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

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.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

It is not possible to provide information on the number of patients who were newly diagnosed with COPD following an emergency admission.

Figures presented in Table 1 provide the number of emergency inpatient hospital stays associated with a main diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by year.

Table 1

Scottish Ministers are currently considering all the available evidence, including on technology use. An announcement will be made once Ministers have reached a final decision.

We have seen a significant rise in recorded shoplifting throughout the UK according to our own figures and those released by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales and Scotland, part of which is being driven by organised criminal groups.

The Scottish Government budget, if approved by Parliament, will make £3 million available in 2025-26 to tackle retail crime. This is in addition to an investment next year of a record £1.62 billion for policing. The additional funding will enable Police Scotland to work with the retail sector to target the unacceptable levels of crime on Scotland’s high streets, which costs businesses millions each year and has a knock-on effect on the prices we pay in the shops.

Through our funded partnership with Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, a dedicated group for retailers exists to help tackle retail crime which enables bespoke messages to be sent to participating members’ retail premises. Over the festive period, Crimestoppers Scotland, is running campaign, with a focus on social media to also highlight the issue of violence against retail staff across Scotland

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.

Fisheries management measures for offshore MPAs were subject to public consultation, which ran from 19 August to 14 October 2024. The responses are currently being analysed, and final measures will be implemented in 2025.

Ensuring that we develop evidence-based and effective fisheries management measures for the large number of inshore sites is a complex and challenging process. Fisheries management measures for inshore MPAs and Priority Marine Features (PMFs) are currently going through a Sustainability Appraisal, and other statutory impact assessments are being undertaken in preparation for the inshore consultation. The consultation will be undertaken in line with the commitment in the current Programme for Government. Final fisheries management measures will then be implemented as soon as possible once the consultation responses have been analysed and a final decision on the measures taken.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for individual NHS Boards. However, the digitisation of records remains a strategic priority and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all healthcare staff have access to the right information at the right time to ensure that the best care possible can be provided.

The Scottish Government encourages all health and social care organisations to move from paper to electronic record keeping and sharing as this improves efficiency and supports transfers of care between different parts of the health and care system. Our ambitions and priorities for electronic record keeping, sharing of records, and improving access to health and care data for both staff and people who use services are set out in our Digital Health and Care and Health and Social Care Data strategies.