Maree Todd

It is important not to stigmatise the use of antidepressants or other mental health medicines.

My eye is absolutely on the ball.

It’s really painful that what we’ve seen is a rise in drugs deaths in 2025 compared to the year before. I would have hoped, with all of the work that we are doing across the system, we wouldn’t be facing that situation.

By restricting the promotion of less healthy food and drink we can make it easier for people to make healthier choices, improving health and wellbeing and creating a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight.

The increase in deaths involving cocaine, and the continued threat from dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, must drive more coordinated action across the country.

Each and every death is a tragedy, and even more so because every life lost to drug harms is preventable.

Against an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply, this rise is deeply concerning and unacceptable.

My heartfelt condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one to drug use.

We have taken action to support women and health professionals to learn more about menstrual health issues such as endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options but we know there is still a long way to go.

Responsibility for professional development sits with individual healthcare professionals, employers, Public Service Delivery (PSD) Scotland, the royal colleges and other professional bodies.

While this funding will enable services to resume from October, I recognise that islanders have lost confidence in the reliability of these links.

The Scottish Government has confirmed almost £1.8 million to continue supporting flights between Wick John O’Groats Airport and Aberdeen and the introduction of Glasgow flights.

I thank the Royal College for their report which highlights a number of important issues.

The Scottish Government’s new joint Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan is backed by record funding of more than £160 million in 2026-27 and we have also launched a new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, which will provide £36.9 million to frontline…

The funding is fantastic news for Caithness, adding that it is a significant step forward in improving connectivity for far-north communities.

I hear directly from athletes how much it means to them to represent Scotland on the world stage, and the Commonwealth Games, for many of our athletes, is the only opportunity for that to happen.

We're really disappointed.

The Scottish Government were very clear we wanted the Games to be available on free-to-air so that everyone across the UK could share in the event.

To quote Burns, if only we could see ourselves as others see us.

It is a glaring gap that in 100 years there hasn’t been an African-hosted Commonwealth Games and I think Scotland has played a part in making that a possibility.

A diagnosis is just one part of someone's experience. What matters most is that people get the right support at the right time.

It’s a really important multi-sport event, and it wasn’t going to happen if Scotland didn’t step in.

What I would love for people to understand is that only Scotland could have done this.

I think in future there will be opportunities for smaller countries to collaborate.