Seòmar agus comataidhean

Details on cancelled rail passenger services, for each train operating company for the period until December 2024 are available on the Office for Rail and Road website, and can be found here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/compendia/toc-key-statistics/. The Member may wish to contact train operating companies directly in order to obtain more recent and more detailed data, related to cancellations of their services.

Compensation that is offered to rail passengers is a matter for individual train operating companies. The Member may wish to contact them directly to obtain this information.

Following our 2023 consultation Ending the Sale of Peat in Scotland, we organised a series of workshops and have conducted regular engagement and site visits with industry stakeholders to gather views. This will inform the scope and timing of a ban on the sale of peat for horticulture and ensure that it is right for Scotland.

We have also undertaken or commissioned research to address gaps in the evidence needed to support development of our approach, including projects which assess peat alternatives, undertake trials for commercial production and assess the readiness of industry for transition.

The lack of clarity around UK Government's revision of timescales for regulating peat sales, alongside uncertainty regarding legislative timescales across UK and devolved governments, directly impacts Scottish Government's ability to apply effective legislation for this devolved issue, given constraints of the UKIMA. Through sustained and determined engagement with UK Government and devolved governments, we are working to overcome barriers and ensure robust legislation to protect peatlands.

The Scottish Government welcomes the policy brief produced by the Rowett Institute on the potential use of hemp cake as an animal feed source in Scotland. We recognise the value of academic research in exploring sustainable and innovative approaches that can support Scottish agriculture to reduce emissions, improve resilience, and make greater use of home-grown feed alternatives. The findings of this research will help to build the evidence base that industry can draw upon as it considers opportunities for alternative livestock feeding strategies. I look forward to discussing this work further when I visit the Rowett Institute later this year.

The Scottish Government publish accredited official statistics annually, which include information on diversions from prosecution and are available on the Scottish Government website. The Scottish Government statistics are not directly comparable to the COPFS figures and the Scottish Government statistics should be preferred for statistical purposes.

COPFS operates a live, operational database to manage reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. This system is designed to support the operational needs of criminal case processing, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

Due to the way that decisions on diversions are recorded on this database, in order to provide an accurate response to the question regarding sexual assault cases, a manual check of the relevant cases has been undertaken.

For consistency, the Scottish Government’s classification of “sexual assault” has been adopted.

Based on the results of those manual checks, the following table has been compiled. It includes numbers of cases in which the accused was offered diversion and following that offer, the diversion was considered completed or is still considered ongoing.

The overall numbers of cases containing an allegation of sexual assault (which have not been checked) are provided as a point of comparison.

Prior to 2018-2019 site start dates were not collected as there was no requirement on our previous recording system for this information. Due to this, approval dates were used as a proxy for start dates. The following table provides an average time between approval and site start date for affordable homes between 2018-2019 and 2024-2025.

Decisions on the care and treatment of patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner having considered the needs of their patient and relevant clinical guidelines.

The Endometriosis Care Pathway has been developed for NHS Scotland and adapted from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The pathway aims to support healthcare professionals to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. Both the Pathway and NICE guidance recommend clinicians consider the patient’s circumstances including their age, symptoms, priorities and emotional needs. They also include advice on, referral to a paediatric and adolescent gynaecology service, or paediatric service, depending on local service provision. Clinicians may refer to NICE and ESHRE guidelines when following the endometriosis care pathway.

Following changes to the NICE guidance a review of the pathway will be part of the 2025-26 workplan for the CfSD Gynaecology Specialty Delivery Group.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis can access the best possible care and support. That is why endometriosis is a priority in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so.

The Home Energy Scotland website has estimates on the potential annual savings from installing a standard air source heat pump where there is an existing oil or LPG boiler: https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/heat-pumps

We provide uplifts through our Heat in Buildings delivery schemes to help meet additional challenges faced by homeowners in rural and island communities. The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan offers an uplift of £1,500 to the grant and loan funding available for energy efficiency measures in remote rural areas and islands. The Warmer Homes Scotland scheme operates a national customer price model to ensure equal access to grant funded installation of energy efficiency improvements across Scotland, including in rural and island areas. And both our Area Based Schemes and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund provide an uplift to reflect higher delivery costs in more remote areas, of 11% in rural areas and 22% in remote rural/island areas.

Heating oil and liquified petroleum gas supply chains and energy price regulation are reserved matters. We engage constructively with the UK Government on a regular basis.

Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government officials frequently engage with a range of stakeholders involved in the rural off-gas heating market, both in direct meetings and as part of wider consultation events.

I hosted a series of roundtables on 6 August 2025 to discuss the proposed Heat in Buildings Bill at which a range of stakeholders were in attendance, including some representing rural and off-gas grid interests. These roundtables focussed on plans for the Heat in Buildings Bill and included discussion of how to overcome the challenges faced by some rural properties in transitioning to clean heating systems.

The then-Acting Minister for Climate Action, Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, met with the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, along with other representatives of the off-gas grid heating sector, on 26 February 2025. The discussion focussed on the role that renewable liquid biofuels may play in decarbonising heating in rural buildings. This is in addition to previous ministerial engagement on rural heat which has informed our approach to the Bill.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold this data centrally.

Public Health Scotland holds information on NHS patients treated in non-NHS healthcare facilities. 14 children and young people received treatment for an eating disorder in non-NHS healthcare facilities in the period from 1999 to 2023.

When broken down by Health Board and calendar year, the numbers involved are small enough to require suppression. This answer therefore does not include these breakdowns and reports only the total number.

The Scottish Government has not directly convened or held a Citizens’ Assembly since May 2021.

The Scottish Government has provided a £50,000 grant to support a pilot Citizens' Assembly in Dunfermline, which is being run in a partnership between Electoral Reform Society Scotland and Fife Council. This grant letter was issued on 15 April 2025.