Chamber and committees

Noise monitoring at Woodside Viaduct is conducted for a range of purposes, including meeting legislative obligations, responding to requests from Glasgow City Council, or upon receipt of a complaint.

Monitoring began on 19 July 2021, as part of site compound location assessment, and noise is continually monitored at set locations throughout the site, with results produced monthly to summarise overall levels.

Further to the reply to the answer to question S6W-31031 on 15 November 2024 noise mitigation measures do not form part of the current scope of works being undertaken at Charing Cross.

Transport Scotland is committed to ensuring noise management is included in all their activities and responsibilities, including the work being undertaken on the M8 at Charing Cross. Transport Scotland has also been working closely with Glasgow City Council on providing noise management advice to the Future of the M8 Motion, and related schemes.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The development and delivery of flood protection schemes is a local authority responsibility, and the Scottish Government provides funding to support them to do so.

The Scottish Government publish official workforce statistics on a quarterly basis. The figures shown below are for December 2016. The latest data is available at Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot.

The data presented details workforce by contractual location – and includes staff home location for those on a home working contract. This is in line with the data submitted on a quarterly basis to the cabinet office for the Quarterly location survey of civil service staff.

The following table provides details of the working location of directly employed Scottish Government staff, split by Local authority, Full time/Part time working pattern and Permanent/Temporary status.

Scottish Government - Directly employed workforce headcount, December 2016

It is not possible to provide this information.

The most recent available data on conviction rates for rape and attempted rape were published in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2022-23. The figures for the most recent available five years are set out in Table 1. This shows the conviction rates for people prosecuted in court.

Table 1: Conviction rate for rape and attempted rape

It is estimated that completion of the A9 Dualling Programme between Perth and Inverness will result in an average of three fewer fatalities annually with early analysis of dualling the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen estimating an average of one fewer fatality every two years.

You asked about how many offenders with electronic tags have breached their orders in the past five years.

In answering your question, we have taken this to mean orders of the court (as opposed to those monitored on a release licence) and by offenders, we have taken that to mean those convicted, so not those monitored on electronically monitored bail.

In the following tables, data on all restriction of liberty orders (RLOs) and community payback orders (CPOs) and drug testing and treatment orders (DTTOs) which have an electronically monitored restricted movement requirement imposed since April 2020 is provided. The data set out below shows “status at order end”, either: revoked or expired. This is what is known by the Scottish Government at the time of order end, as the decision making on whether something is an established breach of an order, sits with the court.

Compliance with an order is reported back by the monitoring provider to a court, and the court then determines what actions they wish to take in relation to that order, which may include continuing, varying or revoking that order, including to impose a further order or an alternative disposal such as custody.

An order can be revoked by the issuing court for a number of reasons including: on appeal, on breach of a concurrent order, because a new offence had been committed or a breach of an order has occurred.

The category of “expired” orders, includes orders where the outcome of any court consideration may not yet be known at the point the order ends. It will also include orders that were not being actively monitored at order end. Active monitoring could cease for reasons including: absence of the monitored person without consent, householder consent to monitor at that address being withdrawn or as the individual is otherwise absent for example they are already in custody or are in hospital.

Revoked Orders April 2020 to March 2025

The website Air Quality in Scotland provides guidance on exempt fireplaces and stoves in Smoke Control Areas, and a link to the list of exempt appliances in Scotland, which is updated monthly. The Air Quality in Scotland website also provides a link to the Spatial Hub interactive map of all the Smoke Control areas in Scotland.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are working together to help protect organisations from cyber criminals, by identifying fraudulent websites, preventing phishing emails, blocking phone numbers and ultimately bringing those responsible to justice. We encourage everyone who wishes to report a fraud to contact the police and to report suspicious sites to NCSC using the reporting tool on their website.

Partners will continue to share knowledge and learning around fraud activity. Fraud is committed by a broad range of criminals, from domestic lone actors to complex international organised crime groups.

The Scottish Government invited the OECD to assess the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in primary and secondary schools in 2020. The OECD report Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence - Into the Future endorsed CfE as the right approach for Scottish education and made a number of recommendations for further improvement. Education Scotland are now taking forward the Curriculum Improvement Cycle to ensure Scotland’s curriculum remains forward looking and supports high quality teaching and learning, with Numeracy and Mathematics and Literacy and English the first curricular areas to be reviewed.

We continue monitoring literacy and numeracy levels through the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels which are published annually and present proportions of pupils from P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils who have achieved the expected CfE Levels in Reading, Writing, Listening & Talking, Literacy and Numeracy. The latest data available (2023-24) shows record levels of literacy and numeracy by primary (P1, P4 and P7) and secondary (S3) pupils.

In Literacy, the proportion of pupils achieving their expected CfE level are at their highest ever level in both primary (74%) and secondary schools (88%). In Numeracy, 80% of primary and 90% of secondary pupils achieved the expected CfE levels.

We will continue to expand the data and evidence available to the system, by joining the next cycle of PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) in 2026 and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) in 2027, while continuing to participate in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) this year.

The Scottish Government recognises the current pressures on the sector including affordability and ensuring the right conditions are created for building new homes.