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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 of public service pensions - those for teachers, police, firefighters and health service workers.

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 police officers to the end of 2025.

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond to specific points. His response is as follows:

The delivery of RSS facilitates the choice of benefits members may take, and they have a period of 12 months to make it. When that election is made, SPPA aim to make any necessary adjustments to pension benefits as soon as reasonably practicable. Any pension arrears payable to members includes interest calculated from the date the arrears arose.

With the large number of individuals in scope of the McCloud remedy, it has been necessary for communications to retired members to be managed through the SPPA website rather than being targeted but communications plans are being refined following engagement with stakeholders.

SPPA has published timelines for the delivery of RSS. These are available on the SPPA website and will be kept up to date.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of offences involving the alleged use of an air weapon (where identified) between 2009-10 and 2021-22. This has been split into two time periods, 2009-10 to 2014-15 and 2015-16 to 2021-22. The reason for this specific split is the introduction of an improved methodology for collating these statistics from 2015-16 onwards. As such the two time periods are not directly comparable as the earlier one is likely to contain a small degree of underestimation.. Further information on the change in methodology and the presentation of data by single years is available at Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22 - gov.scot.

The latest Crimes and offences involving a firearm Official Statistics relate to 2021-22. Future updates will follow the conclusion of a further review by analysts from Scottish Government and Police Scotland into the methodology for producing this data. Unlike other crime-based official statistics, the current approach relies on the manual review of crime records to identify relevant cases, which is resource intensive and requires significant time to complete. An update on the outcome of this work is planned for early Autumn, and users can register for this through the SCOTSTAT network (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotstat-register-guidance/)

Crimes involving the alleged use of an air weapon 2009-10 to 2021-22

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to investigate a new rail link connecting Edinburgh airport to the current Edinburgh to Glasgow rail line.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review, published in 2022, did consider this but did not identify this as a priority for investment given the current opportunities that exist for air passengers travelling by rail from Glasgow and the west, to interchange with the Edinburgh Tram service to the airport.

The Government remains committed to supporting sustainable and integrated transport solutions that strengthen Scotland’s connectivity and economic resilience.

Rail accessibility is reserved to the UK Government.

The number of stations that are currently classed as not step free is 68 which is 19% of stations on the Scottish rail network.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving access at rail stations, over and above UK Government programmes, which is evidenced by STPR2 Recommendation 19.

As outlined in my letter to the Criminal Justice Committee on 22 July 2025, I remain committed to giving the proposal to introduce a standalone offence of non-fatal strangulation serious consideration. As part of that process our Programme for Government detailed that we will carry out a comprehensive assessment of the relevant law in order to determine next steps. I will keep Parliament updated as this work progresses.

The following table shows the total number of admissions across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for patients normally residing in Scotland, for each financial year since 2021 where complete data is available. Consideration should be given to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic when interpreting these data.

The total admissions includes emergency and elective admission episodes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

The data requested is gathered by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and is provided in the following table.

Number of paramedics currently working in Scotland:

2,156.6 WTE

Number of Newly Qualified Paramedics who entered the NHS (in Scotland) in each of the last five years:

2020-21 = 24

2021-22 = 58

2022-23 = 47

2023-24 = 179

2024-25 = 181

You should note that the Scottish Ambulance Service received the first applications from Newly Qualified Paramedics with Scottish qualifications in April 2023. The numbers above include NQP applicants from across the UK.

Individuals are currently in training to become paramedics:

985

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting businesses, including SMEs, to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI). As part of the Programme for Government, we have committed to launching AI Scotland, our national transformation programme, which is founded on a strong partnership between business, academia, public agencies, and government. This programme is designed to accelerate AI adoption across sectors and ensure access to AI tools and expertise.

To support SMEs specifically we are also delivering on:

• The AI Playbook, which is being delivered by the AI Alliance and has been updated to better serve business audiences, offering a one-stop-shop for practical guidance, case studies, and resources tailored to the needs of SMEs.
• The Scottish AI Alliance has hosted a series of workshops with SMEs to understand their challenges and opportunities in adopting AI. Insights from these sessions are informing future support mechanisms.
• We are working with a senior governance group, which includes business leaders, to ensure that the AI Scotland programme remains responsive to the needs of industry and delivers meaningful impact for businesses of all sizes.

Further support is also being explored through enterprise agencies and innovation centres to ensure that SMEs can access the skills, infrastructure, and funding needed to integrate AI into their operations.