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As part of this year’s additional investment in Planned Care, we have allocated over £500,000 to Health Boards to reduce long waits for cardiology. Between 31 July 2025 and 31 January 2026, new outpatient waits over 52 weeks for cardiology reduced by 70%, while waits of over 12 weeks have reduced by 17%.

We want to maintain that momentum which is why our budget for next year includes a record figure of almost £22.5 billion for health and social care. We will scale up productivity and efficiency programmes to create additional capacity, as we work towards achieving the 12 week new outpatient standard. Health boards will also take forward a new collaborative subnational planning approach - working together to optimise capacity for all specialities, including cardiology, so that patients receive the care that they need as soon as possible.

Our budget for next year includes a record figure of almost £22.5 billion for health and social care. We will scale up productivity and efficiency programmes to create additional capacity and health boards will take forward a new collaborative subnational planning approach - working together to optimise capacity for all specialities and diagnostic tests, including echocardiogram, so that patients receive the care that they need as soon as possible.

Last year our Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP) published cardiology diagnostic data, including waiting times statistics, for the first time. This is an important step forward to support monitoring and improvement of echocardiograph services in Scotland.

Data on echocardiography will be incorporated into future SCAP reports. Monitoring of performance through SCAP allows us to identify where challenges are being faced in the delivery of high quality cardiac care and work closely with clinical and operational teams to address issues. Health Boards are also expected to identify issues and work to improve performance locally.

These cross border transfers are minimal in terms of total numbers of patients transferred to Hospital in Scotland. They are part of an on-going agreement between the Scottish Ambulance Service, North East and North West NHS Ambulance Services to support each other during periods of high demand and during critical incidents.

Part of this agreement will sometimes see patients from England transferred to Borders General Hospital for treatment.

To ensure patient safety, the Scottish Ambulance Service will always take patients to the nearest possible hospital in a life threatening situation, which in some parts of Scotland, may be over the border.

We continue to invest in our ambulance service with additional investment of £12.7m this year compared with 2024-25. This is helping the Service to recruit over 290 additional frontline staff this year, following on from the 241 recruited last year.

The Scottish Government’s intention is that the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020 will be commenced by December 2026. Work is progressing with necessary partners towards this deadline.

FGM has been illegal in Scotland since 1985 and there is no evidence to indicate that it is taking place in Scotland. The Act will strengthen the existing legislative framework offering extra protection to women and girls through statutory guidance and protective orders, which allow the courts to impose conditions which will prevent someone from taking a girl abroad for FGM.

While the Act is not yet in force, existing legislation and measures and child protection orders, remain available to protect any child who may be at risk.

Couples who are first cousins need, and want, to be supported and empowered to understand the potential genetic risks within their families and the potential impact on any children. Clinical services and guidance are currently available within the NHS to cope with the current level of demand for those aware of genetic risks within their families or with children already suspected of having an inherited genetic condition.

Following an amendment raised by the member, this matter has already been debated in Parliament. I provided a response to this debate in the Chamber on 11 February 2026.

I will provide an update to Parliament later this month on the progress we have made against the Operational Improvement Plan commitments.

The Scottish Government was not informed of the decision to close the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme prior to the announcement from UK Government, and is disappointed with the decision that future funding will apply to England only.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of maintaining support for Scotland’s historic places of worship, which continue to play vital cultural, social, and community roles.

In light of the UK Government’s decision, the Scottish Government is actively exploring options to ensure that listed places of worship in Scotland are not disproportionately affected by this withdrawal of UK-wide VAT relief.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with CalMac to discuss a wide variety of matters related to the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services.

For example, SSEN Transmission’s Lewis Hub will lead to an increase in demand for commercial vehicle movements to Stornoway over the next five years. CalMac and Transport Scotland have been working closely with SSEN Transmission to understand their plans to minimise impact on the Stornoway to Ullapool route and ensuring that our lifeline ferry services remain resilient for those who rely on them.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.