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As of May 2025, all Territorial Boards had begun implementation of the national digital dermatology pathway with 64% of GP practices across Scotland having access to the system. Boards are currently finalising optimisation plans to ensure images are included in new dermatology referrals and to embed image-led photo-triage within their dermatology service.

There is no update at the moment on progress. The Scottish Government will be writing to the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland very soon with details of what should be covered in the Order. Officials will keep people interested in the Order updated.

COPFS understands the impact that the loss of a loved one can have on bereaved families.

The Procurator Fiscal will investigate every death reported to us thoroughly and independently to establish what happened and consider whether criminal proceedings or a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) would be appropriate.

It is a strength of the Scottish system, which reflects a common European model, that death investigations are undertaken by a public prosecutor. That investigation may, depending on the circumstances, disclose a basis for criminal proceedings.

More than 13,000 deaths are reported to COPFS each year. In 2024-25, 98% of deaths where no investigation was required were closed within 6 weeks and 71% where further investigation was required were concluded within 12 weeks.

COPFS has significantly reformed its processes in recent years to improve the quality of death investigations and reduce the time taken to investigate deaths and bring FAIs to court. We are committed to identifying further improvements that can be made. A Death Investigations Improvement Board has been established to oversee all ongoing pieces of work and new proposals to achieve greater public confidence, improve the service delivered to bereaved relatives and reduce the journey time for concluding investigations.

COPFS rely on pathology providers as the medical experts to determine the nature and extent of the examination required to establish a cause of death.

COPFS would support any proposals where evidence is provided that a particular approach would fully meet the requirements of our investigation in a timely and cost-effective manner, whilst reducing distress to families from the post mortem examination process.

The potential further use of CT scanners has formed part of regular discussions with the current pathology providers. From May 2025, Glasgow University Pathology and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board will undertake a service development pilot to investigate the potential benefits of incorporating CT scanning in Procurator Fiscal-instructed post mortem examinations taking place at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Mortuary in Glasgow. The findings of the pilot will be considered by COPFS as part of its future planning.

“Best Start, the strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026” outlines four key priorities that will move us closer to achieving our vision that, through access to rich and nurturing early learning and school age childcare experiences, children, families, and their communities are enabled to reach their full potential and the poverty-related outcomes gap narrows.

Priority 3 is “Ensuring that the delivery of our priorities is supported by a sustainable, diverse and thriving sector and profession”. We recognise that we cannot deliver positive outcomes for children and families without a sustainable, diverse and thriving childcare sector. For that reason, we have taken forward actions including:

• making Fair Work central to the 1140 expansion to date - our investment to support sustainable rates and the ELC real Living Wage has already led to increases in pay across private and third sector providers;
• developing a range of new resources and learning signposting tools for the childcare workforce, including a new continuous professional learning portal and a new National Induction Resource;
• working with local government and our partners in the sector to develop long-term workforce plans that address workforce issues and ensure sustainable delivery of the 1140 funded entitlement;
• allocating over £8 million in 2024-25 to Skills Development Scotland to deliver Modern Apprenticeships in childcare;
• providing funding for 100 childcare professionals to study for Masters qualifications each year at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Aberdeen; and
• investing in the Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future, launched in June 2024 and backed by more than £1.6 million in 2025-26.

The Skills Development Scotland Sectoral Skills Assessment Childcare Report 2024 contains both a mid-term (2024-2027) and long term (2024 – 2034) future demand forecast for the childcare sector. In both forecasts, employment growth in the childcare sector is predicted to continue and with a larger percentage growth than is forecast overall across Scotland. However, the forecasts also suggest that recruitment will remain challenging in the sector.

The proportion of people working as managers in daycare of children’s services is 6.8% (as at 25 April 2025, according to Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) snapshot figures).

Registration requirements set by the SSSC specify that lead practitioners and managers must hold, or be working towards, a qualification at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Level 9 or above, such as the BA in Childhood Practice or the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Social Services (Children and Young People) at Level 9. These qualifications are designed to support leadership, strategic planning and the delivery of high-quality early learning experiences. While not all members of the ELC workforce are expected to attain this level of qualification, it is a key requirement for those in leadership roles.

The following table compares data on managerial qualifications from 2017 to 2025. It shows that, as of March 2025, there were 3,157 managers registered with the SSSC in daycare of children services. Of these, 1,931 individuals (61.17%) had met their qualification condition and therefore held an SCQF Level 9 qualification or above. This represents a notable increase from April 2017, when only 763 managers (29.26%) had done so. Staff have three years in which to complete their Level 9 qualification.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any such analysis. However, research undertaken by Public Health Scotland shows that the best experiences for children are found where professionals hold higher-level qualifications specific to early childhood, or those with a background in early years methodology, and where there is a range of staff with complementary skills in settings.

The Scottish Government recognises that the single most important driver of the quality of a child’s early learning and childcare(ELC) experience is a highly skilled, highly qualified workforce.

The Scottish Social Services Council published their ‘Have Your Say’ Workforce Wellbeing Survey 2025 report on 22 April 2025. The survey aims to capture the experiences of people working in the social work, social care and children and young people workforce, to inform the development of national policies and strategies on how best to support the workforce, and to inform national workforce planning. We are considering the findings of the report carefully with partners.

I have been considering the Mother and Baby Unit Options Appraisal from NHS National Services Scotland. This has been impacted by financial restrictions, which have limited capital spending on new developments in Boards.

As those pressures may begin to ease somewhat, the Scottish Government would hope that the Options Appraisal could be published in coming months.