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Decisions on the care and treatment of patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner having considered the needs of their patient and relevant clinical guidelines.

The Endometriosis Care Pathway has been developed for NHS Scotland and adapted from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The pathway aims to support healthcare professionals to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. Both the Pathway and NICE guidance recommend clinicians consider the patient’s circumstances including their age, symptoms, priorities and emotional needs. They also include advice on, referral to a paediatric and adolescent gynaecology service, or paediatric service, depending on local service provision. Clinicians may refer to NICE and ESHRE guidelines when following the endometriosis care pathway.

Following changes to the NICE guidance a review of the pathway will be part of the 2025-26 workplan for the CfSD Gynaecology Specialty Delivery Group.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis can access the best possible care and support. That is why endometriosis is a priority in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Lipoedema are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

The Scottish Government has recently conducted a public consultation on a new long term conditions framework to better recognise the fact that many people living with long term conditions need the same types of support and care, regardless of their condition. Analysis of the consultation responses is underway and will inform the development of the subsequent framework.

The Scottish Government has provided £80,000 of funding to the charity Talk Lipodema to enhance the development of the self-management course, ‘Living Well with Lipoedema’. This funding also enabled the charity to improve the resources available for the public and health care practitioners increasing awareness about the condition and providing practical resources, including a ‘Making a Diagnosis’ film.

The Women's Health Platform on NHS Inform has been developed to help girls and women find reliable and accessible health information. It includes a page on lipoedema with information about the condition, treatment and self-management options.

Decisions on the care and treatment of patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner having considered the needs of their patient and relevant clinical guidelines.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines in March 2022 which stated that the current available evidence on the safety and efficacy of liposuction for chronic lipoedema was inadequate and that more research was required.

In an update on August 2025, NICE stated it is aware of the LIPLEG trial taking place in Germany and confirmed that a review of the current guidance will be undertaken following the publication of the trial results.

Regulation of artificial intelligence is a reserved matter, and the Scottish Government continues to engage with the UK Government on this issue. We understand that the UK Government is preparing to introduce new legislation related to AI, and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that Scotland’s interests are represented.

While we do not have plans to introduce legislation specifically aimed at preventing job losses due to AI, we are focused on mitigating potential impacts through proactive measures. This includes investment in AI literacy and skills development to ensure that individuals and communities are equipped to adapt to technological change.

There is no mandatory curriculum in Scotland and the Scottish Government does not prescribe the content of lessons taught within Scottish schools. The Curriculum for Excellence framework allows teachers to plan and deliver learning which meets the needs of learners at every age and stage. This includes delivering learning and teaching on first aid.

There are a range of "experiences and outcomes", which outline expectations for learning and progression in the curriculum in Scottish schools. The section on Physical Wellbeing includes the statement, ‘I know and can demonstrate how to keep myself and others safe and how to respond in a range of emergency situations.’ This means both first aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) can be taught as a part of the curriculum in Scotland. Resources used in schools include the Save a Life for Scotland approach, which provides training and advice on taking account of any healthcare needs of particular pupils. The Scottish Primary School First Aid Programme, launched by St Andrew’s First Aid, also provides free and easy online access for primary teachers to download and teach first aid in their class.

The Scottish Government has committed to launching the AI Scotland programme, announced in the Programme for Government in May, to lead the development of a refreshed national AI plan. This builds on the current AI Strategy, which concludes in 2026.

AI Scotland will be a national transformation programme aimed at accelerating AI adoption and innovation across sectors. It is being delivered through close collaboration between business, academia, government, and public agencies.

The refresh process is currently underway. Further updates will be shared publicly as new commitments and deliverables are finalised under the AI Scotland programme.

The Online Safety Act (OSA) is a reserved matter, and enforcement falls under the remit of Ofcom, which is developing codes of practice and guidance for platform providers. These include requirements for platforms to implement age assurance systems to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.

We continue to monitor developments in online safety regulation and work with UK counterparts to ensure that children and young people in Scotland are protected online.

The Scottish Government remains committed to making free school meals available for all children in primary schools, saving families taking those meals approximately £450 per child, per year.

Currently all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to Secondary 6 can already benefit from free school meals during term-time in Scotland. This policy saves families taking those meals approximately £450 per child, per year.

We are focused on delivering the latest phase of our free school meal expansion programme, taking a targeted approach to support those children most in need in Primary 6 and 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. This phase began in February of this year. In addition, our test of change policy offering free school meals to pupils in secondaries 1 to 3 whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment will run at selected schools across 8 local authority areas from August 2025 to July 2026.

In order to maximise uptake of free school meals, we have established data sharing arrangements between local authorities and Social Security Scotland. The Social Security Information-sharing (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 were approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament on 30 April 2025 and the legislation came in effect on 19 May 2025. This arrangement enables those eligible pupils to be identified more quickly, therefore allowing them to benefit from the offer of free school meals.

The Scottish Government recognises the concerns raised by residents living near major transport corridors, including the M90, regarding environmental impacts such as excessive noise and dust.

We recognise transport noise is a concern, can be distressing, and has an impact on health and well being, and we are committed to working collaboratively in partnership with others to manage this.

As part of the fourth round of noise mapping for Scotland, under the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006, the Scottish Government have recently completed modelling and mapping to identify key areas impacted by noise exposure in Scotland. This will inform the development of the Transport Noise Action Plan (TNAP) 2025 to 2029.

You mentioned the M90 motorway specifically in your correspondence. Analysis undertaken to date, in preparation for the new TNAP 2025 to 2029, suggests no significant noise impacts have been identified on or around the M90. Where specific noise impacts are identified anywhere on the trunk road network Transport Scotland will review these, and, where appropriate, will apply noise management interventions on a prioritised basis during existing maintenance and improvement programmes where reasonably practicable.

The TNAP will be published for public consultation in due course, and the document will be available on the Scottish Government Consultation Citizen’s Space website, at https://consult.gov.scot/, and on the Transport Scotland Consultation Page at https://www.transport.gov.scot/consultations.

All projects and maintenance works on the trunk road network are robustly assessed for their potential environmental impact. This ensures legislative requirements are met, best practices are implemented, and environmental effects are minimised.

In relation to managing dust, our Operating Companies, sweep our motorways at regular intervals, using water-assisted dust sweepers, to ensure dust is minimised.

The delivery of the McCloud Remedy is the key priority for the SPPA, balancing the significant and complex work associated with delivery alongside routine administration.

The scale of challenge that SPPA has faced in delivering the McCloud Remedy cannot be overstated and is one shared by other public sector pension scheme managers across the UK. Although progress is being made, SPPA took the difficult decision to extend the target date of 31 July 2025 for delivery to retired officers to the end of 2025.

This did not constitute a regulatory breach as the extension was made in accordance with the legislation. The SPPA CEO has discussed the decision with both the Pensions Regulator and the Scottish Police Pension Board, and SPPA has written to the remaining members directly to ensure they are kept informed.

SPPA has invested time and personnel to address this broader exercise and has introduced new automated processes that will begin to deliver at pace. SPPA has already delivered approximately 98% of RSS to serving officers and 85% of RSS to retired officers. The remaining cases are more complex, and will take longer to complete manually as they cannot yet be produced through automated processes.