Chamber and committees

Scotland has a network of 468 free public libraries and 37 mobile libraries which help to provide access to library provision for schools in rural areas or where there is no public library nearby.

Additionally, the Scottish Government provides annual funding towards the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) and School Library Improvement Fund (SLIF) administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), to enable public and school libraries to undertake a wide range of pioneering initiatives within communities.

PLIF supports national programmes like Every Child a Library Member (ECALM). The ECALM initiative aims to streamline the library joining process for children across Scotland.

SLIF has delivered funding to support the development of libraries in early years settings, primary and secondary schools, and to support the implementation of Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools – the national strategy for school libraries in Scotland.

As with all projects, Transport Scotland Officials regularly discuss and review draft documents prepared by its technical advisors on an ongoing basis as part of the process to finalise reports prior to seeking Ministerial approval to publish. No changes were made by the Scottish Ministers to the draft outcomes of the A96 Corridor Review that identified an optimal Refined Package of improvements.

The position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the A96, and we are already taking forward the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including Nairn Bypass.

Rail is one of the transport modes with the lowest emissions. ScotRail provides details on managing its environmental impact on its website, which can be found here: Managing environmental impact

ScotRail also has a Sustainability Policy in place, which is available online at: Sustainability Policy | ScotRail

The final subsidy for all Caledonian Sleeper services for the financial year 2024-25 will be known when the accounts for this year have been finalised and published.

Information is not available centrally on the number of people who have received hospital treatment after being accidentally stuck by improperly disposed hypodermic needles.

Injecting equipment provision (IEP) is a key harm reduction intervention. Public Health Scotland publish information on IEP in Scotland, including the number of outlets, attendances, and the types of injecting equipment distributed to people who used illicit drugs. The latest release, covering 2022-23, is available at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/injecting-equipment-provision-in-scotland/injecting-equipment-provision-in-scotland-2022-to-2023/.

Low Carbon electricity generation is defined for Scottish Government energy statistics reporting as electricity generated by renewable, nuclear or pumped hydro storage (PHS) technologies.

896km of 2695km in Scotland is already electrified, based on ORR figures to 31 March 2024. However, 75% of ScotRail journeys are already made on electric trains. Future plans will be outlined in the refreshed Decarbonisation Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is considering all sensible alternative fuel options for the development of the Scottish rail network.

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.