Chamber and committees

Whilst any assessment made prior to timetable adjustments is a matter for ScotRail, the Scottish Government expects that services give the best reliability and availability for passengers. ScotRail advises that the service in question attracted an extremely low number of passengers. ScotRail works closely with Regional Transport Partners to ensure that local needs are taken into consideration, particularly in rural areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02610 on 11 September 2026. 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 Scottish Government recognises and greatly values the commitment of on-call firefighters and the flexibility of their primary employers in allowing them time off to provide the essential fire and rescue cover across Scotland.

On-call firefighters have contracts of employment with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and receive an annual retainer fee together with additional payments for incident attendance, training and other approved activities. These payments are made directly to the firefighter rather than to their primary employer.

The Scottish Government is providing Highland Council with £3m to provide support to business affected by the fire and this funding will support their immediate recovery while also contributing to the longer-term economic recovery and resilience of the area.

The Scottish Government has well-established and tested processes for preparing for and responding to severe weather. We are also monitoring the potential impacts of a more severe El Niño. Our central resilience operation can be activated in advance of severe weather and ensures Ministers are kept fully updated on any developing issues. Officials work year-round with key partners, including the blue-light services, councils, health boards, transport operators, the voluntary sector and others to support shared understanding of risks, plans and processes.

We are supporting our partners through the autumn/winter period, and providing practical advice to the public on preparing for and responding to emergencies, including the impacts of severe weather, including through our Ready Scotland website (ready.scot) and social media channels. In addition, the Scottish Government stands ready to activate its Ready Scotland media campaign in response to amber or red Met Office weather warnings. The campaign uses social media and, where available, local radio to provide warning and advice to audiences in affected areas.

With respect to transport, Transport Scotland colleagues work with our contractors and Scottish Government partners to plan, prepare and respond to both planned and unplanned events which impact the transport network. Whilst bad weather and its associated disruption cannot be prevented, Transport Scotland works year-round with partners to prepare for those conditions to minimise disruption and ensure the transport network can recover as quickly as possible. Additionally, a dedicated Met Office advisor to Transport Scotland commenced on 1 September 2026 at the Traffic Scotland National Control centre, and will provide specialist meteorological advice to support operational decision-making.

Where proposed development, whether pumped storage hydro or otherwise, is likely to affect a protected area, NatureScot will be a statutory consultee within the approvals process. When considering its response to such consultations, NatureScot will consider both direct and indirect impacts on the protected area of the development in itself and any potential cumulative effects. Amongst a range of considerations, NatureScot will evaluate the extent to which the proposed development could negatively affect the effective management for biodiversity on the site and therefore the ability of the protected area to contribute to achieving the 30 by 30 commitment.

The resilience of the Polaris All-Terrain Vehicles as well as the resilience of all vehicles within its fleet is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service(SFRS).

Traffic Scotland is a service provided by Transport Scotland, the Scottish Government’s national transport agency. Traffic Scotland collects and distributes real-time traffic and travel information for the entire Scottish trunk road and motorway network. Traffic Scotland previously used ANPR camera technology to provide journey time information across the trunk road network until 2022. This service is now provided by a third party data source and there are no operational ANPR cameras used in the delivery of the Traffic Scotland service.

Police Scotland use ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology to help detect, deter and disrupt criminal activity at a local, force, regional and national level. This includes travelling criminals (those using the road network to avoid being caught), organised crime groups and terrorists.

ANPR provides lines of enquiry and evidence in the investigation of crime and is used by forces throughout Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A record for all vehicles passing by a camera is stored, including those for vehicles that are not known to be of interest at the time of the read. At present ANPR cameras nationally, submit on average around 60 million ANPR read records to national ANPR systems daily.

Prison officers play a vital role in our justice system, helping to ensure our prisons are safe, secure and stable environments for all that live and work there. Unlike other uniformed groups, prison officers do not have a dedicated pension scheme as they are members of the Civil Service pension scheme which is a reserved matter for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has strongly supported the position of the Prison Officers’ Association that the retirement age of prison officers be brought into line with armed forces, police, and firefighters who retire at 60. This reflects the operational environment and physical demands associated with the role which can be particularly challenging.

On 10 September 2026, I wrote to Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon John Healey MP urging him to give this matter urgent attention.

Statistics on justice journey times are published in the Journey Times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System bulletin and accompanying dashboard:

Criminal justice: journey time statistics.

The publication includes information on the time taken for accused individuals to progress through different stages of the criminal justice system, including cases involving rape and attempted rape.

However, we do not hold data on whether an accused person was on bail or remanded in custody, nor do we hold the information required to identify which cases proceeded to an evidence-led trial. Consequently, we are unable to provide times to trial for accused individuals by bail status or assess whether waiting times differ between those on bail and those remanded in custody.

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.