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The Scottish Government continues to be committed to finding ways to make sustainable travel modes more attractive and supporting people to take fewer journeys by car. The forthcoming route map to 20% car kilometre reduction will aim to set out our approach to support this recommendation.

The Scottish Government is investing in rail services across Scotland, including the rolling programme of electrification. East Kilbride line electrification is now under way and I have recently announced that ScotRail is to procure replacement trains for the current InterCity High Speed Train fleet. The work continues to develop further procurements to replace and renew the ScotRail fleet as it ages

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Book Trust (SBT) to deliver the Reading Schools programme which represents an inclusive, whole school approach to embedding a reading culture within schools.

SBT commissions independent evaluations of the programme to examine the impact on pupils, learning professionals and schools. All evaluations are published on the Reading Schools website at: https://readingschools.scot/evaluation

The Scottish Government understands that the most recent report on the 2023-24 programme by Research Scotland will be published in the next few weeks and will be publicly available through the Reading Schools website as referenced above.

The Gaelic medium education (GME) sector has distinct development needs in qualifications, teacher support and continuity in secondary education. At all stages, officials in the Gaelic and Scots team have aimed to keep the GME sector aware of developments and encouraged their response to consultations. Most recently, I met with CLAS (Professional Association for Gaelic Secondary School Teachers) on Thursday 12 September.

The replacement of the SQA and changes to our qualifications and assessment approaches have been informed by extensive stakeholder engagement including stakeholders from Gaelic communities. This engagement took place during the Muir Review, the National Discussion on Scottish Education, the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment and consultations on the Scottish Languages and Education (Scotland) Bills.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29410 on 17 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The requested information is provided in the following table.

All applications are made to the overall HOSF programme, and are then carefully assessed by my officials to determine suitability for either Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) or Mortgage to Rent (MTR).

Applicants to HOSF receive advice from accredited money advisers. The advisers offer holistic advice and identify which potential solutions will best meet applicants’ needs. They are appropriately qualified to determine when homeowners meet the HOSF eligibility criteria. This ensures all options and potential solutions have been considered before an application to HOSF is made.

Since 20 March 2022, 96 new applications have been made to the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF), an average of 3 new applications per calendar month.

To date, 47 cases have successfully completed. A further 10 cases have been approved and are in the final stages of conveyancing, due to complete imminently. All successful applications since 20 March 2022 have been Mortgage to Rent cases.

3 cases received during this period did not meet the eligibility criteria and were deemed ineligible. These cases represent a small proportion of overall intake and are the result of unforeseen issues that could not be resolved. For example, where alterations were made to the property without having the correct building consents in place.

The Scottish Government’s Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics primarily focus on prosecutions and convictions in criminal courts. However,­­ they also include some non-court disposals, including police-issued Antisocial Behaviour Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) and COPFS-issued FPNs. The former are not used for shoplifting offences and the latter are only very rarely used for them. The most recent data show no FPNs issued for shoplifting since 2018-19.

The recruitment of officers and staff is a matter for the Chief Constable, The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

The Chief Constable confirmed that our investment will enable Police Scotland to recruit enough officers to increase numbers back to the region of 16,500 to 16,600 officers in 2024-25. Throughout this financial year the Scottish Government budget has allowed for planned intakes of around 1300 recruits, which is more than at any time since 2013.

Police Scotland has commenced transformative work to develop a new operating model and three-year business plan. It is important the Chief Constable has the flexibility to develop her workforce in a way that responds to the challenges she faces and ensures Police Scotland can continue to tackle high threat, harm, and risk in all of Scotland’s communities.

In November 2021 we committed to increasing residential rehabilitation capacity from 425 to 650 beds and to increasing the number of statutory-funded placements by 300%, so that by 2026 1,000 people are publicly funded for their placement.

From a baseline of an estimated 425 beds in 2021, we provided funding for 140 additional residential rehabilitation beds through our Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Fund. Of this amount, 36 are now operational, with a further 34 due to open across Aberdeenshire and the Highlands and Islands in the coming months. The remainder will become operational over 2025-2026.

The increased investment has also led to a number of privately-funded developments within the sector, which contribute towards our overall bed target. Scottish Government analysts are collecting updated data about current capacity in Scotland, including these wider developments, which when published will provide a public record for progress against our commitments by March 2026.

Public Health Scotland's June report found ‘the available evidence suggests that the Scottish Government is on track to hit its target of 1,000 individuals per year publicly funded to go to rehab by 2026.’ The statistics show that in the full financial year 2023-24, 938 placements were approved.