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The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to develop a standard post-diagnostic support pathway for ADHD. The National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People sets out the standards for all services to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs, including ADHD. The Scottish Government is also working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways.

In addition, local authorities have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act (Scotland) 2004 to identify, provide for and review the additional needs of their pupils. Under the Act an additional support need can arise for any reason and a diagnosis of ADHD is not required before support is put in place.

The Scottish Government is clear that support should be put in place to meet a child’s requirements when they need it. This includes community-based supports and where additional support is needed for learning. However, we recognise that in the case of ADHD, medication can be helpful, and a diagnosis is required to access this. We are working with Boards to ensure that children, young people and adults can access diagnostic services in a timely manner.

I recognise that there has been a significant increase in children and adults seeking ADHD assessments across Scotland, and that this is creating challenges for a range of services.

The Scottish Government is working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways, building on the pilots we funded in four NHS Board areas and the subsequent learning and recommendations.

We are also continuing to work with NHS Health Boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and local authorities to support implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. We have recently undertaken a review of the implementation of the Specification and established a new Neurodevelopment Taskforce to drive forward identified recommendations.

In addition to investment through Health Boards, we will also be providing £500,000 additional funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including for ADHD assessments. This is in addition to £250,000 provided in 2024-25, which funded a range of individual projects to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, including projects that support ADHD diagnosis.

The Minister for Public Health last met with Royal College of Ophthalmologists in July last year.

Scottish Government officials meet the College of Optometrists both bilaterally and as part of other groups/forums as and when required for policy development and implementation purposes. The next scheduled bilateral meeting with the College of Optometrists is on Friday 3 October 2025.

The loss of a baby, no matter at what stage of pregnancy is a traumatic event that can have a profound impact on families. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that women and families who have experienced a pregnancy or baby loss receive the right information, care and support tailored to their individual circumstances, this includes high quality, sensitive bereavement care and support.

For most parents who have suffered a pregnancy loss, bereavement and grief support provided by their Health Board or local third sector organisations will meet their needs and they will not require specialist mental health services.

To help ensure that this happens, we are funding the baby loss charity Sands to develop and support NHS Boards to implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) for pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland. Sands worked with health professionals, bereaved parents, other baby loss charities and Royal Colleges to develop the pathways, putting voices of bereaved parents at the heart of their development.

Additionally, the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland was published by the Scottish Government on 6 February 2025. This highlights work we are initiating to map existing mental health services available following a pregnancy and baby loss to ensure that women can access appropriate mental health support, should they require it in addition to bereavement care. This work includes considering how counselling and psychological services (including third sector organisations) could be expanded or improved to provide appropriate support for those impacted, where they don’t require more specialised NHS support.

A small number of parents experience more complicated grief and may benefit from engagement with specialist mental health services. If a parent is identified as requiring Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services in Scotland after the loss of their baby, they would typically be referred by their midwife, GP or other healthcare professional.

MNPI services in Scotland can provide specialist psychological support to parents experiencing difficulties related to pregnancy or baby loss. These services are offered by multidisciplinary teams within NHS Scotland, including clinical psychologists and specialist midwives, and aim to support the emotional well-being of individuals and families during this sensitive time.

The Scottish Government has directly allocated £123.5 million to NHS Boards and IJBs for the Enhanced Mental Health Outcomes Framework in 2025-26. This provides a single, flexible funding stream to support continued improvements and better outcomes across a range of mental health and psychological services in line with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This includes funding for adult and child neurodevelopmental services, including services providing ADHD assessments.

In addition to investment through Health Boards, we will also be providing £500,000 additional funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including for ADHD assessments. This is in addition to £250,000 of funding in 2024-25 to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, including improving access to ADHD assessments.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39413 on 6 August 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39413 on 6 August 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.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to publish national service standards for ADHD assessment, treatment and support.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People sets out the seven standards for all services to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs, including ADHD.

The Specification takes a needs-based approach to providing neurodevelopmental support. It is underpinned by principles of GIRFEC and intended to be delivered by all children’s services partners through a multi-agency approach.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

However, we acknowledge 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.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to publish a national ADHD strategy.

However, the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill consulted on proposals to introduce a National Strategy for Learning Disabilities and Neurodivergence, supported by local strategies and/or local delivery plans and underpinned by Statutory Guidance. Proposals also included requirements for regular reviews of both national and local strategies, the involvement of lived experience in the development of these strategies and an accountability mechanism to measure effectiveness of strategies.

We have been committed to taking a human rights-based approach to this legislation. This means that the consultation was fully co-designed with people with lived experience via the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).

The public consultation closed on 21 April 2024 and received nearly 900 responses during the four months that it was open. This demonstrates the relevance and importance of this legislation for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government is continuing work to develop the proposals for the LDAN Bill, and is committed to publishing draft provisions. As before, we will work in partnership with the LEAP members whose support has been invaluable, and the LEAP will be at the heart of our process. In addition, we will meet with individual organisations with an interest whenever that is helpful.