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The Scottish Government recognises the cumulative impacts of economic shocks including COVID-19 and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis have worsened health inequalities, and understands the impact that debt and money worries can have on mental health and wellbeing across the population.

Improving health and reducing health inequalities across Scotland remains a clear ambition for the Scottish Government. It is progressing a range of work to support the health and wellbeing of people across Scotland, with a focus on supporting groups most at risk of poorer health, including women and those facing socio-economic disadvantage.

In recognition of the continued pressure on household budgets, the Scottish Government will maintain investment of over £3 billion in 2025–26 to support policies focused on tackling poverty and alleviating the rising cost of living.

The Scottish Government’s Population Health Framework, published in June, sets out a refreshed, cross-government and cross-sector approach to improving population health and tackling health inequalities, with a strong emphasis on prevention. The Framework outlines actions across the whole system to improve socio-economic conditions through improving workforce participation, strengthening financial security and increasing local economic resilience.

The Scottish Government takes a comprehensive approach to assessing the impact of the fishing industry on marine biodiversity. Consideration of marine biodiversity is embedded across a range of statutory and non statutory assessments that inform the development and implementation of new marine and fisheries policies.

Recent assessments include those conducted as part of the updated evaluation of Good Environmental Status under the UK Marine Strategy (UKMS), as well as Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020, which provides an evidence-based overview of the health of Scotland’s seas.

Further information on the UKMS assessments can be accessed at MOAT - Marine online assessment tool.

The Scottish Ministers appointed inspectors of burial, cremation, and funeral directors under section 89 of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 on 1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024. There is currently one Inspector of burial, cremation, and funeral directors.

In light of the introduction of the inspection regime set out in the Burial and Cremation (Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, a range of work is in progress to support the appointment of further Inspectors, including establishing the register provided for under regulation 3 of those Regulations, training for Inspectors and support materials for Inspectors.

Improving health and reducing health inequalities across Scotland remains a clear ambition for the Scottish Government. To help achieve this, Scottish Government is progressing a range of work to support the health and wellbeing of people across Scotland – both in local communities and online - with a focus on supporting groups most at risk of poorer health, including women and those facing socio-economic disadvantage.

The Scottish Government’s Population Health Framework, published in June, sets out a refreshed, cross-government and cross-sector approach to improving population health and tackling health inequalities, with a strong emphasis on prevention.

The Framework outlines actions across the whole system to ensure equitable access to health and care, create environments that support healthier lives, and make best use of the valuable resources within our communities and places. The actions will enable targeting of services to those who need it most, including addressing inequalities in vaccination and screening, health harming in preconception and pregnancy, and access to income maximisation pathways.

As part of this work, the Scottish Government has committed to developing a National Social Prescribing Framework for Scotland. This will set out a shared national approach, building on the success of existing models — such as the Government’s recruitment of 300 community link workers — and will aim to enhance equity of access. It will also align with wider efforts to address social isolation and loneliness including projects supported by the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

Section 93 of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 requires each Inspector to prepare and publish an annual report. The time period for each report is dependent on the appointment date of each Inspector. The current Inspector’s appointment began on 1 October 2024, and the current report is due no later than 12 months after that appointment. Once published, the report will be laid before the Scottish Parliament in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

Recent research findings on the impacts of Covid-19 on women’s mental and physical health adds to the body of evidence of the importance of taking account the specific health needs of women and girls.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering our ambition that all women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives as set out in the Supporting documents - Women's health plan - gov.scot published in 2021.

The Women’s Health Plan is a key element within a wider, ongoing programme of work to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls across Scotland.

Women are among those prioritised within the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, which has received £81 million of investment since 2021 with a further £15 million committed next year (2026-27) as part of the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding Pilot.

In addition, significant work is being taken forward across the Scottish Government and beyond on women’s health.

On 17 June 2025, the Scottish Government and COSLA co-published a ten-year Scotland's Population Health Framework - gov.scot (PHF), setting out a refreshed cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve Scotland’s population health and reduce inequalities, with a focus on prevention.

The Framework commits to actions to create environments that support people to eat a varied and balanced diet, be physically active, and limit consumption of health-harming commodities, with actions to be assessed to ensure they impact positively on women and girls.

Improving health outcomes and reducing health inequalities remains a central priority for the Scottish Government. To deliver this, Scottish Government is working closely with partners across sectors to advance women’s health and tackle the root causes of inequality—so that all women and girls in Scotland can enjoy the best possible health at every stage of their lives.

Scottish Government also recognises that child poverty and women’s poverty are inextricably linked. Meaningful progress in tackling child poverty can only be achieved by addressing the inequalities that women face. In recognition of the continued pressure on household budgets, the Scottish Government will maintain investment of over £3 billion in 2025–26 to support policies focused on tackling poverty and alleviating the rising cost of living.

As part of its commitment to addressing social and economic inequalities, Scottish Government has funded the recruitment of over 300 Community Link Workers and continues to fund Welfare Rights Advisers in more than 150 GP practices across deprived and remote communities. These advisers play a critical role in providing people with support on social security entitlements, income maximisation, and debt resolution.

Moreover, Scottish Government is driving systemic change through the Population Health Framework, co-authored with COSLA and published in June. This Framework outlines a comprehensive set of cross-sector actions aimed at improving population health, including promoting healthy behaviours, creating supportive environments, and strengthening community-based support systems.

Included within these actions, Scottish Government is improving access to income maximisation services, taking forward the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill to support local economies, and will create a National Social Prescribing Framework to help ensure individuals receive practical, social, and emotional support to enhance their wellbeing.

The Scottish Government’s Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors programme aims to reduce avoidable CVD death by 20% in 20 years.

A key principle of the programme is the approach of proportional universalism, to reduce associated health inequalities and to extend cardiovascular disease prevention efforts to those we know are at highest risk and particularly underserved by existing models of care

Further information on the Scottish CVD Risk Factors Programme can be found at:

National cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and risk factors toolkit | Right Decisions

The CVD Risk Factors programme is part of a wider suite of work that sits with the Preventative and Proactive care (PPC) programme and is referenced in the Prevention section of the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan published in March and in Scotland’s Population Health Framework 2025-2035, published in June, in the Equitable Healthcare section.

We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders and third sector organisations to implement positive change for people who experience a stroke.

The Scottish Minsters are committed to the modernisation and improvement of the regulation of burial, cremation, and funeral services. The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) provides for Ministers to make regulations in connection with burial, cremation and inspection; to issue Codes of practice; and to appoint independent Inspectors of burial, cremation and funeral directors.

Work remains ongoing towards full implementation of the Act, and in consultation with a range of stakeholders Ministers have already brought forward a number of regulations. In March of this year the Burial and Cremation (Inspection)(Scotland) Regulations 2025 came into force, providing Inspectors with powers of inspection and enforcement in relation to burial authorities, cremation authorities and funeral directors to ensure that such bodies comply with relevant requirements set out in the Act, the Funeral Director Code of Practice, the Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 2019, the Burial (Applications and Register) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 and the Burial (Management) (Scotland) Regulations 2025.

This inspection and enforcement regime will hold relevant bodies to account for compliance, through inspection against statutory requirements, and will provide clarity for relevant bodies and allow enforcement by Inspectors where non-compliance occurs. In addition, this will improve standards within the funeral sector in Scotland in order to protect the deceased and the public in Scotland.

We currently have a Senior Inspector of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors, whose main functions (including powers and duties) are set out in the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 Act (the 2016 Act) and regulations made under that Act. This includes the provision of an annual report detailing how they have exercised their functions as an Inspector.

In the last three years, from June 2022 to June 2025, the average monthly decrease in the number of active registrations on the Scottish Landlord Register has been 137. However, the average monthly increase in registered properties has been 304. The overall change during that period is a decrease in active registrations of 4,932 (2.1%) and an increase in properties of 10,946 (3.2%).

While these changes may point to some landlords choosing to leave the sector, the evidence suggests that their properties are remaining in the sector, or new properties are being offered for rent.

It should be noted that there are some limitations to the administrative data from the landlord register, including the time-lag in landlords deregistering properties that are no longer available to rent. These statistics should therefore be treated with some caution.