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The following table details the number of cases for which a FAI was held in each of the last 5 years.

As at 30 November 2024, COPFS employs 733 legal staff.

The Draft Scottish Budget on 4th December 2024, announced plans to invest £3 million in 2025-26, through a new Bright Start Breakfasts Fund which aims to expand access to free breakfast club places across Scotland, providing a healthy breakfast for children and supporting early drop off for working parents.

At this stage the Budget remains subject to Parliamentary approval, and more detail about how a new Bright Start Breakfasts fund will be administered and managed will be provided in due course.

This is a matter for the Scottish Charity Regulator. It is a non-ministerial office and its operations are independent of Scottish Ministers. The information requested is not held centrally and questions about any operational matters should be put directly to the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The ScotRail HSTs fleet is safe, and will continue to remain safe; this has been validated by an independent review of the HSTs’ design and construction, and endorsed by the industry safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

Operational safety is a matter for ScotRail Trains and Network Rail, who are jointly responsible for the management of safety risks on Scotland’s Railway.

Based on Scottish Government forecasts for 2029-30 the total Fiscal Resource Budget is forecast to be £60.2 billion. Social Security expenditure for 2029-30, as forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, is £8.9 billion. Therefore, Social Security expenditure is estimated to be 14.8 per cent of the total Fiscal Resource Budget in 2029-30.

Further details on plans to decarbonise Scotland’s Rail Network will be published in the refreshed Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, which is now expected to be published in Spring 2025. It will outline a staged approach to creating a decarbonised rail system by 2045 and increasing from the current 75% of rail journeys which are already decarbonised.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering vital public services and supporting our third sector but continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution.

The 2025-26 draft budget, which will be subject to the approval of the Parliament, included an allocation for the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) and Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learners (CYPFAL) third sector funds.

Social Security Scotland routinely releases information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods including the number and value of payments.

Since the introduction of Best Start Grant School Age Payment in June 2019, £34,086,106 has been paid to eligible clients. The following table shows the total number and value of School Age Payments made over each financial years since its introduction:

The following table shows the costs incurred for expert witnesses in each of the last 5 years.