Seòmar agus comataidhean

Implementation of Sections 14 and 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 enable ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the legislation by ensuring systematic data collection and public reporting. If the draft SSI is approved by Parliament when it is laid following the current consultation period, these reporting requirements will enable a deepening of the understanding of the impact of implementing the sex characteristic legislation, while also supporting meaningful engagement with communities to assess how commencement will affect them.

Further, we will continue to monitor our wider activity to tackle hate crime as set out in the terms of reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group which is chaired by the Minister for Victims and Community Safety.

Social Security Scotland has delivered a range of communications activity warning older people about phishing scams, including fraudulent text messages that claim to be from government departments. The activity includes regular content across multiple social media platforms, the organisation’s website and coverage in newspapers to help keep people informed.

From 2014 data on Audiology service waits was included as part of the 18 weeks referral to treatment waiting time data Public Health Scotland (PHS) publication. In March this year, PHS communicated that as part of their ongoing work to ensure their suite of statistical publications meets user needs, they decided to pause the 18 weeks RTT national data collection, analysis and publication. The 18th March 2025 publication was the last planned publication.

It is important to note that PHS will continue to publish comprehensive statistics on waiting times which will help demonstrate the impact of the additional funding to reduce waiting times. By pausing the 18 week RTT statistics, PHS will be able to shift resources towards developing statistics on the number of 8 key diagnostic tests carried out per quarter. This change in focus is needed for the public to understand how we are progressing with our commitment for 150,000 extra appointments, diagnostics and treatment in 2025-26.

Given the importance of audiology, as part of the Scottish Government’s implementation of the Service Renewal Framework consideration is being given as to how to strengthen visibility and accountability on audiology waiting times to ensure planning of services reflects actual need and supports equitable access. This has been prioritised as part of the first year work programme of SRF implementation.

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We continue scope the work required to improve Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways nationally, understanding that a stepped care model is needed to reduce waiting times for adult neurodevelopmental assessments and ensure a consistent approach to them across Scotland.

We continue to fund NHS Education for Scotland and NAIT to deliver professional learning on neurodevelopmental conditions. Training is offered at informed, enhanced, specialist, and expert levels, with strong uptake across all tiers.

Given the short amount of time left in this Parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Misogyny Bill to be finalised and introduced. This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply. This would include the policy implications of the recent Supreme Court judgment.

We want new legal protections for women and girls to be in place, and the hate crime model presents an opportunity to do so. On Thursday, 28 August 2025, we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that work is needed to improve the quality of data on neurodevelopmental support and services, including a better understanding of current levels of need and the level of support people currently receive.

We are working with Health Boards and local authorities to improve our understanding of available data, and how this could be used to support improvements for adults, children and families.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-40018 on 8 September 2025, which outlines work that the Scottish Government is doing with all Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire. 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

The Scottish Government is providing further funding of £500,000 this year to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, and their families.

Further, our Autistic Adult Support Fund provides £1 million of funding per year to organisations that support autistic adults both pre- and post-diagnosis. As autism and ADHD often co-occur, adults with ADHD have benefitted and will continue to benefit from this support. A recent independent evaluation of the Fund showed that 72% of individuals and 71% of families supported via the Fund reported improved wellbeing as a result.

The Scottish Government published the Transition Care Plan (TCP) Guidance in 2018, describing the standards required in the planning of good transitions for children and young people moving to adult services. This guidance is underpinned by a rights based approach and ensures the young person is involved in discussions about their care.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification notes that the guidance should be used to ensure that transitions between children and young people’s services and other services are robust and that, wherever possible, services work together with the young person and families/carers to plan in advance for transition.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.

Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients. A recommendation from a private specialist for a particular medicine does not entitle the patient to NHS prescriptions for that medicine.

The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. This guidance is available to practitioners and patients.