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This information is not held centrally.

Social Security Scotland does not currently publish statistics on Adult Disability Payment caseload broken down by both age and disability condition.

Local authorities receive money through the general revenue grant, and it is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available, including on support for bus services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutory obligations. In 2025-26 the Scottish Government provided record funding of over £15.1 billion to local authorities, a real terms increase of 5.5%.

The Scottish Government continues to provide financial support for bus services, including subsidised bus services, with £49.5m allocated in 2025-26 for the Network Support Grant.

The Scottish Government delivered all the powers within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which enables each local transport authority to determine the options that are available to them to improve bus provision in their area.

Improving uptake in this group is a key focus for Ministers and for the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme (SVIP). By improving vaccination in this group, staff are protected, onward transmission to colleagues and patients is reduced, all of which contributes to the resilience of Scotland’s health care services.

A range of steps are being taken this winter to encourage Health and Social Care staff to take up the offer of the flu vaccine. Public Health Scotland’s campaign “For some, flu hits harder” is being highly targeted at lower uptake groups including health and social care workers. Health Boards are running specific staff engagement sessions and actively promoting vaccination eligibility and information on how to receive the vaccine via staff intranet sites and social media channels. Boards are also championing vaccination uptake through senior leadership forums and staff briefings across the health care sector. Most Boards are also using dedicated flu champions to promote vaccination locally and case study videos, using health care workers, are in development, aimed at sharing their personal and/or professional experience on the importance of the flu vaccination programme. Digital prompts have been sent to health and social care workers via SMS and email to encourage them to book appointments, and most Health Boards plan to hold drop-in clinics for health and social care workers at convenient, flexible and easy to access locations. An expansion of peer-to-peer vaccination programmes is taking place across different health and social care sites within Health Boards.

Territorial Health Boards are responsible for assessing and planning for the workforce required to deliver their programme locally. Scotland’s winter vaccination programme for Covid-19 and flu is delivered as part of the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP), which is a partnership between Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and Health Boards. This supports appropriate workforce planning for operational delivery.

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Procurement is responsible for the management and logistics in relation to the Scotland’s vaccine stocks. COVID-19 and childhood flu LAIV vaccine supplies are procured on a 4 nations basis by UKHSA on our behalf, and adult flu vaccine supplies are procured on a Scotland-only basis by NSS. An SVIP Expert Advisory Group is convened, as necessary, to consider stock amounts required each year to meet need and uptake level.

There are sufficient vaccine supplies for the flu and COVID programme this winter and all supplies were made available prior to programme launch.

Health Boards do not receive their entire stock in one delivery. Instead, they draw down stock based on demand in order to minimise wastage and optimise on-site capacity.

COVID-19 vaccines have been available for Boards to order since 8 September, for the COVID-19 programme start date of 29 September. Adult flu vaccine stock has been available for Boards to order since 26 August and child flu vaccine stock has been available for Boards to order since 1 September.

COVID-19 stock will be available until the conclusion of that programme on 31 January 2026 and all necessary flu vaccines will be available until the conclusion of that campaign on 29 March 2026.

There are no issues with the supply of any of the winter flu and COVID-19 vaccines and we have procured adequate supply for the duration of the programmes.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to expanding access to hepatitis C testing across all NHS Board areas, as part of our blood borne virus (BBV) elimination efforts. The latest surveillance report from Public Health Scotland shows that the number of individuals tested for hepatitis C (HCV) antibodies in 2023 has exceeded pre-pandemic levels in nearly all settings. While this progress is encouraging, we recognise the need to further improve uptake in key services, particularly within prisons and drug and alcohol services.

All NHS Boards and other relevant services are encouraged to adopt approaches to HCV testing which are appropriate to their local contexts. These include testing in primary care, drug and alcohol services, custodial settings, community pharmacies and through outreach initiatives. This year, for the first time, the Scottish Government has set targets for hepatitis C testing in prisons and drug and alcohol services to encourage uptake.

The introduction of additional HCV testing targets will complement the rollout of Emergency Department Opt-Out Testing for BBVs, beginning with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Grampian. These measures will help identify undiagnosed people, facilitate earlier access to care and support progress towards our BBV elimination goals.

Health Boards will ensure that all eligible adults are given the opportunity to receive their COVID-19 and flu vaccinations by Sunday 7 December 2025. This is to ensure that as many eligible individuals as possible are vaccinated at least 2 weeks prior to the beginning of the festive travel period (weekend of 20 & 21 December) and in advance of the peak of the flu season.

We recognise that not everyone will be able to be vaccinated by that point, and the COVID-19 vaccination programme will run until 31 January 2026 and the flu vaccination programme will run until 29 March 2026.

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed the easier it is to treat, and that early diagnosis is particularly crucial for people with pancreatic cancer due to known poor outcomes for this devastating disease. This is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme. Detect Cancer Earlier’s ‘Be The Early Bird’ campaign aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early. This re-ran in September 2025 to prompt health-seeking behaviour.

We published clinically refreshed Scottish Referral Guidelines (SRGs) for Suspected Cancer, including pancreatic, on 6 August 2025. These support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist. This will ensure that people are on the right pathway at the right time. Furthermore, I joined the First Minister at a roundtable held with key stakeholders , including Sir Chris Hoy and Lady Sarra Hoy, in August to discuss what more needs to be done in Scotland, specifically to ensure those groups of men most at risk can access the diagnosis and support they need.

We have also launched six Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) across Scotland. These are ruling cancer in or out faster for those with non-specific symptoms, supporting our Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision. Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) cancers, including pancreatic cancer, are among the most common cancers found through the RCDSs. Independent evaluation in 2024 found that HPB cancers made up 17% of the cancers found.

Further to this, we have committed in the Cancer Action Plan 2023-2026 to invest in improving the pathways of less survivable cancers, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer, aiming to shorten the time to staging and agreeing treatment options.

To that end, the Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Network (SHPBN) to develop standardised pathways that improve outcomes for people with HPB cancers, working with NHS Boards, third sector organisations and patients where most appropriate.

I will continue to keep Parliament updated as this work progresses.

At the UK Spending Review the Scottish Government received a Barnett share of the net changes to UK departmental budget allocations, which ultimately fed into our total block grant settlement.

Any new or additional spending allocations in 2025-26 associated with this UK policy will be included in the overall budget calculation for the Scottish Government. However, spending changes related to Barnett funding arising from UK policy decisions are not allocated to any specific programme of work in Scotland.

All budget allocation decisions are taken as part of the Scottish Budget process.

In 2023-24 the Scottish Government permanently provided funding for smoking cessation and prevention services to Health Boards as part of the Outcomes Framework funding, which also covered a wider range of outcomes. In 2025-26 territorial Health Boards received an overall funding uplift of 3%.