Publication - FOI/EIR release

Strategic Network for the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 information and Long Covid Support Fund queries: FOI release

Published: 7 January 2026
Directorate: Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate
Topic: Health and social care, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202500484092
Date received: 10 September 2025
Date responded: 8 October 2025

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

1. The (a) meeting minutes, (b) full subgroup membership, and (c) any corresponding documents for the Scottish Government’s Strategic Network for the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19.

2. Whether any of the £4.5m Long Covid Support Fund, announced in the 2024-25 budget, has been spent.

3. Whether any of the £4.5m Long Covid Support Fund, announced in the 2024-25 budget, has been allocated or ringfenced to paediatric services.

Response

1. The National Strategic Network for Long term effects of COVID-19 is hosted by National Services Directorate (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS).

1a) I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, in documents 1-7, 10, 11, 14-18, and 20-31. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under section 38(1)(b) (Personal information) and Section 30(c) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) of FOISA applies to that information.

The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in Annex A of this response.

1b) While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because the Scottish Government does not hold full subgroup membership of the National Strategic Network for Long term effects of COVID-19. As noted above, the Network is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland rather than the Scottish Government.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

1c) For the purposes of responding to this request, we have interpreted the term ‘corresponding documents’ to refer to documents equivalent to meeting minutes or full subgroup membership. I therefore enclose copies of action logs in documents 8, 9, 12, 13 and 19. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (Personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

The reason why this exemption applies is explained in Annex A of this response.

2) For the purposes of responding to this request, it is anticipated that your question relates to the £4.5 million resource contained in the 2025-26 (as opposed to 2024-25) budget for new specialist support for long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and other similar conditions.

£4,466,000 of this resource was allocated to territorial NHS Boards in their allocation schedules for September 2025. Further information including a breakdown by Board can be obtained in the answer to S6W-40743 accessible on the Scottish Parliament website.

3) For the purposes of responding to this request, it is anticipated that your question relates to the £4.5 million resource contained in the 2025-26 (as opposed to 2024-25) budget for new specialist support for long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and other similar conditions.

The Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) has been used to inform the allocation of the resource to territorial NHS Boards, which exercise responsibilities in relation to planning, commissioning and delivering healthcare services, and take overall responsibility for the health and wellbeing of the populations they serve.

In allocating resource, the Scottish Government has requested that NHS Boards consider what would be needed to extend provision for these conditions to paediatric services if there is an identified need for that in their board. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health’s letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, dated 1 October provides information on activities Boards plan to take forward supported by the resource, including initiatives intended to meet the needs of children and young people.

Annex A

38(1)(b) – Personal information

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names or personal health information and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

30(c) - prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (Prejudice to the Effective Conduct of Public Affairs) applies to some of the information requested. The reason why this exemption applies is because releasing draft minutes which were subject to request for amendment for the purposes of factual accuracy would result in inaccurate information being published, thereby undermining the ability of the Network to operate in an effective manner.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because it relates to an issue of concern to the public. However, this is outweighed by the public interest as disclosure of this information would otherwise prejudice substantially the effective conduct of public affairs on this matter.

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