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There are currently no plans to introduce direct dermatology referral pathways from community optometry and pharmacy.

Our Digital Dermatology programme has provided GPs across Scotland with access to a new app which allows them to securely use their own mobile device to attach an image to a dermatology referral. This has the potential to significantly reduce the dermatology waiting list by diverting 50% of patients each year either back to their GP with advice or direct to treatment through the creation of a digital triage process in secondary care.

The provision of opioid-substitution treatment in prisons is a matter for local services. The Scottish Government notes that the transition from prison to the community is a high-risk event in a recovery journey and welcomes moves to join up prison health services with the support available in local communities.

Through the National Naloxone Programme, we work in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service, NHS Boards and third sector partners to ensure Naloxone is routinely offered prior to liberation. The number of take-home naloxone kits issued by SPS is published quarterly by Public Health Scotland through the programme’s Quarterly Monitoring Bulletin, which provides data to track trends, compare outcomes over time, and assess the impact of the programme on preventing overdose deaths.

Further integration across services and consistent data collection are essential to fully assess the impacts on post-release relapse and re-offending rates.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that Scotland’s prison estate is safe, secure, and fit for purpose. In 2025-26, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) was allocated £355m of capital funding to enable them to progress the major projects HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow, as well as wider estate maintenance.

HMP Highland, which will replace HMP Inverness, is expected to be completed in 2026. HMP Glasgow, which will replace HMP Barlinnie, is expected to be completed by 2028. The wider maintenance programme encompasses a range of activities aimed at ensuring the continued safety, functionality, and efficiency of the physical estate, including asset replacement, building fabric maintenance, surveys and condition assessments and compliance and safety works, with varying time-scales for delivery.

Future capital funding for the Scottish Prison Service is being considered as part of the annual budget process and the Scottish Spending Review, due to be published alongside the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.

The fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas is reserved to the UK Government.

We have continued to call on UK Government to listen carefully to concerns being expressed by businesses around the impacts of its Energy Profits Levy, this was repeated by the Deputy First Minister at Offshore Europe on 2 September.

We are now awaiting the UK Government’s consultation response, which must clearly set out how a stable and long-term fiscal regime will be used to deliver business and investor certainty for the North Sea. The EPL was always supposed to be a temporary measure and we must see the earliest possible end date, as it is now affecting investment and jobs in the North East.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials engage with UK Government, including HMT Treasury counterparts and a wide range of stakeholders when considering all of these issues and will continue to do so.

The establishment of the National Social Work Agency is underway. It will be an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and will be established by Spring 2026. The Agency will be created from within existing budgets and will not add any additional cost to the public purse. Future budgets will be subject to annual budget process.

The provision and procurement of uniforms and equipment is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. The Frontline focus review of tools of the trade Report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, (HMICS),identified a number of areas where Police Scotland can make improvements, including in the provision of uniforms. Police Scotland has stated its intention to take account of this review and listen to its officers and staff, to ensure they get the uniform and kit they need to deliver for communities.

The Scottish Government’s record £1.64 billion investment in policing is helping equip officers with modern tools like body worn video, ensuring they have the right resources to keep communities safe.

The Scottish Expert Advisory Group on Lung Screening have produced an initial evaluation of costs, which estimated the annual cost of a national screening programme at between £29 million and £39 million. The lower and upper estimates of this cost are dependent on factors such as screening uptake, which impact the total cost of scans and required staffing. The UK National Screening Committee, as part of its considerations of whether to recommend lung cancer, considered a cost effectiveness analysis alongside other evidence for lung screening.

Treatment of individuals with lung cancer is complex, and the type of treatment received by patients, such as surgery or chemotherapy, will vary by type of cancer and stage. It is therefore not possible to provide specific treatment costs for lung cancer in Scotland.

The establishment of the National Social Work Agency is underway. It will be an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and will be established by Spring 2026. Plans and engagement on office locations are underway, in consultation with staff and the unions and will be finalised over the coming months.

Our flagship Childsmile programme has supported a reduction in child oral health inequality over the long term, with the latest National Dental Inspection Programme results showing that the gap between P1 children with no obvious tooth decay living in the most and least deprived areas, is at its lowest on record – decreasing from 32.2 percentage points in 2010 to 23.5 percentage points in 2024.

However we know there is more to do. We continue to invest in our flagship Childsmile programme, which offers universal oral health interventions including supervised toothbrushing, fluoride varnish application and dietary advice to children and young people in nurseries, early years schooling and in dental practices - with targeted interventions for children living in the most deprived areas.

Since 2022-23 we have provided additional annual funding of £1.85m to NHS Boards to scale up delivery of the Programme, including through the recruitment of additional Dental Health Support Workers who work directly with more vulnerable communities.

The Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act 2023 introduced the ability for the Scottish Ministers to instruct the early release of specified groups of prisoners where is it "necessary and proportionate" to do so in response to the effects an emergency situation is having or is likely to have on a prison or prisons generally, to protect the security and good order of prisons, or to protect the safety and wellbeing of prisoners and staff.

This allows the Scottish Ministers to take action that would support the safe operation of our prison system during an emergency, and to protect the safety of prison staff and prisoners. This would never be an action that we would take lightly, and the emergency early release power would only be used if it was considered absolutely necessary and proportionate to do so, in line with the legislation.

The Victim Notification Scheme is the means by which victims can indicate that they wish to be informed of information regarding the release of a specific prisoner.