There is no single crime of animal cruelty and such crimes are identified differently in the annual Accredited Official Statistics publications on Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. These publications are based on separate and unlinked data sets and cannot be considered as proportions of each other.

Recorded Crime in Scotland is based on a count of crimes reported to Police Scotland. The year is based on when any crime(s) were reported to police. Animal cruelty offences are only identifiable at crime level. In 2023-24 there were 274 offences of animal cruelty reported to Police Scotland. This breaks down into 49 offences of cruelty to protected animals (excluding dogs), 177 offences of cruelty to dogs, 15 offences of cruelty to wild animals and 33 offences of hunting with dogs.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland is based on a count of people proceeded against in court (and the number of those resulting in conviction). Data for 2023-24 is not yet available.

We had previously promoted a Legislative Consent Memorandum in the Scottish Parliament in relation to the provisions in the previous UK Government’s Criminal Justice Bill creating an offence for importing, making, adapting, supplying or offering to supply a relevant article for use in serious crime. This offence would have included vehicle concealments as an article of serious crime but the legislation fell due to the change of administration.

My officials are continuing to engage with the Home Office on its legislative proposals. I hope that this offence will be taken forward in one of the bills that will be introduced in early 2025.

Police Scotland will be also be kept informed as soon as any legislation is developed.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

During seven weeks of training, new prison officers receive training on a range of strategies and interventions designed to support those in our care, this includes a dedicated learning outcome on the effects of alcohol use.

SPS Health and College teams are also conducting a scoping exercise which will help further identify Officer needs when supporting those in our care. This exercise will shape delivery of future training and will incorporate the newly published Mental Health and Alcohol & Drug strategies.

The powers of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) to review alleged miscarriages of justice are provided for in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (1995 Act).

There is no limitation within the 1995 Act on the SCCRC investigating evidence provided to it during a previously reviewed case with any decision to investigate evidence provided to it during a previously reviewed case being an independent matter for the SCCRC.

This is an operational matter for Police Scotland. I have asked Police Scotland to write to you on this matter.

The Scottish Government fully supports local authorities and their partners in dealing with the misuse of such vehicles.

There is no record of Aberdeen City Council having requested support from the Scottish Government to enforce the laws regulating e-bikes.

Support for any local authority trading standards service to enforce product safety regulations is a matter for the Office for Product Safety and Standards.

Legislation surrounding the use of e-bikes and regulatory standards is a reserved matter for the UK Government. For an e-bike to be legal for use in the UK, they must meet the criteria of an electrically assisted pedal cycle and the electric motor should not be able to propel the bike when it’s travelling more than 15.5mph, with a maximum power output of 250 watts. This ensures speeds similar to that of other bicycles.

Ebikes that are modified to exceed speed and power limits are classify under motorcycle legislation. Police Scotland are responsible for taking action against those who ride illegal ebikes. Between January 2024 and Sept 2024 Police Scotland seized 281 illegally modified ebikes.

Members of the public who are seeking clarity on the standards required to ride on public roads should visit https://www.gov.uk/electric-bike-rules

It is not possible to separately identify prosecutions under the Road Traffic Act 1988 that specifically relate to the illegal use of e-bikes. While the Act does not explicitly mention e-bikes, their illegal use may be prosecuted under a variety of offences. However, the Criminal Proceedings dataset does not hold this level of detail.

Data on collisions which cause injury and take place on the road network, including adjacent pavements and cycle lanes, is collected by Police Scotland as part of the GB-wide dataset known as STATS19.

Within STATS19, vehicles involved in injury road collisions can be recorded as ‘bicycle’ or ‘electric motorcycle’. However, there is currently no systematic way of determining which of these vehicles would be described as illegal e-bikes.

The Scottish Government’s 2024-25 budget includes record police funding of £1.55 billion, which is an increase of £92.7 million on the 2023-24 Scottish Police Authority budget.

Official statistics show there were 16,427 FTE police officers at 30 September 2024. On 30 October the Chief Constable told the Criminal Justice Committee that she expected to reach the target of 16,600 officers soon - and this happened on 4 November.

Deployment of these resources to meet policing priorities is an operational matter for Police Scotland, under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority.