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This information is not held by the Scottish Government and responsibility for such rests with the British Transport Police and Police Scotland respectively.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. The member may wish to contact Network Rail.

Scottish Government committed to reviewing the home education guidance in December 2019. This has now been updated following thorough consultation with stakeholders and the general public.

The updated guidance will be published on 23 January 2025 on the Government website here https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836911357

The updated home education guidance reflects the changing context in which home education takes place in Scotland and sets out a child’s rights-based approach to home education.

Scottish Ministers want all those involved in a child’s education to be informed and equipped regarding home education, to better understand the circumstances and choices made by parents, and the responsibilities that parents take on when choosing to home educate.

With this updated guidance, Scottish Ministers continue to encourage local authorities and parents to work together to develop trust, mutual respect and a positive relationship that functions in the best educational interests of the child.

We know that people who inject drugs are at higher risk of contracting blood borne viruses (BBVs), bacterial infections and injection site wounds.

The Scottish Government has committed to effectively eliminating hepatitis C (HCV) as a public health threat in Scotland and to driving improvement through focusing on intensifying case finding and treatment initiation, and ensuring that people who inject drugs have access to, and take up, i) optimal harm reduction services and ii) if deemed clinically ready, antiviral therapy to prevent the onward transmission of infection.

The Scottish Governments ‘Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan’ also aims for everyone in Scotland to have good sexual health and wellbeing, with high quality, innovative, sexual health and BBV prevention, care and support available to those who need it, in a timely manner and irrespective of age, sex, gender, sexual identity or location. We have allocated multi-year funding to a range of projects alongside the action plan which will drive improvement in the areas identified.

In addition, the ‘HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan’ sets out prioritised actions towards achieving our goal of zero people contracting HIV within Scotland by 2030. This aligns with wider global strategic aims, including UNAIDS’ goal “to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.” Alongside the plan we have funded a National Coordinator post to oversee coordination of this Delivery Plan and to work with locally identified HIVTE Champions at NHS Board level towards delivery of actions to support elimination.

Specifically in Glasgow, The WAND (Wound management, Assessment of injecting risk, Naloxone supply and Dry blood-spot test for BBV) model has been implemented in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. WAND has proved effective in engaging with people who inject drugs and who are not in contact with traditional services, reflecting the requirement of MAT Standard 4, and providing them with a unique level of support to address these issues. Other areas are also trailing the model.

The number of publicly funded rural schools in Scotland since 2013 is set out in the following table. Schools were counted as rural if the postcode of the school was classified as accessible rural and remote rural under the Scottish Government’s 6-fold urban rural classification system. Information on a comparable basis is not available prior to 2013.

Our next formal update will be as part of a parliamentary debate currently planned for early June, subject to ministerial and parliamentary timetables. It is planned that this debate will focus on AI and its current and future impact in the Health sector.

However the Scottish AI Alliance provide monthly updates on the meeting of the Scottish AI Taskforce. This group of public servants meet to discuss and share AI challenges and opportunities, with the intention of avoiding duplication and ensuring shared best practice. These meetings offer a good overview of the public sector approach to AI, and you can find minutes and details from these meeting on the Alliance website. Public Sector AI - Taskforce — Scottish AI Alliance

We are also currently working on our response to the recent publication of the UK Government AI Action Plan, and that response will include a public sector component.

The AI Register remains the intended source of publicly available information on AI in use across the Scottish public sector. Work is on-going to encourage use across Scotland and to build completion of the register into our procurement and development processes.

Implementation and evaluation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 is managed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this strategy as it continues into 2026. Recommendations and actions are continually reviewed by MSN CYPC and the 2023-24 MSN CYPC Annual Report has been published on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.Inhs.scot.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes annual data on 16 to 25 year olds with cancer in Scotland in their incidence statistics. The latest report is available on the PHS website

PHS also publishes information on cancer in children (ages 0 to 14) and young people (ages 15 to 24) in Scotland

Children and young people with cancer in Scotland 9 May 2023 - Children and young people with cancer in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Higher Education Capital Funding, which includes the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) core funding for research and knowledge exchange has increased by £11.4m (3.2%) to £368.3m for 2025-26. This will enable us to continue to protect our core grant funding and portfolio of research, knowledge exchange and innovation investments, including Innovation Centres, delivered via the SFC

Scottish Government continue to work with the SFC and the sector on implications and allocation of this budget in line with the usual process. Final allocations are expected to be announced in late May.

The number of discharges from Scottish acute inpatient hospitals is presented in the following table. These figures do not include mental health facilities. These discharge figures have been produced using the Public Health Scotland SMR01 dataset which does not hold details of support provided on discharge.

Details of discharges from Scottish acute hospitals where the patient was recorded as having no fixed abode at hospital admission.