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The theft of railway materials is an important issue. It is for the police to enforce criminal laws such as theft and the Scottish Government fully supports the police taking the necessary action to hold perpetrators to account.

In terms of the resale of stolen railway materials, attempts may be made to sell these to metal dealers.

There is a licensing scheme for metal dealers and itinerant metal dealers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”). The Scottish Government has taken action to raise standards within the industry, and make it more difficult for metal thieves to convert the proceeds of crime into cash. These changes were made via the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”), which amended the 1982 Act, strengthening and modernising the existing regime.

The 2015 Act provided new definitions for metal dealer and itinerant metal dealer, thereby extending the scope of the regime. It tightened record keeping arrangements and required proper identification of customers. It also increased penalties for licensing offences.

In more detail, the 2015 Act raised the penalties for failure to have an appropriate metal dealer or itinerant metal dealer licence, or failure to comply with licence conditions. The maximum penalty on summary conviction for operating without a licence without reasonable excuse, or for operating in breach of a condition of a licence, was increased to a fine not exceeding £20,000 and/or imprisonment of no longer than six months. The 2015 Act also amended the 1982 Act to provide for forms of payment that may be accepted by a metal dealer or itinerant metal dealer. This permits payment by bank transfer or cheque and means cash is not an acceptable method of payment.

The Scottish Government published the Government response to the EPC Reform consultation on 21 January 2025 [1]. This confirms that we will lay revised EPC regulations in Parliament during 2025, to come into force in 2026. These regulations will introduce an improved EPC rating system to give consumers better information on the fabric energy efficiency of their building and on the emissions and efficiency of their heating system, as well as on potential improvements they could make to both. We will also retain the rating on modelled energy costs which consumer testing tells us is so important to them at this time of sustained high energy prices. That user testing has, in addition, allowed consumers to tell us how to make the design and accessibility of EPCs better, and we can confirm that introduction of a redesigned certificate will coincide with the regulations bringing the new rating system into force.

[1] https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836912408.

Please see below for a breakdown of the collective advertising spend given to community radio stations over the past five financial years, as the 2024-25 financial year is not yet complete the information is not included. This breakdown includes a list of the stations that received advertising spend within each year. Information on individual spend per radio station is not available to us as this is deemed commercially sensitive.

The National Entitlement Card allows the holder to access rail concession schemes, where such schemes exist. It is a feature of these Local Authority sponsored schemes that tickets may only be purchased in face-to-face transactions – either at ticket offices or on board a train. The Scottish Government specifies that all ScotRail trains should have a member of staff on board and therefore these concessionary fares are always available for eligible passengers.

The distribution of doctors in training is managed by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). This has traditionally worked within a distribution model of 50:25:15:10 for the West, South East, North and East respectively.

Aligning to Scottish Government commitments, which include the remote and rural and island initiatives, NES have been reviewing alignment to population health data, consultant and GP vacancies and an increased need for generalism. This review is leading to a redistribution of where doctors train recognising the changing locations and demographics of our population.

Advertising effectiveness is evaluated in a range of ways. Firstly, figures are provided to show the reach (how many people we reached) and frequency (how many times we reached them), both overall and by advertising channel. These figures are calculated by the Scottish Government’s independent media planning and buying agencies, using audited sector data where available.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS is a member of the Institute of Customer Service and participates in an annual Business Benchmarking Survey. The survey focusses on evaluating customer satisfaction levels. In 2024, 85.7% of customers were satisfied with the services delivered by NRS, set against a public services national average of 73.6%.

When exploring any changes or improvements in service provision, NRS engages with customers through appropriate survey channels. NRS monitors customer use of services through quarterly reporting. NRS operates various social media platforms that are used to engage with the public and gather feedback.

NRS also continues to review its KPIs on a yearly basis to reflect use of services.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS has differing processing times depending on the nature of the request. NRS monitors these timescales through robust Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are regularly reviewed and refined, taking into account customer feedback through all of our channels.

Currently, all the timescales are being met at 98% and above. Details of KPIs and the latest associated performance measures can be found on page 13 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS regularly releases digitised records and archives through the Scotland’s People website, with the numbers reported on Page 22 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.

NRS continues to digitise, as standard, any paper birth death and marriage records submitted by local registrars. Imaging is also carried out on demand for stakeholders and customers.

Registers of Scotland is a non-Ministerial Public Body answerable to the Scottish Parliament and is subject to regular scrutiny from the Economy and Fair Work Committee, including on the work it is delivering to improve operational efficiency.

The Scottish Government has visibility of the strategic objectives set out in the RoS Corporate Plan 2022-2027, including the work outlined therein to improve operational efficiency and reduce headcount. The Scottish Government receives regular reporting on the progress with these aspects through the various Public Service Reform commissions.