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No one should remain in hospital when they no longer need to be there, and we are clear that the current level of delay is unacceptable. It is important to reflect that 97% of all hospital discharges happen without delay. The latest published statistics show that the level of delayed discharges has fallen. At the end of April 2025, 1,868 people were delayed in hospital, 162 fewer than the high point of 2,030 delays at the end of October 2024.

In the 12 months to April 2025, there were 261,980 operations performed, 1.6% increase from the previous 12 months. Out of all the planned operations, only a small proportion were cancelled due to capacity reasons.

Addressing the variation in delays across the country is the focus of significant and sustained attention and effort by this Government. The NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan sets out a clear plan to reduce waiting times and delayed discharges, supported by £200 million targeted investment as part of the 2025-26 Budget.

The Scottish Government has safeguarding guidance on child protection and working with vulnerable adults, etc. Public bodies are expected to ensure any partner organisation aligns with this framework, particularly when working with vulnerable groups.

Public bodies are therefore expected to carry out due diligence, include safeguarding compliance, in funding and partnership agreements and ensure regulatory oversight, risk management and safeguarding policies are in place. This will support public bodies to assess any safeguarding concerns and enable appropriate action to be taken.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator may, where necessary, inform relevant public authorities where there are concerns about a charity.

The Scottish Education Exchange Programme (SEEP) Test and Learn Project was launched in 2023. In year 1 the project did not directly fund any student exchanges. Institutions prioritised staff mobility projects supporting the development of partnerships between Scottish institutions and their international partners.

In year 2, the Scottish Government invested £535,000 in SEEP enabling students from Scottish institutions who would not meet the criteria for Turing Scheme funding to participate in a mobility project. In year 2, 14 projects contained a student mobility element.

An external evaluation of the SEEP is currently underway which will contain further detail on funded projects. The report is due to be published late summer.

Data relating to the Turing scheme is provided by the UK Government. The year 1 (2021-22) figures have been published:

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The information requested is not held centrally.

Information on university retention rates is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in the statistics publication Report on Widening Access. There is no breakdown by those with teacher assessed grades.

The latest publication is available on the SFC’s website: .

The following table sets out the number of determined planning appeals in each of the last five years which have been recalled for a decision by Ministers, instead of being delegated to a reporter. These planning applications were appealed after having been refused or undetermined by the local planning authority. Information is provided on the number of recalled appeals allowed (granted) by Ministers and for comparison the number of recalled appeals dismissed (refused) by Ministers or withdrawn by the applicant.

The Scottish Government has not received any formal proposals for additional sites for additional SDCF beyond the Glasgow pilot therefore no budget is currently allocated for this.

Any future consideration on funding will be contingent on the submission of robust, locally led proposals that demonstrate strong community engagement, comply with legal and operational requirements set out by the Lord Advocate and align with national public health priorities.

Since the publication of the Stroke Improvement Plan, each NHS Board now has a named individual with responsibility for stroke care. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health chaired a roundtable meeting with these individuals in October 2024, outlining the Scottish Government’s priorities and expectations regarding stroke care.

A National Stroke Engagement Forum, which met for the first time on 2 October 2024, has been established. This forum, attended by stroke service representatives from every NHS Board, is helping to drive improvement work and facilitate the sharing of best practice across NHS Board boundaries.

An increased focus on rehabilitation is a key component of our Stroke Improvement Plan. We are now asking stroke services in all NHS Boards to offer a formal review to everyone who has had a stroke, taking place six months after the stroke event and allowing re-referral into stroke services where required. In addition, empirical measures of rehabilitation and stroke-specific Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) are being developed and these will further enhance our ability to gauge the delivery of stroke care and rehabilitation.

Since the publication of the Stroke Improvement Plan, NHS Boards are now required to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support for those who have suffered a stroke, and this is assessed via NHS Board reviews.

In terms of stroke prevention, the Scottish Government has launched the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors programme to improve CVD outcomes with an aim to reduce avoidable CVD death by 20% in 20 years. This work focuses on improving the identification and management of key risk factors which are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, raised blood sugars, obesity and smoking. We have also established a new GP enhanced service from the 2025-26 Reform Fund to support 100,000 patients who are at risk of developing CVD.

The Scottish Government’s supplementary Financial Memorandum, to reflect the scaled-back care reform proposals for the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, was published on the Health, Social Care & Sport Committee’s website on 25 March 2025.

Scottish Government commissioned Consulting firm RSM-UK to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model. The looked at current establishment and expected additional workload and describes a required increase of 10 cots at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, 4 cots at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and one cot at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital,

We are working with Regional Planning Chief Executives to plan and deliver this service change, informed by the testing that has been underway since 2018 in Ayrshire and Fife, and supported by SG funding of over £6m since 2019.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. More detailed information on cancelled appointments will be held locally by NHS boards.