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The Scottish Government takes the safety of the public very seriously. Sex offender notification requirements apply to an individual, irrespective of what name they use. Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements record any aliases in their documentation. The current position in legislation is that sex offenders must inform the police of a name change within three days and failure to notify such a change can result in a prison sentence.

We are aware that the Crime and Policing Bill, recently introduced to the UK Parliament, contains legislative change in this area. We are exploring the possibility of extending the provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill to Scotland. Any such amendment would be the subject of the legislative consent process.

The Scottish Government oppose the UK Government’s reforms which drastically reduce levels of financial support to disabled people. It is disappointing that the UK Government did not engage with the Scottish Government before announcing these measures.

We need to take the time to scrutinise the detail of the UK Government’s Green Paper and understand the impacts of the reforms on both devolved disability benefits in Scotland and on the people who rely on this support.

In 2025-26 we will invest around £3.6 billion in Adult Disability Payment - £314 million more than we are forecasted to receive from the UK Government.

The Scottish Government’s positive and compassionate approach ensures access to Adult Disability Payment is as straightforward as possible so more disabled people get the support they are entitled to.

Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland. Our priority is to ensure that people receive the support to which they are entitled and that in doing so they are treated with dignity, fairness and respect. The Scottish Government are investing around £6.9 billion in Social Security benefits in 2025-26, this is projected to increase to around £8.9 billion by 2029-30.

NatureScot are currently reviewing the bird species on Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (the list of game species) and will report to Scottish Ministers in due course.

Scottish Ministers will consider the findings of the review and decide whether to update the Schedule as necessary.

The following table shows the number of journeys, broken down by local authority, made through the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme since its launch in January 2022 up to 28 February 2025. Journeys are based on the local authority in which the card was issued, therefore some journeys will have been undertaken outwith the local authority area.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and is a matter for individual NHS Boards.

NatureScot expect to present a final version of the species licensing review for external review in April 2025. The review will then be submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration and the findings published thereafter. We do not yet have a set date for the findings to be published.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all pre-school children and their families can access the support of a Health Visitor.

Today we have published a Health Visiting Action Plan for Scotland. Through committing to deliver the action plan in its entirety, we can realise the full value of our health visiting services across Scotland and improve the health, wellbeing and development of our youngest generation.

The action plan can be found at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836912019.

We take a comprehensive approach to reviewing support provided to people receiving cancer treatment, which includes those who are parents. We published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 along with a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in 2023. Our aim is that every person with cancer will have access to the support they need, clinical and non-clinical, reflecting what matters to them.

We are also committed to reviewing patients’ experiences through the Scottish Cancer Experience Survey, Care Opinion and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures Programme.

Scotland does not have an equivalent body to NHS England, health services are managed by NHS boards, which operate within Scotland’s devolved system of government.

The UK Government’s decision to move the functions of NHS England to the relevant UK government department bring it in line with the situation in Scotland where NHS Scotland is already a part of the core Scottish Government civil service.

Regarding public bodies more widely our programme of Public Service Reform is addressing all opportunities identified to remove duplication from the public sector landscape, including consolidation of public bodies where appropriate and where a value for money case can be made. This work is part of our wider focus on driving a culture of continuous improvement to support efficiency and effectiveness across the delivery of public services.

The Scottish Government has already streamlined the public sector landscape by reducing the number of Scottish public bodies under our control from 199 in 2007 to 131 at the end of 2024. The Ministerial Control Framework also makes clear that establishing any new public bodies should be a last resort, ensuring any new bodies are established only when absolutely necessary.