The outturn cost to the Scottish Government of providing each relief, including Retail, hospitality, and leisure relief in 2020-2023, are available in Table 3 of Non-domestic rates income statistics, available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/non-domestic-rates-income-statistics/.

At the December 2023 Budget, Islands and specified remote areas hospitality relief was forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to cost £4 million in 2024-2025, available in Figure A.10 in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2023, at https://fiscalcommission.scot/publications/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-december-2023/. Updated forecasts for 2024-2025 will be released alongside the December 2024 Budget.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) publish their annual statistics, which sets out a measure on time taken to progress referrals through the children’s hearings system and total number of children referred to the children’s hearings system. The information is available on the SCRA website: Official Statistics - SCRA.

The recruitment and management of staff dedicated to child protection services is a matter for individual local authorities. The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Scotland’s local authorities are responsible for the maintenance and management of play parks within their estates.

There is a budget of £1.8m which covers Connecting Scotland, Ethical Digital Nation and Unlocking the Value of Data programmes. To date, the following spend has been committed:

• Grant funding to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to develop digital training, continue support for existing clients and deliver existing projects. This funding covers support for a wide range of digital inclusion initiatives including:
• ‘Digital Champion’ training, delivered through Mhor Collective, which equips individuals to support others in engaging safely and meaningfully online, building digital confidence within communities.;
• Offboarding support for existing Connecting Scotland users, including temporary extension of connectivity with further support for users to transition to other means of connectivity;
• Supporting the delivery of three digital inclusion programmes - lending libraries, social housing, and place-based initiatives - helping more people to get online through access to devices, connectivity, and technical support, and providing public and third-sector organisations and their staff with support in digital inclusion provision;
• The University of Liverpool to undertake research on a Minimum Digital Living Standard for Scotland. The findings from this research will provide the Scottish Government with detailed Scotland-specific data to identify where there is a need for targeted support for digital inclusion, and help to inform future service design;
• licenses, travel and other services
• staffing costs to support the management of the programme.

All remaining spend in this financial year will be assessed in line with the guidance set out by Ministers in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and current Scottish Government guidelines on spending controls

Development of the National Specification for substance use services is underway and we expect to publish in the first quarter of 2025

Since 25 January 2019 until 13 October 2021, the period covered by S6W-03688 on 29 October 2021 and S6W-04853 on 14 December 2021, there have been 19 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) unpaid prior to referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, compared to 93 paid. This makes a payment rate over the period of 83%.

The breakdown is as follows:

(a) 8 of the 19 cases were referred to the COPFS for consideration of prosecution; 2 of the 8 cases resulted in the original FPNs being paid after agreement with the Procurator Fiscal, ultimately resulting in 17 unpaid FPNs in total and;

(b) 4 of the 8 cases resulted in convictions and fines with the breakdown as follows:

The Scottish Government are working to address the stigma that people affected by substance use issues face when accessing treatment, which can be particularly acute for women.

We made a combined £13.5 million available to Phoenix Futures and Aberlour Childcare Trust to develop three new rehabilitation services specifically designed to support women and their families through recovery from both alcohol and drug use.

We have also convened an expert working group to develop a good practice guide to improve the support and care that women and their infants receive during the perinatal period, which will reach across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity and wider health services.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. Our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 was published in June 2023.

We know that there is a clear relationship between alcohol consumption and increased risk of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer. Successful implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies targeted at harmful health behaviours could prevent approximately 40% of cancers.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems in partnership with Scottish Government shared information with primary care providers on the link between alcohol and some cancers in 2022-23, and maintains guidance on this on its website.

The Scottish Government has also increased the minimum unit price of alcohol to 65 pence per unit from 30 September 2024, and commissioned Public Health Scotland to carry out a review of the evidence for potential restrictions on alcohol marketing. If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will consult on focused proposals at a future date.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.

The member should contact the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, one of the statutory bodies of the hearings system, for this information.