Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fund the Gender-Based Violence and Learning Disabilities Steering Group facilitated by the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD).

The Steering Group’s Action Plan for 2024 – 2027 aims to reduce the risk of Gender-Based Violence against women and girls with learning disabilities and to improve access to support services and justice services for women and girls with learning disabilities who experience Gender-Based Violence.

Proposals are also being developed for the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill, which intend to ensure that the needs of people with learning disabilities are better identified at any point of contact in the justice system.

This includes work to ensure justice agency staff are better trained to engage appropriately with people with learning disabilities and what support, such as access to advocacy or an Appropriate Adult, is put in place to ensure meaningful involvement. Proposals for the Bill also include improvements to accessing advocacy.

The following table shows the number of offences involving the alleged use of an air weapon (where identified) between 2009-10 and 2021-22. This has been split into two time periods, 2009-10 to 2014-15 and 2015-16 to 2021-22. The reason for this specific split is the introduction of an improved methodology for collating these statistics from 2015-16 onwards. As such the two time periods are not directly comparable as the earlier one is likely to contain a small degree of underestimation.. Further information on the change in methodology and the presentation of data by single years is available at Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22 - gov.scot.

The latest Crimes and offences involving a firearm Official Statistics relate to 2021-22. Future updates will follow the conclusion of a further review by analysts from Scottish Government and Police Scotland into the methodology for producing this data. Unlike other crime-based official statistics, the current approach relies on the manual review of crime records to identify relevant cases, which is resource intensive and requires significant time to complete. An update on the outcome of this work is planned for early Autumn, and users can register for this through the SCOTSTAT network (https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotstat-register-guidance/)

Crimes involving the alleged use of an air weapon 2009-10 to 2021-22

I refer the member to information recently submitted to the Finance & Public Administration Committee which is available on the parliament website at Costeffectiveness of Scottish public inquiries Letter from SCAI of 22 May 2025 | Scottish Parliament Website.

Public Inquiries which are established under the Inquiries Act 2005 are independent of the Scottish Government. Public Inquiries relevant costs under the Inquiries Act 2005 are funded via the sponsoring Ministerial portfolio within the Scottish Government, but publication in relation to costs is undertaken independently by each inquiry.

The cost of a public inquiry varies and is very much determined by the complexity of the issue to be investigated, the number of witnesses, and the amount of technical expertise that may be required. There is a statutory duty placed on Chairs of independent inquiries, set out at section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005, the they "must act with fairness and with regard also to the need to avoid any unnecessary cost".

All Inquiries are encouraged to engage with sponsor teams to communicate likely budget requirements in order to inform development of the Scottish Government budget each year, and to advise sponsor teams if expected requirements change or evolve.

Public inquiries established under the Inquiries Act 2005 are not designated as Scottish public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). As the member may be aware, information held by other authorities about the work of a public inquiry may be exempt from disclosure. In particular, under section 37 of FOISA information is exempt if it has been created by a person conducting an inquiry for the purposes of that inquiry. These are absolute exemptions under the Act. These arrangements are in place to protect the integrity and independence of public inquiries.

The Scottish Government understands that key information about the costs of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry are published on the Inquiry website. It also understands that the Inquiry provided further detailed information about its costs in its Chair’s letter dated 22 May, to the Finance and Public Administration Committee. The Scottish Government would be happy to consider whether it holds any further relevant information in the event of any request for such, and would consider any such request in full compliance with its own obligations as a Scottish public authority under FOISA.

Air Weapons licensing statistics are published by Police Scotland annually. Available data only reaches as far back as 2018, Police Scotland have granted the following amounts of applications for each year from 2018, including renewal applications:

2018-19 - 7,342

2019-20 - 3,341

2020-21 - 5,051

2021-22 - 7,622

2022-23 - 9,914

2023-24 - 6,608

2024-25 - 4,114

Air Weapons licensing statistics are published by Police Scotland annually. Available data only reaches as far back as 2018, Police Scotland have received the following amounts of applications for each year from 2018, including renewal applications:

2018-19 - 7,436

2019-20 - 3,376

2020-21 - 5,349

2021-22 - 7,673

2022-23 - 9,955

2023-24 - 6,643

2024-25 - 4,155

Air Weapons licensing statistics are published by Police Scotland annually, including details of outstanding applications. As of 7 August 2025 there are currently 12 applications that remain outstanding from 2024 for a variety of reasons. Police Scotland will process these applications in due course.

Air Weapons licensing statistics are published by Police Scotland annually. Available data only reaches as far back as 2018, Police Scotland have rejected the following amounts of applications for each year from 2018, including renewal applications:

2018-19 - 94

2019-20 - 35

2020-21 - 28

2021-22 - 51

2022-23 - 41

2023-24 - 35

2024-25 - 41

There are no plans at this time to introduce new requirements for semi-natural grasslands. Semi-natural grasslands sit within the definition of ‘rough grazing or other semi-natural areas’ which are currently protected under Cross Compliance. Requirements under GAEC 6 prohibit farmers and crofters from ploughing or cultivating areas of rough grazing or other semi-natural areas unless approved as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment. Further guidance is available at: Maintenance of soil organic matter (GAEC 6)Maintenance of soil organic matter (GAEC 6)

Support remains available via the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) to land managers to conserve semi-natural habitats. Relevant options include Moorland Management, and alongside this, Summer Hill Grazing Cattle and Away Wintering Sheep. Further detail is available on the AECS webpage.