Chamber and committees

Annual bulletins containing accredited official statistics and information on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland are published by the Scottish Government. Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2023-24 shows that the number of sexual crimes recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24, from 14,602 to 14,484.

That bulletin is clear that whilst there has been a small decrease in the last year, sexual crime has increased significantly since 2010-11. Over the last decade we have seen an increase in confidence to report incidents of sexual crime, in part reflecting a greater awareness and understanding of the issues among society as well as a move towards a more trauma informed and person-centred justice system.

We recognise that multiple factors lie behind the longer term trend of increasing reporting of sexual crime. Our action to tackle sexual offending includes increasing confidence in the justice system so more victims come forward, improving support for victims, modernising the law on sexual offences and investing a record £1.64 billion for policing this year. We continue to take robust action to tackle sexual offending through the Equally Safe Strategy – focusing on prevention, improving our laws, and encouraging more victims to come forward.

We recognise the key role that advocacy services can play in helping and supporting victims through the justice process. That is why the Scottish Government will provide over £32m to 23 organisations between 2025-2027, including £12m for specialist advocacy support, as part of its Victims Centred Approach Fund. In addition, the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill includes new proposals such as the establishment of a sexual offences court which aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our system at holding perpetrators to account whilst improving the experiences of victims and witnesses.

Despite unprecedented challenges to public finances, the 2025-26 Scottish Police Authority budget has increased to £1.64 billion, an increase of almost £90 million when compared to the 2024-25 budget.

The operation of Police Scotland, including decisions on the allocation of resources and the deployment of officers and staff, is for the Chief Constable, under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. This includes the allocation of resources to specialist sex crimes units.

The Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment guidance was published on 17 June.

This non-statutory guidance aims to support schools to foster a positive, inclusive and safe school environment through their approaches to positive relationships and behaviour. In particular, it provides clarity to all members of a school community – staff, parents and children and young people – on the use of consequences as part of relationships and behaviour policies.

We have also published new guidance for local authorities and schools on using risk assessment processes to mitigate or minimise violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviours exhibited by children and young people at school.

The following table shows the estimated number of police recorded cyber-crimes during 2021-22 to 2023-24. These estimates are based on a review of crime records, whereby a random sample of cases was drawn across Scotland for those types of crime that could in theory involve a cyber-element. Further information on recorded cyber-crime is available in the recorded crime Accredited Official Statistics publications at Recorded crime in Scotland - gov.scot. Figures for 2024-25 will be published as part of this series on 24th June 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as local authorities are responsible for the delivery of education. Local authorities may hold this information.

It is important to acknowledge that PISA is one source of evidence amongst a broader set of data. Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) 2023-24 data showed that ACEL levels for numeracy in primary and secondary schools were at their highest ever levels. The 2024 National Qualifications data also showed progress in maths attainment, with both entries and passes for Higher Mathematics increasing between 2019 and 2024.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland are taking forward the Curriculum Improvement Cycle which introduces a systematic approach designed to ensure that Scotland’s curriculum remains relevant, forward looking, clarifies the role of knowledge and ultimately supports high quality teaching and learning. The review is considering the curriculum in a planned and systemic way, including alignment between the Broad General Education and the Senior Phase.

Work to update all eight curricular areas of CfE is underway, with mathematics being prioritised. The National Mathematics Specialist Advisor has been working closely with Education Scotland to consider all elements of the mathematics curriculum, informed by a wide range of evidence, including PISA data. Outputs of this initial phase of work have been shared in the second discussion paper published by Education Scotland on 19 December 2024.

Work is underway to continue to update and strengthen the Literacy and English Curriculum through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle. Other activities include Education Scotland publishing a suite of professional learning resources on Learning to Read in the Early Years, supported by complementary professional learning; and continued investment in the Read Write Count and Reading Schools programmes.

Inspiring young people to study STEM and promoting excellence in the delivery of STEM education sit at the heart of our STEM Education and Training Strategy. In the last Financial Year alone, the Scottish Government provided over £1.74 million to a range of organisations which support the high-quality delivery of STEM education.

The Scottish Government has committed to increasing international evidence around numeracy and literacy by re-joining the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for the assessments in 2027, and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) for the assessments in 2026. The next PISA assessments will take place in Scotland in September and October 2025. The Scottish Government and Education Scotland are developing a programme of support to help schools and pupils to participate in the assessments.

The Scottish Government can respond in terms of where single carriageway trunk roads have been previously committed to being dualled. The Scottish Government cannot comment on any commitments made by Local Authorities to dual single carriageways roads on the local road network.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 established a pipeline of projects and programmes. Included within this was the commitment to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and the A96 from Inverness to Craibstone Roundabout.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and good progress is being made in delivering targets in the delivery plan announced in December 2023, which anticipates completion by the end of 2035.

In terms of the A96, the position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the route and we are already starting the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass. As part of the then Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government agreed to undertake a review of the corridor and Transport Scotland published the outcomes from the Review in draft for consultation in November 2024. The feedback received from the consultation will help inform the Scottish Government’s final decision on how best to take forward improvements to the A96.

The A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout is predominantly single carriageway. There are dualled sections from Raigmore Interchange to just east of Inverness Retail Park roundabout and also from Inverurie roundabout to Craibstone roundabout.

The A9 between Perth and Inverness is single carriageway with dualled sections from Inveralmond roundabout to Birnam, Ballinluig to Pitlochry, Kincraig to Dalraddy, a section near Dalnaspidal,a section near Crubenmore, a section between Slochd and Tomatin, and a section from Moy to Inverness.

In 2023 there were two fatal casualties on single carriageway sections of the road where dualling was included within the pipeline of schemes from the Infrastructure Investment Plan. A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout recorded one fatality, and the A9 between Perth and Inverness recorded one fatality.

The personal injury accident information provided above is sourced from Transport Scotland’s Accident Manager Database based on the current figures available. The date period was taken from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 and the information was extracted from the database on 12 June 2025. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system: Transport Scotland only holds trunk road accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. This information is subject to change, e.g. when later returns are received from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found on the Transport Scotland at www.transport.gov.scot.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Police Scotland on matters of relevant and shared interest, including preventing and tackling hate crime in Scotland.

The Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2024 publication shows that while overall casualties decreased in 2024, the number of fatalities increased by 9%.

The following table shows the Social Security Assistance final outturn for each financial year since 2018, when the Scottish Government began to deliver devolved Social Security benefits, split by category.