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We expect all NHS Boards to provide high quality prenatal and antenatal education for all pregnant women and their families and to continue to promote and improve early access to antenatal education, tailored to their local populations. Recommendation 9 of The Best Start provided that antenatal education must be available to all and that NHS Boards should promote and improve early access. The focus on quality antenatal education is now embedded in ‘business as usual’ delivery for all NHS Boards in Scotland, as described in the Scottish Government’s Best Start 2017-2024 Report, published in May 2025.

At a national level, the Scottish Government commissions access to the Solihull Approach online antenatal education. This has been available under license through NHS Education for Scotland since May 2020 and the current license period runs to 31 May 2028. The programme is made freely available to all maternity service users across Scotland through their routine midwifery care.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring equitable coordinated access to mental health provision for women, infants and their families throughout pregnancy and during the postnatal period. Between October 2024 and March 2025 the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) fund has provided peer support, counselling and befriending services to over 5200 parents, expected parents and infants. Nurture The Borders has received £79,253 as part of the latest round of the PIMH fund.

Scotland’s approach to supporting the integration of refugees and people seeking asylum within our communities is set out in the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The strategy is led jointly by the Scottish Government, COSLA (representing Scottish local authorities) and Scottish Refugee Council.

In 2025-2026 the Scottish Government is providing £3.4m funding to local authorities from the Refugees, Resettlement and Asylum Division budget. This funding is intended to support the integration of people displaced from Ukraine and the full closure of welcome accommodation except to new arrivals in 2025-26.

In addition to this direct funding, wider support is provided to local authorities across Scotland through various routes, including:

• Funding to support COSLA as a joint partner in delivering the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, and progressing New Scots Delivery Plan actions.
• Funding for the Refugee Support Service (RSS), delivered by Scottish Refugee Council. The RSS supports refugees and people seeking asylum to settle into communities across Scotland through providing advice, information and resources, improving access to support services and facilitating social connections.
• Funding for British Red Cross to deliver a project aimed at increasing the support available to people who arrive in Scotland under Family Reunion visas. This project includes capacity building work to support local authorities to understand family reunion processes and empower them to support people who have recently arrived under family reunion routes.

The Scottish Government is clear that there should be no unnecessary delays in responding to patients, regardless of their location. The Scottish Ambulance Service’s 2025-26 budget is £437.2 million. This represents increased investment of £88 million from 2024-25, including additional funding to provide for prior year pay deals as well as a range of funding to support vital frontline services, including in rural and island communities.

The Scottish Government meets with the Scottish Ambulance Service regularly in the form of Operational Meetings, Mid Year and Annual Reviews where performance is discussed. The Scottish Government also receives weekly performance reports which are analysed and if performance is a concern, it is escalated to the Scottish Ambulance Service executive team.

In its role as the statutory reporter on the National Park proposal, NatureScot made recommendations on ways in which existing structures in the South of Scotland could be further strengthened. These include:

• a stronger role and a long-term funding arrangement for the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, with a stronger focus on nature recovery and community wealth-building;
• a more integrated approach to the planning and management of the Galloway Forest Park, with additional funding allocated to nature restoration, recreation and tourism;
• refreshed management strategies by Dumfries and Galloway Council for the coastal National Scenic Areas, and the completion of the coastal path as a key visitor attraction for the area;
• sustained investment in access and visitor management across the area building on the existing community led approaches such as Whithorn and Loch Doon;
• progress with the implementation of the regional land-use strategy for the area; and
• on-going support for the work of the Solway Firth Partnership.

We are grateful for these suggestions and will now take time to reflect on them.

As a starting point, I undertook a visit to Newton Stewart and the Galloway Forest Park in July, where I discussed the recommendations in NatureScot’s report with the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, Forestry and Land Scotland and South of Scotland Enterprise. We will now take some time to give deeper consideration to the reporter’s recommendations and consider how best existing arrangements in the area could be strengthened.

Earlier this year, Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere received a new funding package from South of Scotland Enterprise to support its important work tackling the climate and biodiversity crises and supporting sustainable development in the region.

I confirmed in Parliament on 29 May that, in light of the consultation findings and the reporter’s conclusions, the Scottish Government will not proceed with the designation of a National Park in Galloway and Ayrshire.

In its role as the statutory reporter, NatureScot has made recommendations on ways in which existing structures in the region could be further strengthened. South of Scotland Enterprise has also suggested there could be benefits in exploring an alternative approach.

We are grateful for these suggestions and will now take time to reflect on them and give them deeper consideration.

We are already investing in the South of Scotland to reduce carbon emissions, enhance and restore nature, support our rural industries and deliver growth and jobs that enable the area and its people to flourish.

This includes the £85 million we have committed to the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal to drive sustainable economic growth across the south of Scotland.

Projects supported through the growth deal include the Dairy Nexus located in Dumfries which will use cutting edge technology to boost dairy sector innovation, productivity and sustainability. It also includes the River Tweed Walking and Cycling Route, which will grow the region’s tourism offer, and a range of other measures to improve places, deliver sustainable energy solutions, enable businesses to expand and create jobs and further develop the skills and talent base for current and future employers

Growing our economy is one of this government’s top priorities. Scotland’s regional economies are key to delivering the strong, dynamic and flourishing economy we all want to see.

Our dedicated enterprise agency, South of Scotland Enterprise, continues to deliver real, tangible benefits for businesses and communities in the South.

Last year, the agency invested £13.7m million in business and community enterprises and £5.7 million in 48 strategic projects, including the Chapelcross Energy Transition Zone. It helped to create or safeguard over 1,700 jobs.

In addition, we remain committed to delivering the recommendations laid out in the 2022 regional economic policy review and our 2025/26 Programme for Government further commits us to working with our regional partners to deliver both for the south of Scotland and the country as a whole.

The Scottish Government has not yet received feedback from NHS Boards. We will issue a monitoring template to Boards shortly asking them to report on their progress towards implementation of the priority now actions set out in the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland.