Under the 2016 Regulations all dogs in Scotland must be microchipped and the details recorded on a compliant database, regardless of breed. If a dog is not microchipped or that chip is registered with a non-compliant database the owner could be fined up to £500.

Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs)manage their own budgets and make funding decisions based on regional and local needs.

The Scottish Government is aware of the issues with reliability of the fleet currently serving Fife routes and ScotRail is taking action within its available resources to make any necessary improvements to the existing fleet.

The ScotRail Fleet Improvement Plan continues to be in place, requiring ScotRail to make necessary improvements to the reliability of its existing diesel rolling stock within the available resources. ScotRail advises that it is investing nearly £900,000 in the rolling stock upgrades to remote monitoring, electrical systems, and heating systems, which investment includes trains serving Fife.

As set out in Rail Recharged: Scotland’s Fleet Transition Strategy, published in November 2025, ScotRail is currently progressing plans to replace its High-Speed Trains operating on Scotland’s intercity routes, alongside the procurement of a new Suburban fleet, which includes replacement fleet for Fife services. Work to deliver the electrification of the line is also underway.

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution the Iain Findlay Path Fund has made in supporting local path improvements across Scotland. While this fund comes to an end in 2025- 26, we will continue to support the delivery of paths and other active travel infrastructure through our tiered Active Travel Infrastructure Fund. This model enables local authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and National Park Authorities to develop and deliver the infrastructure that best meets local and regional needs.

In addition to this there are a number of funds throughout Scotland that contribute to access and recreational use pathways, including the Forestry Grant Scheme, the Historic Environment Grants Programme, and funding managed through our National & Regional Park Authorities.

As set out within our NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, we are committed to improving patient flow throughout the system, reducing delays for admission to and discharge from acute settings and bring down length of stay for patients. This is being done through, for example, optimising alternatives to hospital admission, ensuring discharge planning takes place from the point of admission, reducing delays to inpatient investigations and developing remote investigation services. The development and expansion of Hospital at Home and front door frailty services are playing a central role in supporting this shift in the balance of care and reduce hospital occupancy.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports, and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

Ministers and officials have met with the sponsors on a number of occasions regarding their proposal to introduce a new ferry route between Rosyth and Dunkirk.

I have personally engaged with interested parties, meeting DFDS and Ptarmigan Shipping in November 2025. Scottish Government and Transport Scotland officials continue to communicate regularly with the project sponsors.

a)Standards on hospital discharges and the use of non-clinical spaces

• We do not collect national data on the use of non-clinical spaces. Our focus is on addressing the underlying causes of this practice, such as high hospital occupancy and poor patient flow.
• We are driving improvements and working closely with local systems to ensure plans are in place to improve system flow. Through the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, we are investing £220 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

b)Regular public reporting

• Regular public reporting on hospital discharges is already undertaken and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and can be found on their website.

The Scottish Government has allocated £4 million funding to support Local Transport Authorities to build business cases for local bus improvement through franchising, announced as part of the draft Scottish Budget for 2026-27.

Work on the design of the fund is at an early stage, but we will develop appropriate governance arrangements and work on the detail of administering the £4 million, which will be considered with various stakeholders, including CoSLA and regional transport partnerships.

It is right that local transport authorities explore how best to use the measures in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, as our approach is to enable them to determine what is best to improve services in their areas. I am pleased that £4 million is included in the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 to support these authorities to build business cases for local bus improvements.

Work on the design of the fund is at an early stage, but we will develop appropriate governance arrangements and work on the detail of administering the £4 million, which will be considered with various stakeholders, including CoSLA and regional transport partnerships.

The Scottish Government recently ran a public consultation on the Minimum requirements for the location of Border Control Posts (BCPs). The consultation ran from 16 December 2025 and concluded on 16 January 2026.