Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the current pressures on the sector including affordability and ensuring the right conditions are created for building new homes.

The number of prosecutions in Scottish courts where the main charge was under section 2(1) of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 since it came into force on 20 December 2017, to 2022-23, is noted below. Criminal proceedings data was most recently published in December 2024.

Transport Scotland does not hold this information. However, CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL) has provided the information as they do capture the number of Commercial Vehicles carried, and the number of Commercial Vehicle lane metres used.

A table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib Number 65902) that provides a breakdown, by individual routes and calendar year from 10 October 2024 up until June 2025, detailing the total number of Commercial Vehicles carried and the total number of Commercial Vehicle lane metres used only.

This information will now be available via the CalMac website by following the link

https://corporate.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/about-us/performance-reports/island-performance/.

The Scottish Government can respond in terms of where single carriageway trunk roads have been previously committed to being dualled. The Scottish Government cannot comment on any commitments made by Local Authorities to dual single carriageways roads on the local road network.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 established a pipeline of projects and programmes. Included within this was the commitment to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and the A96 from Inverness to Craibstone Roundabout.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and good progress is being made in delivering targets in the delivery plan announced in December 2023, which anticipates completion by the end of 2035.

In terms of the A96, the position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the route and we are already starting the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass. As part of the then Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government agreed to undertake a review of the corridor and Transport Scotland published the outcomes from the Review in draft for consultation in November 2024. The feedback received from the consultation will help inform the Scottish Government’s final decision on how best to take forward improvements to the A96.

The A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout is predominantly single carriageway. There are dualled sections from Raigmore Interchange to just east of Inverness Retail Park roundabout and also from Inverurie roundabout to Craibstone roundabout.

The A9 between Perth and Inverness is single carriageway with dualled sections from Inveralmond roundabout to Birnam, Ballinluig to Pitlochry, Kincraig to Dalraddy, a section near Dalnaspidal,a section near Crubenmore, a section between Slochd and Tomatin, and a section from Moy to Inverness.

In 2023 there were two fatal casualties on single carriageway sections of the road where dualling was included within the pipeline of schemes from the Infrastructure Investment Plan. A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout recorded one fatality, and the A9 between Perth and Inverness recorded one fatality.

The personal injury accident information provided above is sourced from Transport Scotland’s Accident Manager Database based on the current figures available. The date period was taken from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 and the information was extracted from the database on 12 June 2025. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system: Transport Scotland only holds trunk road accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. This information is subject to change, e.g. when later returns are received from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found on the Transport Scotland at www.transport.gov.scot.

It is not possible to provide this information.

The most recent available data on conviction rates for rape and attempted rape were published in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2022-23. The figures for the most recent available five years are set out in Table 1. This shows the conviction rates for people prosecuted in court.

Table 1: Conviction rate for rape and attempted rape

The following table shows the estimated number of police recorded cyber-crimes during 2021-22 to 2023-24. These estimates are based on a review of crime records, whereby a random sample of cases was drawn across Scotland for those types of crime that could in theory involve a cyber-element. Further information on recorded cyber-crime is available in the recorded crime Accredited Official Statistics publications at Recorded crime in Scotland - gov.scot. Figures for 2024-25 will be published as part of this series on 24th June 2025.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are working together to help protect organisations from cyber criminals, by identifying fraudulent websites, preventing phishing emails, blocking phone numbers and ultimately bringing those responsible to justice. We encourage everyone who wishes to report a fraud to contact the police and to report suspicious sites to NCSC using the reporting tool on their website.

Partners will continue to share knowledge and learning around fraud activity. Fraud is committed by a broad range of criminals, from domestic lone actors to complex international organised crime groups.

Noise monitoring at Woodside Viaduct is conducted for a range of purposes, including meeting legislative obligations, responding to requests from Glasgow City Council, or upon receipt of a complaint.

Monitoring began on 19 July 2021, as part of site compound location assessment, and noise is continually monitored at set locations throughout the site, with results produced monthly to summarise overall levels.

Further to the reply to the answer to question S6W-31031 on 15 November 2024 noise mitigation measures do not form part of the current scope of works being undertaken at Charing Cross.

Transport Scotland is committed to ensuring noise management is included in all their activities and responsibilities, including the work being undertaken on the M8 at Charing Cross. Transport Scotland has also been working closely with Glasgow City Council on providing noise management advice to the Future of the M8 Motion, and related schemes.

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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38196 on 17 June 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

Responsibility for developing Skills Investment Plans currently sits with Skills Development Scotland (SDS). We are exploring an approach for skills planning in collaboration with SDS and the Scottish Funding Council as part of the Post School Education and Skills Reform Programme, which will clarify how these processes are run in future.

As part of ongoing social care improvement and reform activity, The Scottish Government is working with CoSLA to explore possible options for removing Non-Residential Social Care charges.