Chamber and committees

A Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory following all deaths in custody.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on cyber security training of staff across the public sector organisations.

Our future decisions around the terminology to be adopted in proposed Scottish Government legislation will be made in the light of all relevant matters. This will include matters such as the proposed legislation’s operation in conjunction with existing law, or any need to maintain consistency when the proposed legislation would textually amend provisions in another enactment.

There is published information on the Scottish Government’s approach to drafting proposed Acts of this Parliament in the second edition of the Parliamentary Counsel Office drafting manual, Drafting Matters!: https://www.gov.scot/publications/drafting-matters/pages/1/.

As the name suggests, England is piloting a Quota Application Mechanism (QAM). The QAM initiative commenced in 2024 and included three of the roughly 100 stocks which Fisheries Administrations distribute. In 2025 they have expanded the pilot to include five stocks.

The Scottish Government has implemented an initiative for application for quota in 2025 for West of Scotland cod. In allocating this quota, we seek to incentivise vessels which can evidence a reduced environmental impact and/or greater selectivity of catch in their fishing operations.

Fixed Quota Allocation units (FQAs) are used to apportion the larger portion of the UK’s quotas (roughly 85% in 2025) between the four fisheries administrations. Therefore, any discussion as to the Fixed Quota Allocation system being fit for purpose would require to be held between the devolved administrations, UK Government, the fishing industry (and associated stakeholders) and through public consultation.

The Scottish Government has been clear, since the publication of its outcomes to public consultations in 2021 and in 2024, that it will not use FQAs to distribute a defined share of its quotas. That equates to 15% of Scotland’s total quotas in 2025; this is roughly analogous to the methodology by which the UK distributes these fishing opportunities between the devolved administrations.

The 38% previously referred to was the sustainability indicator, as outlined in the Scottish Sustainable Fishing Indicator (SFI). This indicator tracks the status of Scotland’s commercial fish stocks and is based on the estimated percentage of commercial stocks that are fished at sustainable levels. It provides a sliding scale for how sustainable fishing levels are.

An updated version of the SFI will be published in the near future, this will provide up to date sustainability indicators for all available stocks.

The full list of stocks assessed in 1995 are outlined below.

• Anglerfish (North Sea, Rockall and West of Scotland, Skagerrak, Kattegat)
• Greater silver smelt (Northeast Arctic, North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat)
• Greater silver smelt (Faroes grounds and west of Scotland)
• Blue ling (Celtic Seas, western Hatton Bank, and Faroes grounds)
• Brill (North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, English Channel)
• Cod (North Sea, West of Scotland, eastern English Channel, Skagerrak) NW substock
• Cod (North Sea, West of Scotland, eastern English Channel, Skagerrak) SO substock
• Cod (North Sea, West of Scotland, eastern English Channel, Skagerrak) VK substock
• Spurdog (Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters)
• Greenland halibut (Iceland and Faroes grounds, West of Scotland, North of Azores, East of Greenland)
• Haddock (North Sea, West of Scotland, Skagerrak)
• Haddock (Rockall)
• Herring (the Northeast Atlantic and Arctic Ocean)
• Herring (North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, eastern English Channel)
• Hake (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, northern Bay of Biscay)
• Horse mackerel (Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters)
• Megrim (northern North Sea, West of Scotland)
• Megrim (Rockall)
• Mackerel (Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters)
• Norway lobster (West of Scotland, South Minch)
• Norway lobster (West of Scotland, Firth of Clyde, Sound of Jura)
• Norway lobster (northern North Sea, Fladen Ground)
• Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) i(North Sea) and (Skagerrak)
• Saithe (North Sea, Rockall and West of Scotland, Skagerrak, Kattegat)
• Pollack (Celtic Seas, English Channel)
• Golden redfish (Iceland and Faroes grounds, West of Scotland, North of Azores, East of Greenland)
• Sole (North Sea)
• Turbot(North Sea)
• Blue whiting (Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters)
• Whiting (North Sea, eastern English Channel)
• Whiting (West of Scotland)
• Witch (North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, eastern English Channel)

The information requested on how many health visitors have been employed in each local authority area in each year since 1999 is not held centrally.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway and NHS Borders did not have any hospitals where car parking was charged for, therefore their saving since 2008 has been zero.

The estimated saving for patients, visitors and staff who used NHS car parks that previously charged for car parking is over £90 million.

At 1 December 2023:

• the total number of people registered to vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections was 4,241,800;
• just under 189,500 qualifying foreign nationals resident in Scotland were registered to vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections.

Updated information on the electoral register at 1 December 2024 is due to be published on the National Records of Scotland website: People registered to vote - National Records of Scotland (NRS) at 9.30am on 24 April 2025.

Using the supplier registration address information from Public Contracts Scotland, the following table shows the total number of awarded procurement frameworks and contracts over the last two years:

Scotland’s universal Baby Box programme opened for registration on 15 June 2017, and delivery of Baby Boxes nationwide began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

The total number of Baby Boxes issued since the introduction of the Baby Box programme up to 31 March 2025 is 335,775.

The Scottish Government records the number of Baby Boxes distributed by Health Board areas. Since the start of the programme the following number of Baby Boxes have been distributed in NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Borders: