets out our vision for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people affected by respiratory conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease.

There is also a significant respiratory work programme managed by the Respiratory Speciality Delivery Group within NHS Golden Jubilee. They have pathways under development for severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. ILD will continue to be considered within any new respiratory programmes.

Our new Prescribing Guideline set out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care and we also have national workstreams focusing on access to pulmonary rehabilitation and smoking cessation.

We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and assessing the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

We work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the current programmes for improving respiratory care remain relevant and make an impact. We will continue to monitor progress through various groups, including via our third sector partners, to determine next steps for implementing the Plan.

Improved access to diagnostic tests remains a wider commitment for the Scottish Government and we are working closely with Primary Care colleagues to determine ways to improve spirometry.

The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group to support the work of the UK National Screening Committee Lung Task Group and inform the implementation of a targeted lung cancer screening programme for Scotland.

Introducing a new screening programme such as Chest and Lung CT scanning is inherently complex, and the required evidence and information must be fully developed before implementation begins. This is likely to take several years for each UK nation.

The Scottish Government-funded LungScot study, led by the University of Edinburgh, provided further information on the feasibility of lung screening and the influences of sociodemographic and other patient characteristics. The Scottish Expert Advisory Group is incorporating these findings into their business case which will inform the next steps towards implementation.

The Circular Economy & Waste Route Map to 2030 provides a framework to tackle the environmental impact of priority products, and take a targeted, coordinated approach to managing materials across the waste hierarchy. This approach recognises the variation in emissions or environmental impact of production, consumption or waste management of different materials and products.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on officer and police staff absences due to sickness or other physical or mental ill health reasons. The recording of staffing absences are a matter for the Chief Constable under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Chief Constable’s commitment to police officers and staff wellbeing. Police Scotland provide access to a range of services including, a 24/7 employee assistance programme and direct access to occupational health services to support officers and police staff’s physical and mental wellbeing.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on how many operational frontline officers are deployed in divisions. Police workforce data collection are a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland publish officer number data each quarter which includes information on the total number of officers in each policing division. These can be found on the Police Scotland website at: Police Scotland Officer Numbers - Police Scotland.

The information requested is complex and not held centrally.

All information on prescribed and dispensed items are published and categorised by the British National Formulary chapter, in both monthly open data files and as part of the annual Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis which was last released on 8 October 2024. This can be accessed on the Public Health Scotland website at Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Financial year 2023 to 2024 - Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

We will invest £2 million next year financial year to help local authorities unlock barriers, develop a targeted approach and embed empty homes work across their services to bring more privately owned empty homes back into use through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership project. This builds on our track record of bringing more than 11,000 privately owned homes back into use as warm, safe and secure housing since 2010.

In the absence of powers over employment legislation, through our flagship Fair Work First approach, the Scottish Government is applying Fair Work First criteria to public sector grants, other funding, and contracts where relevant and proportionate to do so, driving up minimum standards in fair work practices across the labour market. It is for individual funders and buyers to monitor delivery of Fair Work First criteria through their funding and contracting arrangements.

No specific assessment has been undertaken of the uptake of the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s (a) offshore oil and gas, (b) offshore wind, and (c) maritime industries.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertake an evaluation of Fair Work First in 2025-26, working with the Fair Work Convention and engaging key stakeholders, including the STUC, to understand how effectively this policy is being delivered and what more can be done to strengthen the approach.

As shown in Scottish Water’s Long Term Strategy which was published on 4 February 2025, resolving water deficits is a matter for everyone not simply Scottish Water. At 180 litres per person per day Scotland has one of the highest rates of water consumption, compared to 125 litres in Germany and 105 litres in Denmark. As set out in its Strategy, it is important that Scottish Water continues to reduce rates of leakage, support demand reduction by customers and invest in new water sources and water treatment works.

Scottish Water will publish its draft business plan for the 2027-33 period this summer which will set out prioritised investment proposals to reduce the number of zones in deficit and secure supplies for customers. Each zone is unique and will have its own set of measures to put in place to secure supplies for customers.