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VAT is a reserved matter and outwith the responsibility of the Scottish Government. This includes decisions on the interaction between VAT and the visitor levy. The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act allows for local authorities to make the levy not payable by accommodation which has an annual turnover below the VAT threshold. This in effect, exempts small businesses from the visitor levy.

This information is not currently held centrally.

As part of delivering Section 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, we will prepare an annual report for parliament later this year covering the year of 2024-25. This will include both the characteristics of those involved and the specific prejudices shown by the perpetrators.

Police Scotland have published management information which details the total number of hate crimes recorded by them during 2024-25, by quarter and protected characteristic. This is available in Table 4 of their Quarter 4 Force Quarterly Bulletin 2024/25.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the work required to research, analyse and collate the data for each requested year would quickly breach the PQ cost threshold.

Some of the information is available on the Scottish Government website in the annual Budget documents, which will include budget allocations for some public bodies. Links to these are included below. The information only goes back to 2015-16 when Scottish Government revised its approach to provide greater transparency. Prior to this, spend on public bodies was generally amalgamated into portfolio budgets.

2023-24: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2023-24/documents/
2022-23: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2022-23/documents/
2021-22: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2021-22/documents/
2020-21: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2020-21/documents/
2019-20: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2019-20/documents/
2018-19: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-draft-budget-2018-19/documents/
2017-18: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-budget-draft-budget-2017-18/documents/
2016-17: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-finances-key-facts-figures/documents/
2015-16: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/id/eprint/21090/1/00460440.pdf

Further information may also be found on some public bodies’ funding in their published audited accounts, which can be found online on their websites. Links to these is provided in the National public bodies directory (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/).

The information requested is not held centrally.

Whilst the Scottish Government publish data on both Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, these are based on distinct and unlinked data sets and it is not possible to directly compare them.

New information will be published later this year as part of delivering Section 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which requires an annual report to parliament on the characteristics of hate crime in Scotland. This will include the total number of hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland in 2024-25, and the number that were cleared up (i.e. where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law to justify consideration of criminal proceedings).

In addition to the above, the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal service have also published Hate crime in Scotland, 2024-25.This provides details on hate crime-related charges reported to COPFS in Scotland, including decisions on how those charges will proceed (such as to Court proceedings, direct measures, no action etc.)

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Police Scotland on matters of relevant and shared interest, including preventing and tackling hate crime in Scotland.

Annual bulletins containing accredited official statistics and information on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland are published by the Scottish Government. Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2023-24 shows that the number of sexual crimes recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24, from 14,602 to 14,484.

That bulletin is clear that whilst there has been a small decrease in the last year, sexual crime has increased significantly since 2010-11. Over the last decade we have seen an increase in confidence to report incidents of sexual crime, in part reflecting a greater awareness and understanding of the issues among society as well as a move towards a more trauma informed and person-centred justice system.

We recognise that multiple factors lie behind the longer term trend of increasing reporting of sexual crime. Our action to tackle sexual offending includes increasing confidence in the justice system so more victims come forward, improving support for victims, modernising the law on sexual offences and investing a record £1.64 billion for policing this year. We continue to take robust action to tackle sexual offending through the Equally Safe Strategy – focusing on prevention, improving our laws, and encouraging more victims to come forward.

We recognise the key role that advocacy services can play in helping and supporting victims through the justice process. That is why the Scottish Government will provide over £32m to 23 organisations between 2025-2027, including £12m for specialist advocacy support, as part of its Victims Centred Approach Fund. In addition, the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill includes new proposals such as the establishment of a sexual offences court which aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our system at holding perpetrators to account whilst improving the experiences of victims and witnesses.

The Scottish Government Cancer Quality Performance Indicators (QPI) programme are vital in ensuring people have access to safe, effective, and person-centred care across Scotland and provides regular assessments of various aspects of cancer care. We work with regional cancer networks to ensure that NHS Boards meet these national standards of quality in cancer services and address any areas of concern to ensure equitable care.

Further to this, Scottish Government established the National Oncology Coordination Group to provide a coordinated and collaborative response to immediate and foreseeable service and capacity pressures. It provides rapid real-time assessment of highest risk services and proactively develops risk mitigation proposals across regions, in line with the overall strategic aim for cancer.

Under the new model, neonatal intensive care will be delivered in three Neonatal Units in Scotland, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

Of the 44,835 births in the year to 31 March 2024, numbers fluctuate, but Public Health Scotland data reports that around 4554 babies, in the same period, were admitted to neonatal care. The vast majority of babies (around 2300) needed Special Care or Transitional Care (delivered on postnatal wards). A further 1,200 needed High Dependency care, and around 800 were admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care. Around 50 – 60 of these babies a year will be affected by the change in model of care and will have their care delivered in one of the three neonatal intensive care units.

Babies will normally be cared for in the unit closest to home. In the north of Scotland, the Aberdeen neonatal unit already cares for babies from Grampian, Highland and the Island Boards, and at times of extreme pressure on neonatal intensive care, may also care for babies from other parts of Scotland.

Under the new model the smallest and sickest Tayside babies would be transferred to Aberdeen or Edinburgh. In 2024, 11 babies were born at less than 27 weeks gestation in Tayside Health Board, plus a small number of babies who require complex intensive care.

Scottish Government commissioned Consulting firm RSM UK Consulting LLP to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model. The report was published on the 29 May 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

The National Oncology Taskforce commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network to undertake an Oncology Workforce Review, completed January 2023 with a proposal for an Oncology Transformation Programme (OTP). We have mobilised the ambitious Oncology Transformation Programme and work to progress this is moving at pace. This includes consideration of workforce and training requirements, recognising that our NHS workforce is fundamental in delivering excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board.

Decisions will depend on the service needs of each board taking account of national, regional and local priorities, and we expect NHS boards to plan and provide safe, effective and high-quality care, in line with their statutory service provision and workforce planning responsibilities.

In line with the requirements of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Scottish Government expects Health Boards to ensure that at all times there are sufficient suitably qualified staff to support the provision of high-quality care.

This includes reviewing staffing levels daily, with decisions regarding real time staffing being made on an ongoing basis.