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The latest available estimates from the Scottish Household Survey 2023 (available here: Households in Scotland by housing tenure: Scottish Household Survey, 2023 - gov.scot show that between 90,000-110,000 households are on housing lists and 7,000-14,000 of these households had applied for social housing using a choice based letting system or similar within the last year. These estimates include some households already living in social rented housing, looking to transfer to a different home. Estimates from the 2024 Scottish Household Survey are scheduled for publication at the end of 2025.

Since its inception, the Scottish Government has provided approximately £23 million, exclusive of VAT, to the Techscaler programme. Techscaler supports a network of over 1,260 startups across Scotland, offering tailored support, education, mentoring, workspace and peer learning events. Since joining the programme, members have raised more than £195 million in investment, demonstrating the health of Scotland’s tech ecosystem and highlights Scotland’s growing reputation as a leading tech hub.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a cost-benefit analysis of 24/7 thrombectomy provision.

Research suggests that, on average, every patient treated with a thrombectomy procedure could save the NHS £47,000 over five years, due to the reduction in length of hospital stays and a reduced need for social care input. This economic benefit is in addition to the significant improvements in outcome and quality of life for patients.

To ensure transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation of the Techscaler programme following my committee appearance in 2024. EKOS were formally appointed in December 2024 to carry out this evaluation. The findings will be published in full and made publicly available by early 2026.

The Scottish Government routinely analyses labour market data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The latest ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) statistics for April 2024 – March 2025 show that the estimated economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 64 in Scotland was 23.4% compared to 21.6% for the UK. They also show 34.6% of inactive people aged 16 to 64 in Scotland gave their reason for being inactive as “long-term sick or disabled”, compared to 28.4% for the UK.

Reducing economic inactivity can have economic benefits. Scottish Government analysis published in October 2024 indicated that even a relatively small increase of 0.25 percentage points in the economic activity rate could boost GDP in the long-term by around 0.1%, or around £180 million each year (in 2024-25 prices). This analysis is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-economic-insights-october-2024/

The economic impact of beavers have been the subject of various reports to date with a focus on impacts on farmers in Tayside. This includes a collation of impacts on land use in the Tayside Beaver Study Group final report 2015 and a Commissioned Report 805: Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study carried out by SRUC (2015).

These reports point to most of the negative impacts occurring in intensively farmed lowland areas, with the costs being variable from a few hundred pounds to £10,000.

The Tayside beaver socio-economic impact study sought to establish a method for assessing the costs and benefits associated with beaver presence. Questionnaire responses from 111 land managers collated costs incurred to farmland and crops.

The study also collated modest figures for economic benefits largely around eco-tourism and found the non-use values may be considerable. They concluded ‘Taking these estimates in aggregate, the benefits of beaver tolerance are likely to outweigh the costs incurred, which can themselves be lowered by appropriate management and mitigation measures’.

Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework.

In 2016, Scottish Government legislation came into force that increased the maximum sentence for weapons possession from four years to five years. The average length of custodial sentence for weapons possession in 2022-23 was 332 days; this compares with 218 days in 2007-08 and represents an increase of 52%.

Through the Beaver Management Framework introduced when beavers were granted European Protected Status in 2019, NatureScot can provide licences to prevent serious damage to agriculture and NatureScot provide free advice and operate a mitigation scheme that can support a range of interventions primarily designed to support living with beavers in the landscape. However, there is no compensation available to land managers for costs incurred due to beaver activity.

Under the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations, it is the responsibility of those applying to translocate/release wildlife to consult with a) farmers, and b) landowners, on these proposals.

NatureScot’s guidance for beaver translocations recommends as a minimum this should include ‘All land managers likely to be impacted and their representative bodies - National Farmers Union for Scotland and Scottish Land and Estates’.

NatureScot would expect to see evidence of the nature and findings of this engagement submitted with an application. In their role as licensing Authority, NatureScot have carried out further engagement with neighbouring farmers and land managers in a few cases where concerns had been raised. This has allowed them to better understand the likely scale and nature of impacts and how they may be mitigated and has informed their decision making.

NatureScot’s direct spend on beaver advice and mitigation since 2020 is as follows: