Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

Plans to update the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 will be informed by the responses to our planned Family Law consultation. The draft consultation is currently being finalised and we expect to be in a position to launch the consultation by the end of this year.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS Alcohol & Drug Recovery Strategy aims to ensure that people in our care have access to appropriate support and a range of interventions and services which are similar to those delivered within our communities.

Working collaboratively with key stakeholders, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), we offer a range of mutual aid support groups to share skills, knowledge and resources designed to reduce and prevent the harm caused from alcohol use.

In addition to this, NHS and SPS Staff continue to promote and support access to the Prison to Rehab Pathway to ensure people in our care are aware of the residential rehabilitation options and structured programmes available to them as part of planning for their liberation.

The main focus of the Scottish Government's recent engagement with the National Records of Scotland regarding the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 has been in relation to our planned Family Law consultation, this includes (i) whether we should legislate to raise the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership to 18 and (ii) setting qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies to meet when they solemnise marriage. The draft consultation is currently being finalised and we expect to be in a position to launch the consultation by the end of this year.

The requested figures are set out in the following table

Headteachers are empowered to take the decisions they judge will have the greatest impact for their pupils. They know their school communities best and are best placed to identify the approaches most likely to reduce barriers to learning.

The Scottish Government does not hold central records on individual schools’ expenditure decisions, and therefore does not record whether PEF has been used to meet ferry costs. However, funding can be used flexibly to remove barriers that prevent pupils from fully engaging in their education, where this can be evidenced as supporting equity of access and improved outcomes.

In island and rural communities, schools have used PEF in a variety of ways to address the particular challenges of geography and cost - for example, by supporting digital connectivity, access to school trips and extra-curricular activities, and targeted wellbeing interventions that help ensure pupils can participate fully in learning.

As announced by the First Minister of 3 November 2025, health boards have been allocated an additional £25.5 million this year to allow them to deliver more planned activity for the longest waiting patients.

We have already allocated £110 million of additional funding this year, targeted at the speciality areas where it can have the biggest impact against the longest waits. Now we are providing a further boost to deliver more appointments and procedures, taking the total additional funding to £135.5 million for 2025-26.

The following tables set out the allocation of this funding in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by health board and Planned Care speciality.

Table 1. NHS Highland

The Scottish Government did not reject any of the recommendations from the Transvaginal Mesh Case Record Review.

Recommendations 1, 2 and 5 were about how similar case record reviews might be conducted, and in particular how they might be conducted in a more cost-effective fashion. The Government has no plans to conduct further case record reviews.

Recommendations 3 and 16 were about training of General Practitioners and surgeons. Training about transvaginal mesh and possible complications has been made available to GPs in Scotland, and we continue to support the introduction of a GMC credential in mesh removal surgery.

Recommendation 4 was about a registry. It is being implemented by the establishment of a Scottish Pelvic Floor Registry and Audit Programme by Public Health Scotland. It will collect, understand, and measure data to improve pelvic floor services for women in Scotland, and contribute Scottish data to the UK-wide registry being progressed by NHS England. The SPFRAP will begin collecting data in 2026, with the first report expected in 2027.

Recommendations 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18 were about communication to and decision making with patients. NHS Scotland seeks to exemplify the implementation of these recommendations through the operation of the NHS Scotland Complex Mesh Surgical Service (CMSS). The CMSS forms part of a national, published patient pathway and its services are explained on a dedicated website and through other information resources. It places patient-centred decision-making at its core, ensuring that patients have access to high-quality decision aids, sufficient time to consider their options, and support in reaching a final decision about their treatment. Patients are contacted in advance of attending the service, encouraged to bring a companion, and invited to record consultations. All decisions are documented to ensure clarity between patient and clinician, and patients are offered postoperative photographs showing the mesh that has been removed. The service is committed to continuous improvement and regularly surveys patient experience. More generally, the Chief Medical Officer wrote, on October 2023, to Health Boards highlighting the report and emphasising the importance of fully informed consent in all circumstances. With respect to patients returning from the independent sector surgeons, these individuals will receive two follow-up telephone or video calls from their surgeon or specialist nurse post-operation. Any further aftercare will be provided by the patient’s local Health Board.

Recommendation 19 was about guidance on significant adverse events. Healthcare Improvement Scotland continues to improve guidance on significant adverse events.

Recommendations 20 and 21 were about collaboration between mesh centres in the UK. The CMSS in Glasgow continues to collaborate with other UK mesh centres to share and disseminate best practice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41296 on 10 November 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Health and Social Care Standards, published in 2017, set out the expectation that care should be provided by health and social care professionals based on the most relevant evidence, guidance and best practice, as is appropriate to their profession and patient group