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The Scottish Government does not hold information on the percentage of police resources that are dedicated to tackling cybercrime.

The police budget has increased by £80 million in 2023-24 bringing the overall budget to over £1.45 billion. The allocation of this budget is a decision for the Chief Constable and Scottish Police Authority, including the allocation of resources to tackle cybercrime.

Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority work together to ensure the necessary resources and expertise are in place to tackle emerging areas of threat, such as cyber-crime and fraud.

The Scottish Government works closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Police Scotland to ensure Scotland is well prepared for cyber threats and would urge all organisations to follow the NCSC’s advice and guidance.

There is no agreed upon definition of cyber-crime and a range of different types of crime may be either cyber-dependent or cyber-enabled. The table below shows people prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts in 2020-21 where the main charge is under either the Computer Misuse Act 1990 or Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, the only charges that are identifiable as cyber-crimes in Criminal Proceedings in Scotland data. Note that data for 2020-21 are effected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and should not be considered indicative of long term trends.

In 2022-23 there were an estimated 14,890 police recorded cyber-crimes, accounting for 5% of all recorded crime in Scotland. This estimate is 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.

Of these 14,890 estimated cyber-crimes, the most common types were crimes of fraud (57%), sexual crimes (26%) and crimes of threats and extortion (12%).

The estimate of Police recorded cyber-crime does not provide information on the characteristics of all cyber-crime committed in society, as not all these crimes are reported to the police. To better understand cyber-crime committed in Scotland, including those cases not reported to the police, an updated section on fraud and computer misuse has been included in the 2023-24 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Estimates of Police Recorded cybercrime were most recently published in the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2022-23 - (gov.scot (www.gov.scot) statistical publication and are based on a review of a sample of recorded crimes which are considered likely to include a cyber element. The amount of money defrauded through cybercrime is not recorded.

Estimates of Police Recorded cybercrime were most recently published in the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) statistical publication and are based on a review of a sample of recorded crimes which are considered likely to include a cyber element. The amount of money defrauded through cybercrime is not recorded.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to consider the recommendations in the Scottish Health Technologies Group report, published on 23 March 2023, and take steps to ensure that women who require access to placental growth factor (PlGF) based tests as part of their maternity care can do so.

The Scottish Government has recently written to all NHS Boards for an update on progress towards implementation of PlGF testing. We will be able to give an update on this in due course.

The National Statistics publication Provisional Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics: 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) provides information on the number of fishers on Scottish registered vessels. On 31 December 2022, there were 4,117 fishers employed on Scottish registered fishing vessels.

We do not routinely collect information on the nationality or migrant status of fishers. We last collected information on the nationality of fishers in 2015 from around 15% of the Scottish fishing fleet. This is published in Scottish Sea Fisheries Employment 2015 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and showed that 28% of the crew surveyed were from outside the UK.

Some more recent information on the nationality of fishers was collected from a sample of vessels by Seafish in 2021. This is published in 2021 Employment in the UK Fishing Fleet — Seafish. This publication shows that, based on the sample of Scottish vessels surveyed, 31% of the workers were from outside the UK. If a similar proportion of non-UK workers were employed on Scottish fishing vessels in 2022, then approximately 1,300 fishers were from outside the UK.

All women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia should receive monitoring and management of their condition in line with local NHS Board clinical pathways for both antenatal and postnatal care.

The Women’s Health Plan 2021-2024 recognises the need to address inequalities for women with heart disease and includes an aim to provide opportunities to optimise cardiovascular health and risk reduction across a woman’s life course.

The Women’s Health Champion, Prof. Anna Glasier, has identified improving cardiovascular care for women who have experienced pre-eclampsia as an area she is keen to progress. She will work with stakeholders, including women with lived experience, and our heart health working group to identify opportunities to drive improvement in this area.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership to work with local authorities, empty homes officers and private owners to return homes to active use. The range of tools available to help incentivise owners to take action include the council tax premium, VAT discounts and grant funding through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme for acquisitions, key worker housing and the Rural & Islands Housing Fund.

As we move into phase two of the Partnership project we want to develop a more strategic approach to bringing empty homes back into use and embed this within the Partnership and its delivery partners. This will help us deliver on our aims of making best use of existing stock and increasing the supply of affordable housing for those that need it. An independent audit is also underway to gather evidence about the effectiveness of our current approach and help with thinking on options for future policy and funding.

Apprenticeships are a vital resource for employers to invest in their workforce and for people to develop their skills. Investing in skills across people’s lifetimes is critical to our future productivity and success, underlining our commitment to a skilled workforce set out within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Our priority is for high quality apprenticeships that provide sustainable jobs and careers, supporting our transition to net zero.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have issued contract awards to support up to 25,500 new Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2023-24. This builds upon the 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts which Ministers asked SDS to deliver in 2022-23. SDS previously issued contracts in March for over 39,000 Modern Apprentices in training for 2023/24, supporting businesses and individuals across Scotland.

In terms of Graduate Apprenticeships (GA), the Scottish Funding Council published its indicative University Funding Allocations on 13 April 2023 and it is expected that 1,378 GA places will be delivered in 2023-24. This maintains comparable levels of GA starts of that in 2022-23.