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There are no devolved elements of the UK Government’s delivery plan on ME/CFS. It covers the population of England only.

We are unable to formally endorse the Plan due to differing healthcare systems and statutory structures.

However, the 2025-26 Scottish Budget includes an additional £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME/CFS and other similar conditions. We want this money to have maximum impact and we are working closely and carefully with health boards across Scotland to allocate it as quickly and effectively as possible.

The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of NHS health boards. In commissioning boards’ plans for this funding we have stressed the importance of ensuring that services are informed by current clinical best practice, such as National Institute for Excellence in Healthcare (NICE) guidelines NG:206 and NG:188– which are available to clinicians across the UK - and that care is delivered in line with the relevant recommendations, wherever applicable.

The last review of integration arrangements, under the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, took place as part of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, with a final report published in February 2021.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) funded with other health research organisations the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership that has published priorities for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) research. In addition, CSO with other research funders have developed a toolkit for researchers to guide them on funding streams that provide opportunities for ME/CFS research. These streams include CSO’s open competitive grant and fellowship schemes that fund applied health research across a wide remit, inclusive of ME/CFS research as well as National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) programmes that can also fund ME/CFS research in Scotland with CSO’s financial contribution to NIHR opening these programmes to applications from researchers in Scotland. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

There are currently no plans to conduct a review of the 2018 Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP).

The OHIP, which was developed in close collaboration with the dental sector, remains a relevant and important cornerstone of NHS dental services policy in Scotland. Significant progress has been made on the commitments from the OHIP since its publication, including through the introduction of payment reform in November 2023.

We are committed to improving the number of NHS dentists across the country, which is why our Operational Improvement Plan sets out a package of actions to improve the NHS dental workforce, supported by new funding in 2025-26.

Within this we will support the dental workforce pipeline through both the immediate expansion of domestic dental student numbers and the development of an innovative new training package to support international dentists in joining the NHS Scotland workforce.

Since launch in 2017, over 92,000 people have now been referred to our world-leading Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme. DBI is now live in every Health and Social Care Partnership area across Scotland, providing timely support to those in distress and easing pressures on frontline services.

A breakdown of Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) referrals by NHS Board level area for the financial years 2020-21 to 2024-25 is included in the following table. This data is not held at local authority level.

Table 1 – DBI Level 2 Local Referrals Across Scotland by Health Board for Financial Years 2020-21 to 2024-25

The Scottish Government is working with Forth Valley College, UK Government, Skills Development Scotland and Petroineos to track workers affected by the closure of the Grangemouth refinery as part of our jointly funded Refinery Skills Intervention which is currently ongoing. Ministers have persistently requested this information from Petroineos but this has not been received despite the business previous commitments to do so.

Our initial evidence shows that workers are being supported into new employment in in-demand industries, including roles with Scottish Power, Forth Ports and Syngenta. However, we do not have exact figures despite asking PetroIneos to share any data on destinations they may have.

The Scottish Government is continuing to do all it can to support workers at the Grangemouth refinery through the funding of training, tailored specifically to their future career needs.

Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workers must be at the heart of a just energy transition, and the Scottish Government is supporting the workforce with the powers available to us.

In its first two years our Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray has allocated £9.7m to support a package of skills interventions, including development of the Energy Transition Skills Hub in Aberdeen, a pilot scheme with the National Energy Skills Accelerator to determine the skills required for an energy transition and support for the industry-led development of an Energy Skills Passport. More widely, we will invest a further £8.5m of capital funding through the Fund this year, on projects with a focus on jobs, skills and economic opportunities to continue to support our transition in the region.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has recently launched a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund to help support offshore workers transition to roles in sustainable energy sectors.

We have also funded, alongside the UK Government, a targeted Skills intervention for workers facing redundancy as a result of the closure of the Grangemouth refinery. While the scheme is still ongoing, workers are already successfully progressing into good quality jobs, including in low-carbon industries.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will also always offer and provide support through Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE. By providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals are affected by redundancy are out of work.

The Scottish Government fund the Gender-Based Violence and Learning Disabilities Steering Group facilitated by the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD).

The Steering Group’s Action Plan for 2024 – 2027 aims to reduce the risk of Gender-Based Violence against women and girls with learning disabilities and to improve access to support services and justice services for women and girls with learning disabilities who experience Gender-Based Violence.

Proposals are also being developed for the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill, which intend to ensure that the needs of people with learning disabilities are better identified at any point of contact in the justice system.

This includes work to ensure justice agency staff are better trained to engage appropriately with people with learning disabilities and what support, such as access to advocacy or an Appropriate Adult, is put in place to ensure meaningful involvement. Proposals for the Bill also include improvements to accessing advocacy.

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.