Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41890 on 1 December 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

NatureScot has developed the aims, objectives and desired outcomes for the £100k funded initiative to be made available to Local Authorities. NatureScot intend to have a first engagement with Local Authorities before the end of December 2025.

Where vaccinations are administered by Health Board teams, GPs can establish whether a patient has been vaccinated by consulting the information held within their existing systems. Local variation also exists, with some Health Boards operating additional systems to meet local needs. The most accurate information on these arrangements should be sought directly from NHS Highland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce regulations to prevent breeders, trainers or owners of greyhounds in Scotland taking their dogs to race in England. While we will be proposing some amendments to the Greyhound Racing (Offences) (Scotland) Bill, we would not support an amendment that would introduce such a prohibition.

The UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill (the Bill), if passed, will introduce new restrictions on age of sale for all nicotine products and the advertising, sponsorship, free distribution and nominal pricing of vaping products and nicotine products across the 4 nations.

New powers in the Bill will also empower the Secretary of State to regulate (amongst other things) product features, packaging, ingredients and flavourings in relation to vaping products and nicotine products across the UK, with the consent of Scottish Ministers. The Bill will extend the Tobacco and Vapes retailer register in Scotland to cover all nicotine products and it will give the Scottish Ministers the power to impose restrictions in relation to the display of nicotine products in shops.

In the interim we continue to work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) to support enforcement of existing legislation, including checks on sales of tobacco and vapes to under 18s, and advice to business. This is a key component in the Scottish Government’s Tobacco and Vaping Framework and helps ensure that young people’s access to harmful age-restricted products is minimised.

An update on implementation timescales for the Bill will be provided following Royal Assent.

We are aware of the concerns that have been raised about access to specialist interventions, such as lidocaine infusions, pain relief injections and radio-frequency denervation treatments, and we are committed to ensuring that decisions about these treatments are made transparently and fairly.

To support this, the Scottish Health Technologies Group is conducting an independent review of the safety and effectiveness of a range of specialist interventions for chronic non-malignant pain in adults, including lidocaine infusions and radio-frequency denervation treatments.

The findings of this review, expected in January 2026, will ensure that decisions on access to these interventions are guided by the best available clinical evidence and shaped by the experiences of people living with chronic pain. This includes an assessment of the risks and benefits of each of those treatments.

We encourage anyone with chronic pain using any of these treatments to speak with a healthcare professional before stopping treatment. They will be best placed to provide specific advice, support and recommend any alternative treatments should this be deemed clinically necessary.

In 2025-26, we have provided a record £21.7 billion for health and social care and there is no additional ringfenced funding being made available for NHS chronic pain specialist clinics.

We are investing £200 million across the health and social care system to increase capacity and reduce backlogs. For chronic pain services, this investment will support Health Boards to create additional appointments and strengthen the flow of patients through the system, helping more people to be seen more quickly.

The Scottish Government provides the resources and sets out the overall strategic direction for NHS Scotland. It is the responsibility of NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally to best determine how they allocate the resources we have provided to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations.

We are committed to rapidly improving care and services for people with chronic pain by delivering the actions in the Supporting documents - Pain management - service delivery framework: implementation plan - gov.scot at the pace that is required.

A dedicated short-life working group on workforce planning has been established to review current provision of chronic pain services and consider what future models and capacity are required to ensure services are sustainable. This group is due to present their recommendations in the new year.

The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS Health Boards are required to provide the Scottish Government with Complaints and Feedback Annual reports and complaints statistics on an annual basis, and these are published by Public Health Scotland. There are specific indicators that Boards must use when reporting their statistics, including total numbers of complaints received and closed, outcomes and timescales for completion. Complaints and Feedback Annual reports must cover, learning from complaints, complaints process experience and staff awareness and training. However, these do not include the specific themes areas requested about which complaints are made.

The most recent publication, which also includes links to each Board’s Complaints and Feedback Annual reports, was in January 2025 for the reporting year 2023/24 and can be found at the following link: Annual report on NHS complaints - 2023 to 2024 - Annual report on NHS complaints - Publications - Public Health Scotland.