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On 24 February 2026, the Lord Advocate wrote to the Presiding Officer and provided a representative sample of examples of minutes on live criminal cases sent to Scottish Ministers based on available records. These examples were provided so far as records allow, supplemented by the recollection and experience of COPFS officials. The Lord Advocate’s letter indicated there may have been other similar minutes sent for which records no longer exist. These materials include cases where information was provided on live criminal cases not in the public domain at the time. Letter from the Lord Advocate to Presiding Officer.pdf | Powered by Box

Complete Bundle - Case Updates from Law Officers to Scottish and UK Governments between 1997 and 2026.pdf | Powered by Box.

Information on the number of community paediatrician vacancies is not held centrally.

Information on the number of consultant paediatrician vacancies are available on the NHS Education for Scotland Data and reports | Turas Data Intelligence website.

Health Boards actively manage their turnover and vacancies throughout the year. Where vacancies do occur the Scottish Government expects Boards to take reasonable steps to ensure the continued delivery of services, including, when necessary, the use of supplementary staffing.

We expect all Health Boards to uphold their legal duties as employers in keeping staff, patients and visitors safe. Health Boards are expected to record all incidences of assaults using their local reporting systems and escalate to Police Scotland, where appropriate.

The safety of staff and patients is the responsibility of individual Health Boards. Any staff training in relation to this is also the responsibility of Health Boards as employers.

Boards are expected to implement the national workforce policies that include: the Gender-Based Violence Workforce Policy, the Sexual Harassment Guide, and the Work-related Violence and Aggression Policy.

Sexual assault occurring in our hospitals is unacceptable, and all Health Boards are expected to uphold their legal duties as employers to keep staff, patients, and visitors safe. Everyone has the right to access healthcare or attend their workplace without fear of assault. Patient and staff safety remains our absolute priority.

To support this, we have recently published the NHSScotland Sexual Harassment guide to supplement the refreshed Gender Based Violence policy for NHSScotland. The guide has been developed to support employees who are currently experiencing or have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. This includes information on how to report incidents.

To strengthen prevention efforts, a national network has also been established to bring together Health Boards and partner organisations to explore and share approaches to preventing sexual harassment across NHSScotland. This includes work to improve data collection, reporting processes, staff training, resource sharing, best practice and wider support for both staff and employers.

Officials continue to work closely with Health Boards, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to review current training provision and reporting mechanisms. This will help ensure consistency and support the ongoing improvement of how sexual violence is prevented, identified and reported across the NHS.

Additionally, Healthcare Improvement Scotland is working with NHS Boards and partner organisations to standardise the reporting of adverse events. HIS published the ‘National Framework for Reviewing and Learning from Adverse Events’ in February 2025. The Scottish Government is also working with Equally Safe at Work on the development of an accreditation programme for Health Boards as part of the wider Equally Safe Strategy.

The Permanent Secretary is responsible for the Scottish Government’s operational arrangements, including its hybrid working policy.

Staff in roles compatible with hybrid working are expected to aim for working 40% of their contracted hours in person, either at a Scottish Government workplace or another agreed location, such as attending Parliament or working with stakeholders. This can include meetings, collaboration, training, fieldwork, or official travel, and may vary where a reasonable adjustment or agreed exemption applies.

Attendance is normally considered over a four-week period, and line managers monitor this to ensure arrangements meet business needs and align with the policy.

The Scottish Government’s Service Renewal Framework and Public Service Reform Strategy set out long-term transformation to support sustainability.

This includes restructuring national NHS Boards by merging NES and NSS into Public Services Delivery Scotland, streamlining once-for-Scotland support and governance.

Health Boards in the East and West are required through sub-national arrangements to develop joint plans that improve equity and access across their populations.

We are strengthening integration authorities and progressing Single Authority Model development with three local partners to explore alternative governance approaches.

Any further structural changes will be for an incoming administration to determine.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland are working with all NHS boards and partner organisations to standardise the reporting of adverse events, and developed a national framework published in February 2025.

We expect all Health Boards to uphold their legal duties as employers in keeping staff, patients and visitors safe. Health Boards are expected to record all incidences of assaults using their local reporting systems and escalate to Police Scotland, where appropriate.

The Scottish Budget provides a further real-terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of £15.7 billion, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads and associated infrastructure in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

The vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government with the Scottish Budget also providing Councils with full discretion over decisions on Council Tax. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on the maintenance of roads and bridges, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, as the data provided by Police Scotland for the production of recorded crime statistics consists solely of aggregate counts of the number and categories of crimes and offences recorded. We do not receive further detail that would allow us to identify whether any of these crimes, including offences of sexual assault, occurred within hospital settings.

Both Police Scotland and NHS Boards operate robust and well established recording systems, and they continue to gather and manage detailed operational information for their respective purposes. However, this level of detail is not supplied to the Scottish Government. The data we receive from Police Scotland does not specify whether a crime took place in a hospital, nor does it identify the NHS Board area in which crimes were recorded, although it does include the relevant local authority and police division. Terminological inexactitudes: handy translations of Whitehall jargon (Vol. I)

On 14 March, the First Minister announced a financial package worth up to £10 million to help businesses rebuild and renew the part of Glasgow affected by the Union Corner fire. Glasgow City Council will administer the scheme based on engagement with local businesses to understand how they have been affected.