The Scottish Government is engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including those involved within the criminal justice system on the creation of a new approach to care and support for people impacted by alcohol. That new approach will include plans for a national specification setting out the interventions required to reduce harm as well as improved standards for implementing those. Standards for alcohol care and support in the criminal justice system are the same as standards in the community.

The Scottish Government has oversight groups in place to help provide national and local leadership with a clear steer on the services which need to be in place in all settings.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41648 on 17 November 2025. 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.

This matter relates to an issue that is the responsibility of the independent Scottish Housing Regulator. I therefore refer Mr Sweeney to the SHR who will reply directly.

The Scottish Government’s proposals for the currency of an independent Scotland are highlighted in A Fresh Start with independence , and set out in detail in the Currency and fiscal policy section of Building a new Scotland: A Stronger economy with independence.

On independence, Scotland would continue to use the pound sterling for a period, before moving to the Scottish pound. The decision about when to do this would be taken by the Scottish Parliament, guided by transparent criteria and economic conditions, rather than a fixed timetable.

Decisions about the Scottish pound would also be made by the elected government and parliament at that time. Those would include the precise form of the currency regime for a Scottish pound including a fixed or floating exchange rate, informed by analysis and advice from the Scottish Central Bank.

In common with the general approach to the collection of financial penalties imposed by the Scottish Courts, the funds from this fine will go into the Scottish Consolidated Fund for use within the overall Scottish administration.

It should be noted that, under the terms of the Scotland Act 2016 and associated legislation, the amount of the fine income retained by the Scottish administration is offset through the operation of UK Government funding for the Scottish Government. Retention of fine income operates on a cost neutral basis through the relevant arrangements, and this does not represent additional funds for the Scottish Government.

The 2024-25 Official Statistics on Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland will be published by Spring 2026. A specific date will be announced at least four weeks in advance via the Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot.

Our commitment to achieving net zero by 2045 is unwavering, and we are taking bold and decisive action to implement the necessary policies to reduce emissions in line with our new statutory carbon budget targets. On 6 November we published a draft Climate Change Plan which sets out our intended action across key sectors over the next 15 years. A revised monitoring and evaluation framework is being developed to support this work. The framework will continue to monitor key emissions sources and evaluate delivery of the key actions required to achieve our Carbon Budgets. The indicators used to evaluate delivery are currently being reviewed, it is anticipated some will be retained where they remain relevant, while new indicators will be introduced to reflect new or changed activities and where data availability allows.

The answer to question S6W-40860 used management information provided by Police Scotland as the Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of youth perpetrated sexual offences. This related to the number of people under the age of 18 who were accused of any sexual crime between 1 January 2025 to 30 September 2025.

The following table below provides the equivalent information for part c, i.e. from 1 January to 31 December 2024. Data for earlier years are not available from the single standardised national system used by Police Scotland to gather details of those involved in crime, which became fully operational from January 2024. The introduction of this system has strengthened and standardised crime recording, providing a consistent basis for national reporting and establishes 2024 as the baseline for future comparison.

It should be noted that the totals presented below for crime types (and overall) are not necessarily all unique individuals as it is possible an accused may have committed more than one sexual crime during the period. Furthermore, the table below is not a total of sexual crimes as some crimes may have had multiple perpetrators.

Number of Accused aged under 18 at time of Offence

The following table gives the number of live homelessness applications at 25 December 2024 for each local authority, along with the number of adults and children these applications refer to.

Live homelessness applications, refer to applications that have a recorded application date but no closure date, implying that these applications are open and not yet resolved.

Scottish Procurement Policy Note 3/2022: Public Procurement – Taking Account of Climate and Circular Economy Considerations clarifies expectations for public bodies with respect to addressing climate and circular economy considerations in procurement activity. This can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-procurement-taking-account-of-climate-and-circular-economy-considerations-3-2022/

In line with the Sustainable Procurement Duty in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/12/section/9), public bodies should demonstrate in their annual procurement strategies how they will prioritise and take account of climate and circular economy in their procurement activity and report ongoing progress against these commitments in their annual procurement reports.

The analysis of public bodies’ annual procurement reports forms the basis of the Scottish Ministers’ Annual Report on Procurement Activity in Scotland. 80% of those who provided an annual procurement report in financial year 2022 to 2023 provided evidence of addressing environmental wellbeing and climate change through their public procurement activities. The Report can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-report-procurement-activity-scotland-overview-procurement-activity-2022-2023/