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Enforcement of Tobacco and Vapes legislation, including the Single Use Vape (SUV) regulations is a local government issue, and in line with the Verity House Agreement we do not ring-fence or direct local authority funding.

Funding is provided annually to Local Government and they have responsibility for working to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including those on the enforcement of existing legislation, including on underage sales and illicit tobacco and vapes and the single use vape ban.

In addition, the Scottish Government has made £300k available for transitional costs associated with the ban on SUVs, and to support recycling and responsible disposal of SUV’s seized by local authorities.

We work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) to support enforcement of existing legislation, including on underage sales and illicit tobacco and vapes. This includes providing funding of £46k for the SCOTSS national co-ordinator role for Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-04747 on 4 June 2025 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament.

The Scottish Government is currently considering its position on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill moving forward, in light of Parliament’s decision to support the general principles of the Bill. In doing so, we will be taking care to ensure that any future steps are informed, balanced and respectful of the views expressed across the Chamber and the country. As part of this, we are carefully reflecting on the conclusions of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in their Stage 1 report.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland an attractive destination for investors. Our Programme for Government committed to increasing private capital investment in Scotland through delivering a co-ordinated programme to attract investment in priority areas of net zero, housing, and infrastructure.

This programme of activity includes intensifying our targeted engagement with key investors, developing the ‘InvestScotland’ portal to showcase investment opportunities, and exploring more co-investment from public and private pension funds into Scottish projects and businesses.

It is a matter for Glasgow City Region to determine their engagement priorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that parents and carers are central to shaping the development of Additional Support for Learning (ASL) policy. As part of a wider review of ASL, Ministers will consider this publication and its recommendations in addition to other recent reports, which identify areas for improvement.

I have committed to a cross party roundtable with local government to discuss a wider review of the delivery and support for Additional Support Needs in Scotland’s schools. The scope and detail of the review will be informed by the outcome of the roundtable.

Our inclusive approach to education in Scotland is supported by a broad consensus that all children and young people should receive the support they need to thrive. Since the 2020 Morgan Review of ASL, we have delivered over 50 actions to improve educational experiences for children and young people with additional support needs (ASN), empowering them to become directly involved in decision making, increasing learning opportunities for educators and creating parent support groups.

We will continue to work at pace to deliver the remaining actions by the end of this Parliamentary term, including ensuring that parental voice informs the development of ASL policy.

It is a matter for Health Boards to consider the implementation of any new medicine to meet the needs of their local population. However, in response to concerns raised regarding access to givinostat in Scotland, the Cabinet Secretary has met with the four health boards who provide regional services across Scotland for children and adults with neuromuscular disorders, including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). He has asked them to set out their timelines and approaches to the families who have children with DMD, and this is now underway. In addition, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) has been assured that the consultants have reviewed all those who eligible to ensure fair and equitable access across Scotland.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes data on the total number of diversion from prosecution cases commenced for people aged under 18, this is published in the Justice Social Work Statistics in Scotland: 2023-24 - Part 1.

Over the past five years a total of 3,444 diversion from prosecution cases were started for individuals under 18. However, information on the specific alleged offence in each case is not available.

In partnership with NHS Scotland colleagues, the Scottish Government are developing tools to support GP practices to proactively identify people on topical steroids so that their treatment can be reviewed.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have and are continuing to take action to simplify scheduling of these complex cases. Following updates provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 19 February and 9 June, I will be meeting with members of the board and clinicians in September 2025 to seek further clarity in terms of progress made.

It is a matter for individual Health Boards to consider the implementation of any new medicine to meet the needs of their local population, and they are responsible for funding new medicines from their local medicines budgets. However, the Scottish Government has committed to investing rebates from the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines, Pricing Access and Growth (VPAG) to fund the New Medicines Fund (NMF), which provides additional top-up funding to territorial Health Boards to support the cost of introducing new medicines. Since 2014-15, £906 million has been made available to Health Boards through this fund. In addition, a national process is in place, administered by National Services Scotland National Procurement (NP), to review early access programmes on a ‘once for Scotland’ basis on behalf of Scottish Health Boards.