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The Scottish Government has commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) to undertake an evidence review to support decisions on potential proposals in relation to alcohol marketing and advertising that may be taken forward in future.

The scope of the review will include analysis of published evidence and existing literature. The commission is not seeking delivery of new studies or research.

The review will be delivered independently of Scottish Government and PHS will deliver its conclusions solely on the basis of its assessment of the evidence. 

The commissioning document will be published imminently.

Work is currently underway to establish the governance arrangements necessary to ensure that Calmac would meet the definition of a Teckal compliant body in advance of the new Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract being put in place by 1 October 2025.

The Resuscitation Research Group’s PADmap web portal is expected to go live by Spring 2025. PADmap will provide organisations and communities with more evidence on the optimal location to place their defibrillators in order to increase their potential impact.

I wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers on 17 October 2024. Scottish Ministers proposed changes to the ECO4 scheme to enable ECO financed work to benefit from stronger management and quality control as part of local and national fuel poverty schemes in Scotland. Scottish Ministers emphasised the need to re-build public trust in the reliability of `government backed’ schemes, citing the inappropriate use of spray foam insulation in lofts as an example.

The UK Minister for Energy Consumers replied on 19 December to say that the UK Government was reviewing the current consumer protections in place for retrofit work and how they could be strengthened. They advised that any changes in their approach to consumer protection will form part of the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan.

We will continue to press the UK Government to allow a better managed approach to ECO4 delivery in Scotland and request further details about any proposed changes to consumer protections.

The supply of medicines is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care on all medicines supply issues. The NHS in Scotland has robust processes in place to manage supply issues when they do arise and normally there are alternative products which can be prescribed and dispensed. 

The Scottish Government is aware that, since April 2024, there has been ongoing supply issues with the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. Initially both strengths (12.5mg and 25mg) were impacted by this supply issue. The latest information provided by the Department of Health and Social Care indicates that supplies of naloxegol (Moventig®) 25mg strength are back in stock however supply issues remain for the 12.5mg strength and that this supply issue is expected to continue until May 2025. The Scottish Government issued advice to NHS Scotland in April 2024 on this supply issue and available alternatives. 

The Scottish Government meets with the Scottish Ambulance Service regularly to discuss demand, capacity, and pressures. Since escalating to REAP level four the Service has been submitting twice daily situational reports on pressures and we have been meeting with their operations Director on a frequent basis.

The First Minister has also Chaired several meetings to discuss NHS pressures more widely which were attended by SAS and other key partners.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has implemented a number of actions to mitigate the effects of pressures throughout the healthcare system over the past few weeks and continues to maintain its focus on improving response times to patients.

The evidence review undertaken by Public Health Scotland (PHS) will focus solely on existing literature, studies and research in order to set out potential areas of action on alcohol marketing and advertising. The commission is not seeking to develop or deliver new studies or research.

PHS will have independence in developing its review structure, resources and methods upon identifying its requirements for delivering this strand of work, ensuring that quality, integrity and transparency are achieved.

The Scottish Government is aware that, since April 2024, there has been ongoing supply issues with the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. On 25 April 2024, the Scottish Government issued a Medicines Supply Alert Notice to NHS Scotland on the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. Medicines Supply Alert Notices are circulated to Medical Directors and Directors of Pharmacy across all Health Boards including national Health Boards (such as NHS National Services Scotland) for onward dissemination to healthcare professionals. Community Pharmacy Scotland also receive a copy of the Medicines Supply Alert Notices for onward dissemination across their network.

The alcohol marketing review is being carried out as part of the remit of work Public Health Scotland (PHS) is already commissioned and funded to do. PHS is a national Special Health Board, funded by the Scottish Government to work collaboratively, focusing on increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing premature mortality.

The Scottish Government is expecting findings from the independent Public Health Scotland evidence review of the existing literature, studies and research on alcohol marketing and advertising to be available in Spring 2025.