ScotRail stations will continue to offer access to Facilities and toilets used by the public and in most cases will remain open even when ticket offices are shut.

In accordance with the Public Appointments Team’s data retention policy, the retention period for documents supporting the public appointments process is five years after the appointment tenure in post has ended. Therefore we do not hold any information regarding public appointments which ended prior to December 2019.

We also do not hold any information regarding public appointments made prior to 2011.

To provide data for appointments made between 2011 and 2019 would include data from over 360 appointment rounds, some of which were for several appointees. Information for each appointment round would have to be searched individually for the information requested, which we estimate would take at least seven working days, therefore incurring a disproportionate cost.

We are unable to provide estimated costs of providing the information requested in questions S6W-12529 and S6W-31824 but would like to confirm that these costs would be disproportionate for the reason given above.

In keeping with the Road Safety Framework to 2030 priorities and with particular reference to the In-Depth Fatalities Report, we are running a national campaign on Drink and Drug Driving.

The Drink and Drug Driving campaign will tackle drivers aged 18-35. As outlined in the Road Safety Framework there is a need to ensure drivers do not drive while impaired through alcohol or drugs. Drug driving limits and roadside drug testing were introduced in Scotland in October 2019. Since then, more than 19,000 tests have been carried out with almost half of those resulting in a positive test (49%). However, a relatively low awareness of roadside testing remains, and Road Safety Scotland will continue to address this through future campaign activity.

We are also working alongside Police Scotland who are undertaking a pilot project in Shetland. The pilot includes local police officers trained in the testing of drivers at the roadside who are suspected to be under the influence of drink and drugs. The officers have been fully trained in the administering of the drug wipes, previously road policing officers had been the only trained officers to administer the wipes. This pilot will be monitored and evaluated and we will be meeting Police Scotland in the New Year to discuss progress as well as identifying future road safety initiatives to tackle drug driving in Scotland.

Post campaign evaluation shows the 2023-24 Drug-Driving campaign was effective in increasing awareness of use of roadside drug wipes by police and prompting key actions, including talking to friends and family about roadside testing.

Tier 3 and Tier 4 services are those secondary and specialist mental health services - including Community Mental Health Teams, Adult Acute Psychiatry, and specialist Perinatal Mental Health care, that usually require a referral from a GP or other health care professional. All mental health scheduled and planned care services manage access in some way for example by using waiting lists – including access to Psychological Therapies teams or CAMHS services. In all cases patients are triaged and urgent cases are seen as a priority.

Improving access to Mental Health services is a priority for Scottish Government and whilst we recognise the ongoing pressures facing the NHS, long waits are unacceptable we remain committed to supporting all Boards to achieve the standard that 90% of patents start treatment within 18 weeks of referral in CAMHS and PT.

We are also working with NHS Boards and National Partners to improve Mental Health Unscheduled Care pathways to ensure that anyone requiring urgent and unplanned support is able to get the right care, in the right place, the first time regardless of when or how they access care. This is facilitated by NHS 24’s Mental Health Hub which is accessible through the 111 service and provides a 24/7 compassionate service to anyone in distress or requiring mental health and wellbeing support. Should the Hub determine that further urgent assessment or urgent referral to local services is required, they will refer the person to a mental health clinician within their relevant Board. Each Health Board is now providing access to a mental health unscheduled care clinician 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In November 2024, the Scottish Government published its Asylum Right to Work pilot proposal. It proposes a number of changes to current UK policy with regards to the right to work for people seeking asylum.

Policy officials from both the Asylum & Refugee Integration team and the Population team contributed to development of the proposal, however there were no civil servants allocated to this work on a full-time basis.

There is no business requirement for officials to record the time spent on specific tasks or their work more generally. These are completed as part of normal duties, along with other tasks appropriate to roles as civil servants. As such, the Civil Service does not assess or hold costing estimates with regards to the development of policy proposals.

Maintaining provision of free and reduced cost travel facilities for rail staff was included in the original rail privatisation legislation.

The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly for more details.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 do not include a power to seize single use plastic items. They do, however, allow the taking of samples of articles or substances found in any premises that the enforcement officer enters. These samples, which could include single use plastic items, can then be retained for the purposes of examination and testing and to be used in evidence in any proceedings for an offence under the Regulations. Information on any samples taken and retained may be available from the enforcement authorities.

The judgements and issues in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan are informed and influenced by recent developments in UK Government energy policy and by court decisions.

This is a rapidly changing landscape and we are taking time to reflect on those developments before drawing any conclusions and publishing a final strategy.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with a range of international organisations and stakeholders, including the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance as part of a wider programme of analysis and engagement on energy policy. The Cabinet Secretary is the European Co-Chair of the Under2 Coalition, and as such is already heavily involved.

Legislation surrounding the use of e-bikes and e-Scooters is a reserved matter for the UK Government.

For an e-bike to be legal for use in the UK, they must be electrically assisted pedal cycles and the electric motor should not be able to propel the bike when it’s travelling more than 15.5mph. This ensures speeds similar to that of other bicycles.

In Scotland, it is illegal to ride an e-scooter on a public road, pavement, cycle paths, shared paths or any public place. It is lawful to use e-scooters on private land with the landowners permission. The previous UK Government had intended to bring forward legislation to fully legalise e-scooters in 2022, however this was paused due to a change of Prime Minister and a Cabinet reshuffle.

As such, electric scooters are covered by the same UK-wide laws and regulations that apply to all motor vehicles. It is every road and path users responsibility to respect others and the Highway Code outlines both rules and guidance for everyone.