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The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) publishes the number of bankruptcies by local authority area in the Annual Scottish Statutory Debt Solutions statistics publication. The latest available data for the April 2023 – March 2024 are available here: Scottish Statutory Debt Solution Statistics 2023-24: Comprehensive Excel Tables | Accountant in Bankruptcy the number of bankruptcies by local authority are on the sheet labelled Table_la_2a.

The 2024-25 publication is due for release on the 27 August 2025 where these figures will be updated.

The Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) to support the design, development, and delivery of active travel infrastructure measures across all 32 Local Authorities has been approved for 2025-26 with the settlement letter issued for £37.5 million. In addition, I announced in May over £26 million for ATIF construction projects with grant offer letters having been issued to the successful Local Authorities accordingly. Sustrans funding for the National Cycle Network and embedded officers has also been approved and will be awarded shortly. ATIF for design is yet to be awarded.

The delivery of the McCloud Remedy is the key priority for the SPPA, balancing the significant and complex work associated with delivery alongside routine administration.

The scale of challenge that SPPA has faced in delivering the McCloud Remedy cannot be overstated and is one shared by other public sector pension scheme managers across the UK. Although progress is being made, SPPA took the difficult decision to extend the target date of 31 July 2025 for delivery to retired officers to the end of 2025.

This did not constitute a regulatory breach as the extension was made in accordance with the legislation. The SPPA CEO has discussed the decision with both the Pensions Regulator and the Scottish Police Pension Board, and SPPA has written to the remaining members directly to ensure they are kept informed.

SPPA has invested time and personnel to address this broader exercise and has introduced new automated processes that will begin to deliver at pace. SPPA has already delivered approximately 98% of RSS to serving officers and 85% of RSS to retired officers. The remaining cases are more complex, and will take longer to complete manually as they cannot yet be produced through automated processes.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. Our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 set out a comprehensive approach to improving cancer outcomes, with earlier and fast diagnosis a key ambition.

We are working in partnership with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and NHS Boards to increase awareness of liver disease and support for early detection and treatment. This includes developing a nationwide model for the early detection of alcohol-related liver disease, building on learning from the innovative intelligent Liver Function Testing (iLFT) pilot pioneered by NHS Tayside and the Scottish Government through the National Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD).

The Scottish Government does not have any current plans to review the number of NHS Boards.

In the NHS Scotland Service Renewal Plan, we have already committed to the creation of a new single body called ‘NHS Delivery’, which will bring together the existing functions of NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland, and will allow us to review and consolidate other crosscutting delivery functions.

We will continue to strengthen collaboration across NHS Bodies to ensure a more strategic, population-based approach to planning and keep governance arrangements under review to ensure they support the needs of Scotland's population and deliver best value for public services.

There is a strong tradition of partnership working between local authorities, particularly through Regional Economic Partnerships. This partnership is a key way that services can be delivered more efficiently, and opportunities can be scaled. This is exemplified by the Northeast Regional Economic Partnership, involving Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, who are delivering the Northeast Investment Zone in partnership with both the Scottish and UK Governments.

Regional Economic Partnerships are delivered via bespoke regional arrangements, and many other examples of joint working are on a case-by-case basis, so formal monitoring of the “level” of joint working would not be possible.

However, the Scottish Government has committed in the Programme for Government to working with local authorities and other key partners, to identify how to strengthen these partnership arrangements. This work is not yet complete, and it would not be possible to comment on outcomes at this time.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Lancet Commission’s research, which highlights that up to 60% of liver cancer cases are preventable through reducing alcohol consumption, tackling obesity, and increasing hepatitis vaccination.

Preventing more cancers is a key ambition of our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026. We are taking actions to reduce the consumption of alcohol, to promote healthy weight, increase hepatitis vaccinations and to address health inequalities – all key contributors to liver cancer risk.

These include delivering on the 20 actions within our Alcohol Framework which sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm, developing an implementation plan of preventative actions to improve Scotland’s food environment and continuing to target support for babies born to hepatitis B positive mothers. Encouragingly, Public Health Scotland (PHS) published data shows strong uptake of the hepatitis B vaccine in children (over 94%).

We are also working with PHS and NHS Boards to strengthen adult vaccination uptake, improve data systems, and reduce inequalities in access to vaccination.

Revenue expenditure from the Housing Revenue Account in North Ayrshire Council is detailed in Table 1. Revenue expenditure is the cost of delivering services each year and includes loan charges, supervision and management, repairs and maintenance, allowances for bad debts and other expenditure.

Table 1 - Housing Revenue Account Revenue Expenditure Summary, North Ayrshire, Year Ending 31st March, £ Millions.

As I mentioned during the Scottish Government’s response at the debate on 26 June 2025 to Motion S6M-17969: Action to Address the Impact of Gulls in Scotland, I will chair a summit in Inverness later this year.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with NatureScot on the agenda and final arrangements for the session, including the attendee list. The summit will focus on bringing together those who are managing gulls effectively with those who are facing the most negative impacts of gulls to address the question of how we can mitigate the negative impacts going forward and the actions we need to take ahead of next year.

The amount paid to polling companies in each of the last five years for which data is available is set out in the following table. Spend information for 2024-25 is currently not held and will be available later this year. Data on which topics the polls were held could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.