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The Scottish Government committed in the 23-24 Programme for Government to undertake a review of abortion law to identify potential proposals for reforms to ensure that abortion services are first and foremost a healthcare matter.

To take this forward, the Scottish Government established an Expert Group in August 2024 to examine the current law; international examples; a range of stakeholder views and other evidence will be published in due course.

NHS Scotland expenditure on mental health is published annually in arrears in the Scottish Health Service Costs book by Public Health Scotland. The Cost Book is publicly accessible and offers a consistent framework for financial data across NHS Boards. The most recent data published in February 2025 covers 2023-2024. Costs Book publication - Costs Book - Finance within the NHS - System monitoring, accountability and quality of care - Healthcare system - Public Health Scotland.

The Scottish Government continuously monitors NHS Boards’ financial positions through routine finance reporting. This resource provides a standardised approach to collecting detailed financial information, including outturn, spend by specialty, and achievement of efficiency targets.

The process for ordering a repeat prescription for contraception, such as the contraceptive pill or Depo injection, is the same as for any other prescription medication. Patients must have approval from their clinician for a repeat prescription. Most GP practices offer online ordering and many pharmacies also provide collection and delivery services which may be convenient for patients, including evening and weekend opening. Patients are advised to speak to their GP practice or local pharmacy to see what is the best option for them to obtain their medication.

The Scottish Government is working with key partners across Scotland to ensure that relevant information, with the appropriate safeguards in place, from patient health records is available to all healthcare staff when and where they need it.

Community pharmacists have access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS). Community Pharmacy gained access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) for all community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians during COVID-19. Directions formalising access to the ECS system came into force on 2 October 2023.

In addition, many health boards are providing access to the Clinical Portal which provides additional patient information. Clinical Portals support Health Boards to allow clinicians to access different pieces of information about an individual patient including patients from other Health Boards when required. Some Health Boards have opened access to their clinical portals to community pharmacy. We are encouraging all health boards to extend role-based access to Clinical Portals.

The Digital Health & Care Strategy, published 2021, sets out ambitions for greater access to medical information both for staff and the public. In the medium to longer term, as part of the Digital Health & Care strategy, a National Digital Platform is being developed and has started to bring together service data that is appropriately accessible to the workforce regardless of where they are based.

Further to Parliament’s approval of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget on 25 February 2025, the Scottish Government has been engaging closely with NHS boards to support the allocation of resource for new specialist support for Long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and other similar conditions.

Boards told us that having funding only for a single financial year would be a barrier to their ability to develop new support. Therefore, following further assessment in line with Scottish Government spending controls, we wrote to NHS Board Chief Executives on 18 September to confirm that this funding will now be made available on a recurring basis. This commitment provides the longer term assurance necessary to enable boards to plan on a sustainable basis, and support the recruitment and retention of the skilled members of staff required for the delivery of services.

NHS Boards’ shares of the available 2025-26 funding will be allocated in full on an recurring basis. From the financial year 2026-27 onwards NHS Boards will receive the £4.5 million resource annually.

In 2025-26 the £4.5 million funding is being provided in addition to remaining resource of approximately £3 million from the £10 million long COVID Support Fund (established 2022). The £10 million fund will be fully disbursed by the end of the 2025-26 financial year.

A breakdown is as follows:

The Scottish Government continues to hold regular discussions with Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), on the charter and potential purchase of available and suitable vessels to support and improve services on Scotland’s ferry networks. The operators and CMAL actively look for suitable second-hand tonnage and have brokers employed.

Former UK Ambassador to the United States, Lord Mandelson, was present during the First Minister’s discussions with the President and was fully briefed on the First Minister’s objectives for the meeting ahead of their visit to the White House.

The First Minister did not raise Scottish independence during his meeting with President Trump and the US Secretary of State.

Yes, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office were engaged about the First Minister’s meeting with the President of the United States and fully supported the First Minister’s engagement with the President and the US Government on whisky tariffs. The First Minister was hosted at the British Ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C and was accompanied by the former UK Ambassador to the United States, Lord Mandelson, during his meeting with the President in the Oval Office.

A note of the meeting was taken in accordance with section 11.14 of the Scottish Ministerial Code. A summary of the meeting was published on the Scottish Government website shortly after the First Minister met with President Trump. The statement can be found at: Talks at the White House - gov.scot