Chamber and committees

As regulation for offshore oil and gas operations are a reserved matter for UK Government, Scottish Government does not record gas leaks from offshore oil and gas installations.

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 requires that regional marine plans (RMPs) state policies for and in connection with the sustainable development of the area. RMPs must also set economic, social and marine ecosystem objectives and objectives relating to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. RMPs must be developed in accordance with any adopted National Marine Plan (NMP) and are subject to the agreement of Scottish Ministers.

Responsibility for regional marine planning is devolved to marine planning partnerships (MPPs). The current NMP provides guidance to support the development of regional marine plans but specifies that the precise approach and coverage of the regional plan, including the level to which certain activities are spatially represented, will be for MPPs to determine based on local priorities and alignment with other local plans.

The funding for Drugs and Alcohol in the 2025-26 draft budget is £80.9m. This includes £60m as part of our commitment to provide £250m in additional funding over 5 years to reduce drug deaths and improve the lives of people who use drugs and alcohol.

£19.1m of funding has moved to baselined funding which ADPs have highlighted as important for sustainability and recruitment.

Overall funding for Alcohol and Drugs, including Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) has been maintained at the record levels set in 2023-24.

No rehabilitation services will be directly impacted as a result of this budget.

The funding for Drugs and Alcohol in the 2025-26 draft budget is £80.9m. This includes £60m as part of our commitment to provide £250m in additional funding over 5 years to reduce drug deaths and improve the lives of people who use drugs and alcohol.

£19.1m has moved to baselined funding which ADPs have highlighted as important for sustainability and recruitment.

Overall funding for Alcohol and Drugs, including Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) has been maintained at the record levels set in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government has continued to engage with Dumfries & Galloway Council and the regeneration funding announced in the draft Scottish Budget will support the delivery of the community's ambitions for the regeneration of the town building on their Local Place Plan - Creating Stranraer.

Funding will be subject to the Scottish Budget being agreed by Parliament and final allocations being agreed by Ministers.

All public bodies sit within the Scottish Government budgeting boundary and public bodies underspend forms part of the overall Scottish Government financial position for each financial year. Individual public bodies may not spend their full allocated budget each year - they may return budget for reallocation elsewhere across the budgeting boundary through the Autumn Budget and Spring Budget Revision process; or they may not fully drawdown on their cash budgets in a financial year. Any reallocations of budget or underspends at year-end form part of the overall Scottish Government budget position. The Scottish Government does not maintain a record of the individual underspends by body for each year.

Details of the financial position for any individual body will be set out in their audited accounts for each year. Links to these are provided on the National public bodies directory (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/).

The draft 2025-26 Budget, which is subject to Parliamentary approval, has funding allocated to provide free bus travel for asylum seekers in the 2025-26 financial year. Further information on delivery will be provided in due course.

We are committed to exploring if we can extend free bus travel to all people seeking asylum on a longer term basis before the end of the current parliamentary session, subject to the successful passage of a Scottish Budget containing this issue and an agreed way forward on the policy in terms of practical delivery.

People seeking asylum in Scotland who are currently eligible for free bus travel through the statutory National Concessionary Travel Schemes, including those under 22, aged 60 and over and those with disabilities, will continue to be able to make use of their entitlement.

The Scottish Government keeps a range of measures under consideration as it develops and finalises its Budget. Final decisions are communicated with the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) as soon as is practicable. The Scottish Fiscal Commission is undertaking work to cost the proposal to mitigate the impact of the two-child cap in Scotland for 2026-27. The SFC plan to publish their supplementary costings on 7 January 2025.

The Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour is reporting to Ministers, COSLA and Police Scotland by the end of 2024. Its remit was to: Consider the effectiveness of current approaches to understanding, preventing and tackling antisocial behaviour and if, and how, these could be improved to develop a holistic long term strategic approach which will help to improve the lives of communities across Scotland. This should include consideration of whether a preventative approach would be appropriate and how victims of antisocial behaviour are supported and whether this could be improved.

As part of its engagement work it met with a number of representatives from the transport sector who had also been invited to respond to a national data survey commissioned by the Working Group. This report will be published in the first quarter of 2025 and will be considered by Scottish Ministers, Police Scotland and Cosla prior to a formal response.

Transport Scotland is exploring legal means to suspend access to concessionary travel for perpetrators of persistent antisocial behaviour of anyone of any age. Whilst this is being progressed as a priority, the National Concessionary Travel Schemes in Scotland are provided on a universal statutory basis. Therefore, detailed and thorough consideration of any process and penalty must be undertaken to ensure consistency and fairness.

The Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network Report to Parliament 2024 was laid in Parliament on 19 December 2024 (reference SG/2024/306), meeting the requirements of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

The report has also been published online: Marine Protected Area Network - 2024 Report to the Scottish Parliament.