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The Scottish Expert Advisory Group on Lung Screening have produced an initial evaluation of costs, which estimated the annual cost of a national screening programme at between £29 million and £39 million. The lower and upper estimates of this cost are dependent on factors such as screening uptake, which impact the total cost of scans and required staffing. The UK National Screening Committee, as part of its considerations of whether to recommend lung cancer, considered a cost effectiveness analysis alongside other evidence for lung screening.

Treatment of individuals with lung cancer is complex, and the type of treatment received by patients, such as surgery or chemotherapy, will vary by type of cancer and stage. It is therefore not possible to provide specific treatment costs for lung cancer in Scotland.

The establishment of the National Social Work Agency is underway. It will be an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and will be established by Spring 2026. Plans and engagement on office locations are underway, in consultation with staff and the unions and will be finalised over the coming months.

Within the Scottish Government, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting Health and Care Research.

CSO runs a number of research project and capacity building fellowship schemes and this role is well known across the Health and Care Research community in Scotland

Grant Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Applications on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of Brain Tumours are welcomed. In common with all other applications, these would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

Current CSO funded brain tumour research projects are listed below:

TCS/21/05 - Developing representative models of the blood-tumour barrier to enhance drug development for Glioblastoma

Prof. Anthony Chalmers Univ. Glasgow £296,864

TCS/23/18 - Assessment of brain tumours with dynamic T2 and Lactate MR under oxygen challenge to evaluate aerobic and anaerobic metabolic status of Gliomas

Prof. Natasha Fullerton NHS GGC £299,918

TCS/24/35 - Applying new MRI technology to improve outcomes from chemoradiotherapy treatment for adult patients with Glioblastoma

Prof. Anne Kiltie Univ. Aberdeen £349,033

In addition, through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office.

We are aware that there have been calls for a ban on sale of Rhododendron ponticum, most recently in the Woodland Trust’s 2021 Rhododendron in the Rainforest report. However, there are challenges associated with such a ban.

The taxonomy of invasive rhododendron is complex. Rhododendron ponticum is used as a root stock and sold as different domesticated varieties; it is not known to be particularly invasive. The invasive rhododendron in the countryside and older garden plantings is thought to be the result of hybridization with the Appalachian species Rhododendron catawbiense. A significant amount of genetic research would be required to define what the hybrid is before its sale could be prohibited and to develop a reliable genetic test that could be used in inspections and enforcement. It is believed currently that only a small proportion of the plants sold as Rhododendron ponticum are thought to be invasive hybrid rhododendron.

In addition, the UK Internal Market Act 2020 would have potentially raised questions as to the legal effect of any Scotland-only ban.

From April 2020 to March 2024 there were 202 Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) imposed in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Government will consider suggesting this matter for discussion at the next meeting of the British Irish Council.

I last met with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian on 3 September 2025. I attended the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group on 2 June 2025 which the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray attended.

Bus stop bypasses are a specific type of layout which divert the protected cycle track around the back of the bus stop waiting area, ensuring that bus passengers are not affected by cycle traffic as they board and alight the bus. The Scottish Government is not aware of any intention of the UK Government to pause the installation of such types of bus stops, and does not intend to pause their installation in Scotland.

The Scottish Government understands that the UK Department for Transport intends to write to local authorities in England to request a voluntary pause in new installations where passengers board and alight directly into a cycle track. The Scottish Government does not currently intend to pause the roll-out of these facilities and already provide guidance on their use through the ‘Cycling by Design’ document. Their provision should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis by the Transport Authority.

The Scottish Government funds active travel infrastructure through delivery partners such as Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and National Park Authorities. As such, Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) related to specific design elements, such as bus stop bypasses are typically carried out by these delivery partners as part of their statutory duties during project development and delivery.

While the Scottish Government does not directly conduct EQIAs for infrastructure designs related to delivery partners, we require delivery partners to ensure that all funded projects comply with relevant statutory procedures, including consideration of impact on disabled users.

This approach is consistent with the outcomes of the second National Transport Strategy, which seeks to deliver a fairer transport system that meets the needs of everyone, and with the recommendations of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), which emphasise the importance of inclusive and accessible active travel networks.

The current guidance for Scotland in ‘Cycling by Design’ emphasises the importance of physically separated cycling infrastructure, to avoid or minimise interaction with live motor traffic and with pedestrians at bus stops. Transport Scotland, commissioned independent research in 2021, which was jointly funded by Department for Transport, to investigate issues of inclusion where bus stop bypasses have been introduced. Forthcoming updated guidance following this published research and ongoing engagement on accessibility, including with disabled people, will emphasise this message and further highlight that it can be beneficial to provide cycle routes and bus routes on separate corridors, to reduce interactions.