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Category 1 defects are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during the twice weekly driven safety related inspections. Category 2 defects are defined as those which do not present an immediate hazard to road users and are typically identified during walked annual inspections.

The following table contains the number of signs on the routes requested along with the number of signs with open defects of all types as at 12 February 2025.

Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies are required to either repair or make safe Category 1 sign defects within 24 hours of detection. The following table provides the number of Category 1 sign related defects that were not recorded as either repaired or made safe within 24 hours.

Since 2018, FSS investigations into food fraud have resulted in varying penalties being imposed including imprisonment and fines. One sentence of 4 years imprisonment was imposed with the sentence reduced to three years on appeal. in relation to the supply of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) to the public. The sentence was reduced to three years on appeal. A proceeds of Crime Confiscation Order was imposed for £31050.

3 offences under the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 at Food Standards Scotland (FSS) approved premises and fined a total of £4,000 with £175 surcharge.

The Scottish Government provides local services with support through funding to ensure care is available for alcohol-related brain damage though a range of social care, healthcare community and residential services. The Scottish Government remains committed to doing all it can to reduce harm caused by alcohol through any of these support services.

The UK’s first Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment will be published shortly and will include guidance for services on care for those with alcohol-related brain damage, supporting the wider improvement of alcohol treatment across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35156 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Further to my answer on 31 January which laid out in detail the First Minister’s plans for NHS Scotland renewal, I can confirm this will be further expanded with the publication of our operational improvement plan in March.

This plan will build on the work that has been conducted with Health Boards over the past year to improve hospital flow and reduce delays. It will set out whole system improvement action to ensure people receive the right care in the place, recognising that acute hospitals are not always the best place for patients or their families.

As part of this plan Hospital at Home will be expanded to at least 2,000 beds, by December or sooner, and will expand and coverage of treatment people can expect to receive at home and will reduce the number of people needing to be admitted to hospital.

By summer 2025 there will be direct access to a front door frailty service in every hospital with a core emergency department, to ensure people living with frailty get access to the right, specialist care for their healthcare need which will reduce the chance of a prolonged hospital stay and lower the chances of a care home admission.

A vast amount of work has already been undertaken in 2024 to date through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group, including work with Health and Social Care Partnerships with high levels of delay to understand the challenges they are facing and support them to deliver the changes, a national media campaign highlighting the positives of Home First, and promotion and maximising of good practice such as the Discharge without Delay programme.

I am confident that with all the new measures we have laid out we will continue to see an improving picture on the level of delays across the country and that people will have access to high quality care, in the setting that is right for them.

A pre-publication version of the report of the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour was submitted to myself, COSLA and Police Scotland just before Christmas. The report has since been finalised and was published on Tuesday 25th February 2025. It is available at Report of the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour. Along with our lead partners, COSLA and Police Scotland, we are considering the recommendations and support for local community safety and multi-agency prevention work. We plan to provide a comprehensive response in the Summer with a progress update by Easter. I am grateful to the Group for their work and to all who contributed.

Taking freight off congested roads and moving it by rail or water can have environmental and wider social benefits but it can be more expensive. Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) is therefore available to assist with the extra costs generally associated with moving freight by rail or water by offsetting the capital costs of providing the required freight handling facilities. It is also available to help companies reinvest in existing rail or water freight facilities where the traffic may revert to road transport.

The value of environmental and social benefits is based on calculating the benefits of removing one lorry mile of freight from road and transferring it to rail or water.

Monitoring is undertaken after a facility funded under the grant scheme becomes operational.

The Freight Facilities Grant is a well-known scheme having been in operation since 1997. Transport Scotland continues to raise the profile of the scheme across all areas of the Scottish economy. In March 2025, it is intended to undertake an exercise with stakeholders asking for applications for 2025-26, working with industry bodies representing a range of sectors.

Food Standards Scotland has a Food and Health Research Programme, which has a limited budget for procuring research across our entire food safety and dietary health remit; therefore our ability to fully explore the potential of AI in the delivery of our work has been restricted as a result of other priorities and lack of funding. However, through our Strategy and Corporate Plan we have committed to the delivery of a dedicated digital and data strategy, and plans for transforming food law delivery through our Scottish Authorities Food Enforcement Re-build (SAFER) programme, which intends to leverage data and intelligence to provide a greater focus on the enforcement of higher risk establishments. As part of the SAFER programme, we are currently in the process of building digital platforms that will strengthen the robustness of food law inspection data that we collect from the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland, with the aim of using this to develop AI tools that help us to design inspection regimes that are targeted to risk and optimise resources.

Alongside this work, our scientists engage with UK Research and Innovation, across Scottish and UK Governments, with international food regulators and the scientific community to keep abreast of developments in AI, and its potential applications in food law enforcement. We also collaborate with our counterparts in the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on the development of surveillance systems which help us to identify and prioritise risks at UK level (see: Horizon Scanning | Food Standards Scotland and Strategic surveillance and data | Food Standards Agency) and digital tools which support the detection and investigation of outbreaks of foodborne illness (Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment (PATH-SAFE) Programme | Food Standards Agency). To support our own work through SAFER, we are also keeping a watching brief on proof of concept work that FSA has been taking forward to explore the use of AI in the inspection of food businesses (FSA: Developing an AI-based Proof of Concept that prioritises businesses for food hygiene inspections while ensuring the ethical and responsible use of AI - GOV.UK), although these applications are still at the development stage.