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Local authorities in Scotland have the powers to issue Penalty Charge Notices if the vehicle has been left beyond the period of parking which has been paid for, as per the Road Traffic Act 1991. Legislation to allow an additional 10 minutes grace period has not been considered in Scotland as there has not been sufficient interest from members of the public or local authorities to do so, however all local authorities can use their own discretion whether to apply a grace period or not.

The project is approaching construction stage and has been assessed by Transport Scotland for construction-ready funding through Tier 2 of the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). Our operating company, BEAR Scotland, has been working with project designers to progress the remaining elements of the design.

In recent weeks, work on the drainage design has concluded while work remains ongoing on the electrical design for the traffic signals. In addition, BEAR Scotland’s environmental team has carried out updated tree and winter hibernation site surveys as well as drafting a site environmental management plan for tendering purposes.

The Raigmore Interchange project applied for in 2024-25 has been included in the 2025-26 ATIF prioritisation list, without the need for reapplication. Since the project has already been assessed, and as early funding allocations remain a key focus, we expect to allocate funding early in the 2025-26 financial year, subject to Scottish Government approval procedures.

The Scottish Government has regular communication with the UK Government and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on a variety of issues affecting the maritime industry in Scotland including related to seafarer welfare.

Whilst shipping safety, seafarer welfare and employment conditions are reserved functions, the Scottish Government is committed to working with the UK Government and the MCA to ensure that these matters are given the highest priority on those vessels accessing Scotland’s waters and ports.

The Scottish Government will invest over a billion pounds (£1,148 million) in 2025-26 in the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands (RALRI) budget to support Scottish farmers, crofters, land managers, islands and rural communities.

We continue to directly support Scottish farmers, crofters and land managers by providing over £660 million, including by maintaining our direct payments to the sector and in ensuring support for those farming and crofting in our upland and most challenging areas of Scotland through the £65.5 million Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS). The 2025-26 budget includes returning £20 million to support transformation and reform in Scotland’s farming and food production industry, as pledged to the sector.

Our Vision for Scottish Agriculture states that farming, crofting and land management will continue to play an important role in maintaining thriving rural and island communities and this is further reaffirmed in the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 objective of enabling rural communities to thrive.

Through the actions in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options, so that waiting times for diagnosis can improve.

This includes the development of an Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland; funding the development of educational resources for healthcare professionals and our Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform which aims to provide women with the information and tools they need to make informed decisions about their health.

The Women’s Health Plan highlights the need to improve the data on women’s health. That is why we published the Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review in November 2024. Improving data on women’s health and on endometriosis will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

There are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision on disability benefit applications, including the time taken to gather the supporting information required to make a decision on an application.

Social Security Scotland continues to work with Local Authorities, Health Boards and GP practices across the country to make it faster and easier for them to send supporting information, and is seeing improvements.

The last nine months of official statistics for Child Disability Payment shows Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year. The latest official statistics publication can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Child Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 December 2024.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication shows Social Security Scotland has made faster decisions on applications over the last year, with average processing times decreasing significantly in the last ten months, when compared to the previous financial year. Latest Adult Disability Payment statistics can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2025

Social Security Scotland has a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, and anyone in Scotland diagnosed with a terminal illness by their healthcare professional can apply for disability benefits under Special Rules for Terminal Illness. Published data shows that applications under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness are currently processed within three working days for Child Disability Payment and two working days for Adult Disability Payment.

The number of applications that the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) has received from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) over the last ten years, including those which have been referred to the Planning & Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) for a public inquiry, and instances in which Scottish Ministers have agreed with the DPEA’s recommendations, are as follows:

The Scottish Government does not publish local authority level data for the items requested.

Scottish Government does, however, publish related data on language learning and teaching at a national level. The table below provides a summary of data from the biennial 1+2 languages survey, summarising provision of language teaching for the first additional language (known as “L2”) and the second additional language (known as “L3”) in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the availability of safe and effective medicines that people in Scotland would benefit from. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) assesses the clinical and cost effectiveness of newly licensed medicines on a once for Scotland basis and publishes advice for Health Boards to consider. It is expected that Health Board Area & Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs) will consider making a SMC recommended medicine, or an equivalent, available on their local or regional formulary for routine prescribing within 90 days of SMC advice being published.

Health Boards are expected to apply common principles and processes in the introduction of newly licensed medicines to facilitate consistency of approach to local decision-making. The decision to prescribe a medicine, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely for the clinician in charge of a person’s care, having considered their clinical condition, their safety, and any relevant clinical guidance.

Total known direct costs were £7,792.64 including VAT. This covered publishing costs for the main report and the supporting evidence paper - A Review of Antisocial Behaviour in Scotland - Data Survey and Literature Review; travel expenses of any members/officers who claimed for in-person attendance at meetings and fact-finding visits to two local authority areas; and teas/coffees for meetings.

Members provided their services free of charge with costs - other than travel expenses, which were met by the Scottish Government - being assumed within their own organisation’s budgets. There were no meeting venue costs as these were held hybrid in Scottish Government buildings or members’ sites. Refreshments were also provided by the respective hosts for these meetings. Most engagement meetings, with stakeholders, were hybrid so incurred no direct expense.

We do not hold any other known direct costs or estimates. The group was supported by a secretariat - generally two Scottish Government officials - whose time costs were contained within existing budgets. One member did require printed copies of meeting papers - contained within a central budget. The Scottish Community Safety Network held two online engagement sessions and costs of these were met from within their existing Scottish Government grant.