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Westminster austerity does continue to impact on public services. For example, the increase to employers’ national insurance without fully funding the impact of this on public service delivery has the impact of reducing the actual funding for delivery of programmes and was taken forward by the UK Government irrespective of the impact of that reduction on the outcomes of those programmes and activity.

The Scottish Government recently published the Tax Strategy for Scotland, which along with Scottish Budget 2025-26 and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, sets out the next steps in our approach to tax, identifying priorities to support economic growth and Government objectives of eradicating child poverty, tackling the climate emergency and improving public services.

Projections for social security costs in the coming years are established in the recently published Medium-Term Financial Strategy. Our approach to taxation is established in the Tax Strategy, which has already set out that we will not introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish Income Tax in this parliament.

I was informed of the publication of cancer waiting times, scheduled for 24 June 2025, and provided with pre-release access to the statistics on 19 June 2025.

Tax code matters such as allowances and reliefs are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government has no plans currently to change the number of Income Tax bands

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to develop a set of maternity standards designed to drive improvements in care at a local level, expected to publish in Spring 2026. Further to this, HIS introduced its Safe Delivery of Care in acute settings maternity inspection programme in January 2025. These inspections provide independent assessments of maternity services and can provide reassurance to all parents and families, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement and learning for NHS Boards.

In parallel, our Scottish Patient Safety Perinatal Improvement Programme continues to work with maternity services across Scotland to drive improvements in care for mothers and babies. The Programme supports NHS Boards to improve outcomes in a number of ways, including a focus on reducing stillbirth, neonatal mortality and morbidity.

In the last 20 years, our infant mortality rate has fallen by 28%, our neonatal death rate by 22% and our stillbirth rate by nearly 40%. We recognise that there is always more we can do, however, and the Scottish Government remains committed to continuous improvement in maternity services and to learning from adverse events and outcomes. We expect all NHS Boards in Scotland to use the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool (PMRT) to review all stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Undertaking robust, high quality reviews in a timely manner, in line with the standardised approach laid out in the Maternity and Neonatal (Perinatal) Adverse Event Review Process for Scotland will improve understanding at a local and national level of where improvements in care need to be made.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recommendation made by the UK National Screening Committee in June 2025 that evidence supports offering HPV self-sampling to individuals who have not attended their cervical screening appointment within six months of their most recent invitation. Self-sampling has the potential to significantly enhance accessibility and increase participation in life-saving cervical screening.

The cervical screening programme in Scotland is working towards offering the first self-sampling kits by spring 2026. The initial roll out will focus on reducing inequalities through offering self-sampling to some of the most deprived areas first, as we know cervical screening uptake is lower in these areas.

This funding supports public bodies to lead by example and take early and sustained action to achieve the priorities of the forthcoming Heat in Buildings Bill and decarbonise the public sector estate to reach net zero by 2045. It is anticipated that funding awards will be issued in August 2025 and details of successful projects – including recipient organisation, building location(s), grant awarded, and project overview – will be published later in 2025.

The value of building(s) in scope will not be published. The rateable value of a building is not the only measure of value for money and there are other relevant factors to consider when assessing options for how best to achieve a decarbonised public sector estate. It is also imperative that public bodies have quality, efficient premises which reduce energy costs and that they reside in areas which meet the needs of the essential services they provide.

The Scottish Government does not publish details of unsuccessful projects; however, all applications undergo robust technical assessment, and funding is offered only to projects that clearly meet the objectives of the scheme and have the potential to progress to deployment, driving value for money from our investment.

Parliament will be informed of the outcome of Phase 2 of Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund once the application assessment process has concluded.

Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. Following their last review in 2017, the UK NSC currently does not recommend introducing a screening programme for GBS. However, they are closely monitoring the GBS3 trial, which is investigating whether testing pregnant women for GBS reduces the risk of infection in newborn babies compared to the current strategy in place in the UK. Results are expected towards the end of 2025 with a review of recommendations.

All pregnant women in Scotland are provided with a copy of Ready, Steady, Baby! in the antenatal period through their midwifery care and can choose to access the information online, if they prefer. This is a comprehensive guide to pregnancy, labour, birth and early parenthood up to eight weeks and contains specific information for women on Group B Strep (GBS). The Scottish Government has also provided funding to Group B Strep Support (GBSS) through our Improving Health and Wellbeing grant scheme in 2023-24 and 2024-25 to support the development of an online learning module on GBS for health professionals and GBSS’s public awareness and education campaign.

More broadly, the Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to develop a set of maternity standards for Scotland, designed to drive improvements in care at a local level, which are expected to publish in Spring 2026. We also welcomed the introduction of the HIS Safe Delivery of Care in acute settings maternity inspection programme in January 2025. These provide independent assessments of maternity services in acute settings and can provide reassurance to all parents and families, as well as identifying areas for improvement.

As indicated in the answer to S6W-38295, Scottish Government officials and NHS planners have been asked to work at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for service expansion. While there is not a specific date for publication, we expect the next steps for service expansion to reflect work to align the governance and delivery of thrombectomy with similar national programmes. This alignment with wider health service planning aims to support oversight of thrombectomy planning and encourage greater collaboration between NHS Boards in delivering this vital service.