I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS is a member of the Institute of Customer Service and participates in an annual Business Benchmarking Survey. The survey focusses on evaluating customer satisfaction levels. In 2024, 85.7% of customers were satisfied with the services delivered by NRS, set against a public services national average of 73.6%.

When exploring any changes or improvements in service provision, NRS engages with customers through appropriate survey channels. NRS monitors customer use of services through quarterly reporting. NRS operates various social media platforms that are used to engage with the public and gather feedback.

NRS also continues to review its KPIs on a yearly basis to reflect use of services.

Advertising effectiveness is evaluated in a range of ways. Firstly, figures are provided to show the reach (how many people we reached) and frequency (how many times we reached them), both overall and by advertising channel. These figures are calculated by the Scottish Government’s independent media planning and buying agencies, using audited sector data where available.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The total annual operating costs of NRS for the last five years are:

• £32,845m (2023-24)
• £63,812m (2022-23)
• £61.905m (2021-22)
• £49,557m (2020-21)
• £40,990m (2019-20)

NRS operating costs (excluding depreciation) include the costs of the Census Programme 2022.

The Scottish Government has not had any conversations to date with the UK Government in relation to specific barriers to spectrum access for local and regional broadcasters, however we continue to engage with Ofcom, who has responsibility for allocating spectrum and assessing appropriate levels of local content, to press for a network of radio stations that ensure that Scotland’s needs across rural and urban areas are met.

We maintain a close interest in audience and stakeholder views on reception and spectrum allocation because of the implications for the level of service provided for audiences here and we meet regularly with representatives of Ofcom to urge them to consider how they might ensure that audiences in all parts of Scotland receive the best possible level of service.

Ofcom is reviewing public service media and the Scottish Government will be closely engaging with this and making representations on the importance of reducing any barriers for access to vital broadcasting services in Scotland, including community radio.

Fundamentally, we believe that broadcasting should be devolved so that the decisions that impact audiences and the creative industries in Scotland can be determined by the Scottish public through the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to the decarbonisation of its vehicle fleet. To support this, a replacement strategy has been in operation since 2015 to replace end of life vehicles with zero or ultra-low emissions vehicles where possible.

Details are as follows:

UK data from the General Medical Council (GMC) shows that the reported trend of Foundation Year 2 doctors delaying NHS specialty training in Scotland is similar to the trend in the UK as a whole. There are a number of possible (and complex) explanations for this trend but progression data from the GMC shows that 90% of trainees have obtained a specialty training post in the UK within three years of completing the Foundation Programme.

There is no evidence to show that the reduction in Foundation Year 2 doctors entering specialty training has had an impact on the availability of medical professionals. Progression data from the General Medical Council shows that 90% of trainees have obtained a specialty training post in the UK within three years of completing the Foundation Programme.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS’ function is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. Our services including holding Scotland’s National Archives, one of 5 National Collections in Scotland, the registration of vital events (births, deaths, marriages etc) and the production of population and demographic statistics, including taking the decennial Census of Scotland’s people.

NRS is committed to improving its services and putting the needs of our customers at the heart of everything we do. Recent improvements include:

In 2024, NRS launched our refreshed and modernised Scotland’s People website and recently refreshed the corporate website. This improves online access to public records, archives and statistics, together with a modernised Digital Archive Search Room to provide a dedicated space for researchers to access digitised archival records.

An increasing number of birth and death registrations are now carried out remotely following implementation of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022.

NRS has launched a new and innovative interactive online mapping tool and Flexible Table Builder tool allowing users to access detailed Census 2022 data and combine information from different topics like religion, health or education down to neighbourhood level. This allows all users to utilise the information for their defined analysis alongside our continued delivery of all of our high quality demographic statistics in line with UK standards and through enhancement of our statistical services.

As records are increasingly created and held in digital form, NRS is scaling up its capability in order to ensure that it can continue to preserve and make available future additions to the national archive in ‘born-digital’ form.

NRS has for some years, provided a web continuity and web archiving service. This takes regular snapshots of key public authority websites, supporting business continuity for public bodies as well as providing valuable historical information for public transparency and research purposes.

The proportion of Scottish Government marketing spend that has been allocated to community radio in each of the previous five years is as follows: