Seòmar agus comataidhean

The level of subsidy and ScotRail revenue for the current year will be published in Transport Scotland and ScotRail accounts.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Scottish Government currently own 10 Tesla’s. We do not have any leased vehicles.

Significant additional activity is already underway following the allocation of £30 million funding to target reductions to the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic. This includes over 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures.

To specifically support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan backed by £70 million. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

To provide further support for timeous diagnosis, the Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) will shortly publish a newly developed Inflammatory Bowel Disease pathway to support earlier identification and management of the disease.

The Budget we set out on 4 December 2024 will throw the weight of the government behind performance improvements with almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. By March 2026, we expect no one to be waiting longer than 12 months for a new outpatient, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

Changes to legislation came into force in November 2021 which allow for local authorities to put experimental projects on the ground with 7 days’ notice and a minimum 6 month consultation period which begins on the day the project is put in place. There is also a streamlined process to follow if the authority then wish to make the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) a permanent Traffic Road Order (TRO).

No full review of this process has been undertaken since 2021 but officials have had a number of discussions with local authorities to provide further information on the change in process and to assist in putting the new measures in place. No concerns regarding the new procedures have been raised during these discussions.

Local authorities can use Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) as set out in The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999. As with all other Traffic Regulation Orders, local authorities are under no obligation to inform the Scottish Government when they use these measures and as such, we do not hold an accurate record of how many have been deployed during this time period.

Details of Traffic Regulation Orders published by local authorities, including ETROs, can be found on Tell Me Scotland's website at: Public Information Notices for Scotland | Tellmescotland.

The Scottish Government assessed all of these options in reaching the conclusion to locate the accreditation functions in Qualifications Scotland. This involved seeking the views of a range of organisations and stakeholders, which included the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Partnership.

The key factors considered as part of this assessment included: the need to ensure appropriate independence from ministers, alongside suitable governance, accountability and operational arrangements for the accreditation function and any other functions it shares a body with; the need to avoid misaligned priorities between functions and not introduce any confusion between these; the need to avoid creating new and complex conflicts of interest and disrupting other parts of the system; and the need to retain existing benefits of other functions in the system, such as the charitable and independent status of the SCQF Partnership.

Across all these options there were a number of shared factors that influenced the decision not to locate the function in any of these bodies. This included the levels of staff disruption particularly with staff terms, conditions and employment status; costs; the available resource and capacity of organisations to absorb such a function compared to Qualifications Scotland; and planned reviews, such as the Skills Delivery Landscape Review, that created uncertainty over other functions managed by Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.

As operator, CalMac have estimated 44tonnes (this equates to two HGV tankers) of LNG per week during vessel operation. However this is being reviewed as part of the network trials which are currently being undertaken.

Individual policy teams within portfolios routinely allocate funding to local government to deliver our shared priorities. The intended allocations at the start of the financial year are set out in table 4.12 of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget, providing transparency to parliament. While the funding is included in the weekly revenue and monthly capital payments made to individual local authorities from the start of the financial year, the budget is formally processed at ABR and SBR – which are also published for transparency.

The Scottish Government’s intention in terms of funding available to local government is fully set out in the budget in the initial presentation, and given full effect as a technical increase to the general revenue or capital grants at ABR and SBR.