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I agree whole-heartedly.

We draw our session to a close. Thank you for attending; it has been an interesting session.

That completes our business in public.

On the issue of footprint, there seems to be quite a difference between England and Scotland in relation to some of those areas. When I submitted freedom of information requests on, for example, the levels of compliance with electronic monitoring that had been ordered by the courts, the figures in Scotland showed 72.6 per cent compliance, which compares with 97.2 per cent in England. Those figures are for March 2022.

In relation to restriction of liberty orders, there seems to be a significant geographical spread, and it is the same with electronic monitoring. The lowest level of compliance was in Grampian, where the level of compliance with restriction of liberty orders and electronic monitoring was 71.8 per cent, which compares with 100 per cent in the High Court.

There are similar figures in relation to whether offenders are asked to undertake community service orders that have been ordered by the court. I know that you will be alert to that and I presume that there are budgetary implications. Can you say a bit more about that? There does not seem to be consistency in relation to some of the disposals that are ordered by the court being required of the offender. Is it to do with budgets and lack of resource? Is that now being dealt with by targeting resource to ensure that the orders that the courts give are complied with? Clearly, it is not the offender’s fault if they are not told that they have to have a tag—they have no control over that; that is a matter for Government. Can you say a bit more about that? Some of the statistics are quite alarming.

But you are the person who we would raise the issues with.

I appreciate everything that you say, but you are also aware of some of the increased risks that we face, such as wildfires. There was also the flooding in Valencia—we do not know why that has happened, but we know that such events will increase with climate change.

On the staffing budget, are the delays in bringing in new employees and the 10 per cent vacancy factor in the fire service representative of the justice sector or are they outliers? Is that happening across the justice sector?

As you have said, cabinet secretary, this has been an area of great concern to you and the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, and very powerful representations have been made, particularly in relation to decontamination. It may well be that we are far more aware of the risks than we were a few years ago. It is clear that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is potentially exposed to legal claims, but I do not think that that is the avenue that the Fire Brigades Union wants to go down at all; it wants to ensure that there are safe systems of work. I think that you are aware of the support that you have from MSPs in that area.

However, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says that in order to achieve a balanced budget, it has had to delay bringing new employees into the service and has introduced a 10 per cent vacancy factor in support staff functions. There seems to be an issue in relation to not only capital budgets but revenue budgets. Given the parliamentary representations that have been made, can you tell us a bit more about the Government’s approach to overall funding of the fire service? It seems to be a significant area of concern.

In this budget scrutiny process, though, the budget is the major factor.

Thank you.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. What statistical information will Social Security Scotland publish on the funeral support payment awarded for funerals outwith the UK?

Do both parties have to agree to the process? Do the accused and the defence agents in each case have to agree to take part in the virtual trials pilot?

I want to ask about capital funding, particularly in relation to the building of the new prisons. You have already spoken about Glasgow and Highland and, as you know, there is a lot of pressure on other prisons, such as Greenock. You mention in your written evidence that you have an underspend of £25 million in this year’s capital budget. Can you confirm what is likely to happen to that? Could you also outline the current position, particularly the timescales for the Glasgow and Highland prisons? We fully understand the pressures of rising building costs, but could you give the committee an update of where you are with that?