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We expect NHS Boards to follow the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) specification, which includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service.

Some of these services are likely to be community based and we continue to invest £15 million per annum in funding to these supports, which will continue through the local government finance settlement from 2025-26. Local authorities report that nearly 83,000 children, young people and their family members accessed community-based mental health support between July 2023 and March 2024. Alongside this, we are ensuring access to counselling services in all secondary schools, and continue to support local authorities with £16million a year.

Appropriate redirection and alternative support will vary across NHS Boards depending on the services available locally, and the needs of the child or young person involved. While we have made significant progress in improving mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people since 2018, we continue to work closely with Boards to understand the reasons for non-accepted referrals and to ensure that the criteria in the CAMHS specification are being met.

Additionally, Public Health Scotland has started publishing data from the CAMHS and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND), including referrals to CAMHS by sex, age and SIMD as well as reasons for referral not being accepted. Health Boards are also working with PHS and Directors of eHealth to enable the collection and publication of additional information this year.

CAPTND is still under development, and any inferences or conclusions drawn from this data should be treated with caution. Work is ongoing between NHS Boards, Public Health Scotland, and the Scottish Government to improve the consistency and completeness of the information.

The Public Health Scotland CAMHS statistics capture children and young people who meet the CAMHS criteria. Children and Young People and their families who have requested support for their neurodevelopmental needs but do not meet the CAMHS criteria are not reported in these statistics.

However, the statistics do capture those children and young people who are on the waiting list and have mental health concerns comorbid with neurodevelopmental issues.

Data relating to the number of children waiting for a neurodevelopmental diagnosis is not currently nationally reported or published. However Health Boards should hold their own data on who is waiting for a neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

It is also important to recognise that not all children seeking a diagnosis will meet diagnostic criteria but may still have support needs. That is why our National Neurodevelopmental Specification makes clear that support should be put in place to meet the child or young person’s requirements when they need it and should not be dependent on a formal diagnosis.

We acknowledge that work is needed to improve the quality of data that we have on neurodevelopmental support and services, including a better understanding of current levels of need and the level of support children and young people currently receive.

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

The Scottish Government is committed to meaningful parental involvement in the national attendance campaign announced in our Programme for Government 2025-26.

As part of the development of the campaign, qualitative research was undertaken in 2024 with parents, pupils and stakeholders to build a clear picture of lived experience and needs. Insight from this research will be used to inform the development of the campaign, including the core creative idea, messages and channel selection. A second stage of qualitative research with parents and carers of pupils with lower levels of attendance will then be used to test different creative approaches for effectiveness. We will also engage with stakeholders, parent councils and other representative groups as part of this process to gather diverse perspectives.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as this is the responsibility of NHS Boards. However, the Scottish Governments expects NHS Boards to follow the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) specification, which includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service, such as our community-based supports.

We have provided local authorities with over £65 million since 2020 to fund community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families. This £15 million per year funding will continue through the local government finance settlement from 2025-26. Examples include mentoring services, art-based therapies, digital services, whole-family supports, counselling services and supports involving sport or physical activity.

Individual local authorities decide which supports and services to put in place in their area based on the needs of their communities.

Standard 1.2 of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification relates to the offer of a first appointment. As set out in the Specification, Neurodevelopmental Services that are delivered locally are the responsibility of Children Services providers. A first appointment could be provided by a number of professionals within a range of agencies, including education, health and voluntary organisations.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on length of waits for neurodevelopmental services centrally. Our focus is on improving support. Our Neurodevelopmental Specification places an expectation on NHS and Children's Services to work together to implement standards, in line with GIRFEC. Crucially, local authorities have a statutory duty to identify and provide support for pupils with additional support needs, regardless of diagnosis.

The Scottish Government has not had any engagement with the Bank of England, regarding support to train and recruit more economics teachers in Scottish schools.

We are aware of the Bank of England’s new jointly funded initiative with the University of Manchester, which will see existing teachers offered training to deliver A Level economics alongside their core subject. We will note feedback as the pilot programme progresses and consider if there is applicable learning for the Scottish education sector.

The Scottish Government and NatureScot support farmers and crofters through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme (SEMS).

As set out in March 2025, we have increased the funding for SEMS from £436,000 to £970,000 this year. We are committed to continuing to support farmers and crofters, especially those who feel the negative impacts most acutely, through SEMS.

Alongside this we are working on the development of future rural support to explore how it could assist in delivering support to farmers and crofters, where protected species such as white-tailed eagles have an impact on agricultural interests, and to support enhanced biodiversity in years to come.

We have not been made aware of any concerns regarding the impact that sea eagles are having on small birds.

More details on the Sea Eagle Management Scheme are available on the NatureScot website at https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/land-and-sea-management/managing-wildlife/sea-eagle-management-scheme

This information is not held centrally. Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government does hold information on entries to courses and qualifications. This is not necessarily the same as the number of schools offering these courses as a school may offer a course, but no learners choose to take it.

The following table shows the number of (a) publicly funded and (b) grant-funded schools with entries to Economics courses at (i) National 4, (ii) National 5, (iii) Higher and (iv) Advanced Higher level in 2024.

Network Rail has spent £461 million of Network Grant funding and £163 million of Enhancement Grant funding in year one of the control period. The quoted figures represent Network Rail spend alone.

There will always be referrals to CAMHS that are not accepted as CAMHS only provide the right support for a small proportion of children and young people. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in these statistics unless they have co-morbid mental health issues, but may be included within total referral figures, leading to lower accepted referral rates in some Boards.

The National CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service, such as our community-based supports.

We have provided local authorities with over £65 million since 2020 to fund community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families. This £15 million per annum funding will continue through the local government finance settlement from 2025-26.

We will continue to work with NHS Boards and partners to monitor the National Specification’s implementation, to improve services and support for children and young people and their families.