Tag: FOI request

Local MP exposes lack of consistent surrogacy guidance across Scotland’s health boards

Tracy Gilbert, Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North and Leith, has today (Friday 4 September 2026) raised concerns over a lack of consistent guidance for midwives across Scotland caring for surrogate mothers and babies.

Through Freedom of Information requests the Edinburgh North and Leith MP has uncovered serious gaps in vital guidance for midwives and wider clinical teams when supporting births where a surrogacy arrangement is in place.

Tracy Gilbert’s FOI requests to all of Scotland’s NHS Boards found that only NHS Ayrshire & Arran and NHS Fife have active guidance in place for midwives and clinical teams on the care and treatment of surrogate mothers and babies.

Of the remaining NHS Boards:

  • Five have no policy at all
  • Four have a policy where the review is overdue
  • One has a policy currently in draft form
  • One referred to Department of Health and Social Care guidance

The Edinburgh North and Leith MP raised the issue during a debate on the Infants, Parents and Carers Bill in the House of Commons, warning that midwives and maternity teams should not be left to navigate these legal, clinical and safeguarding issues without clear and up-to-date guidance.

Tracy warned that the lack of consistent guidance could leave maternity staff without the information they need to ensure surrogate mothers and babies receive the best possible care.

Speaking after raising the issue in Parliament, Tracy Gilbert MP said: “Every mother and baby deserves the very best care with their needs put first in all decisions. However, I have exposed worrying gaps in the guidance available in some areas of the country for staff caring for families involved in surrogacy.

In many cases midwives will come across no or very few surrogacy cases in their careers; up-to-date guidance is therefore even more essential so that those midwives have access to the support and signposting that they need.

“The Scottish Government should now make sure that health boards across Scotland have this important guidance in place.”

An overview of the findings of the FOIs across health boards is as follows:

NHS Ayrshire and ArranPolicy in place Dec 2025, due for review in Dec 2028
NHS BordersPolicy in place March 2022, Review overdue (March 2025)
NHS Dumfries and GallowayRefer to Department for Health and Social Care guidance
NHS FifeFirst policy effective from May 2026, to be reviewed May 2029
NHs Forth Valley – First guidanceApril 2015, reviewed October 2021, review overdue (October 2024)
NHS GrampianNo guidance
NHS Greater Glasgow and ClydeNo guidance
NHS HighlandsGuidance in draft
NHS LothianGuidance in place Feb 2022, review overdue (Jan 2023)
NHS OrkneyNo guidance
NHS ShetlandNo policy
NHS TaysidePolicy put in place Jan 2019, review overdue (Aug 2025)
NHS Western IslesNo guidance

Forth Ports poured cold water on Wardie Bay wild swimming plans

Following a Freedom of Information request the Scottish Government has released the following submission from Forth Ports:

Wardie Bay was not included on the list of Scotland’s designated bathing waters when it was published on 1st July.

The Wardie Bay Beachwatch environmental group appealed the decision and received the following response from the Scottish Government’s Environmental Quality Unit last month:

Thank you for your letter to Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, about the application for Bathing Waters designation at Wardie Bay, Edinburgh. Bathing Waters fall under the remit of Mairi McAllan, Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform, and I have been asked to reply.

The Bathing Waters Review Panel is multi-stakeholder group, chaired by SEPA, that considers and reviews the list of bathing waters, including new applications for designation and provides recommendations to Scottish Ministers. The Panel met on 8 December 2020 and made recommendations to the Minister for Wardie Bay bathing water designation application in May 2021.

The panel recognised numerous positive aspects of the Wardie Bay application and agreed that user number criteria was met in 2020 and seemed sustainable. However, Forth Ports provided a submission which mentioned swimmer safety in relation to offshore vessel/harbour activity, and this would have to be managed by clear beach management and bather information.

The relevant local authority, City of Edinburgh Council, indicated overall support in principle for the application. However, despite the Transport and Environment committee outcomes you mention in your letter, there are still on-going discussions at Committee level on their current roles and resource to perform beach management functions.

As beach management is a key criteria for designation, until such times as the City of Edinburgh Council concludes its deliberations on these matters, the Panel was unable to recommend designation.

Having considered the Panel’s advice on the circumstances at Wardie Bay, the Minister accepted the Panel’s recommendation that Wardie Bay is not designated as a bathing water at this time, noting that the outcome of the Council’s current deliberations on beach management will inform the Panel’s future recommendation regarding this location.

I hope you find this information helpful.

The group’s petition to have Wardie Bay included on the list of designated bathing waters remains live on Change.org – over 1730 people have signed so far.