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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2025

11 Nov 2025 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Topical Question Time
Drug Deaths
Todd, Maree SNP Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Watch on SPTV

I agree that it is really important that we follow the evidence, and the Scottish Government is committed to taking an evidence-based approach to the issue, using a wide range of evidence.

Clinical advice plays a key role in the making of drug and alcohol policy, along with surveillance and up-to-date data. The clinical advisory group was established in April 2023 and now meets via correspondence, with its most recent meeting being held on 17 September 2025. The workforce expert delivery group demonstrated a clear and sustained commitment to ensuring that workforce development is informed by those with direct experience and expertise in the field throughout the national mission. Not only was that group instrumental in interpreting and prioritising the recommendations of the drug deaths task force, but it provided critical oversight and expert advice on the development and implementation of the Scottish Government’s workforce action plan.

In the same item of business

2. Katy Clark (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by Professor Catriona Matheson, former chair of the drug deaths task force, that the...
The Minister for Drug and Alcohol Policy and Sport (Maree Todd) SNP
The latest drug deaths statistics show a 13 per cent decrease and the lowest number registered since 2017. That is welcome, but we know that there is more to...
Katy Clark Lab
Given those comments, does the minister agree that the Scottish Government must focus on delivery to reduce drug deaths, rather than on chasing headlines, an...
Maree Todd SNP
I agree that it is really important that we follow the evidence, and the Scottish Government is committed to taking an evidence-based approach to the issue, ...
Katy Clark Lab
The face of the drugs crisis has changed with the emergence of synthetic opioids, which are linked to more than 100 deaths across Scotland, many of which hav...
Maree Todd SNP
I have already outlined the clinical and practitioner role in developing evidence. I assure the member that, in last year’s figures, one of the substantial a...
Audrey Nicoll (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP) SNP
What progress is the Scottish Government making on reducing drug harms? In particular, what work is being done to target the delivery of more residential reh...
Maree Todd SNP
Increasing the provision of residential rehab and ensuring that it is available to everyone who wants it and for whom it is deemed to be clinically appropria...
Annie Wells (Glasgow) (Con) Con
Professor Matheson is right that the national mission “was more about controlling the narrative than addressing drug deaths”, which are still the highest i...
Maree Todd SNP
It is clear that the Government and the Parliament had some significant concerns about the bill’s overly medicalised approach. It did not reflect the evidenc...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) LD
This is an area that the Liberal Democrats want the Government to succeed in. People are dying. I remember the widespread acclaim that accompanied the appoin...
The Presiding Officer NPA
Let us hear one another.
Alex Cole-Hamilton LD
With that weight of evidence, why can we not extend that pilot to other parts of the country that are equally struggling with the scourge of drug deaths? Int...
The Presiding Officer NPA
Let us hear one another.
Maree Todd SNP
Members will understand the challenges that are associated with the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which were such a barrier to the introduction of the Thistle in...
The Presiding Officer NPA
That concludes topical question time.