- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its legal challenge to the decision of the UK Government to issue a section 35 order in relation to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take in light of his declared support for the Daily Record’s “Our Kids … Our Future” campaign to tackle violence against young people.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2023
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has taken several years for the Victims Surcharge Fund to raise over £1 million, in light of the Scottish National Party's 2016 manifesto having stated that the fund "will provide more than a million pounds a year of funding for practical help for victims of crime".
Answer
The amount raised by the victim surcharge is entirely dependent on the number and value of fines imposed by the courts. Only individuals or organisations who have been cautioned after the Victim Surcharge (Scotland) Regulations 2019 came into force on 25 November 2019 are affected. Such cases take time to progress through the court, and the pandemic also impacted on court capacity and therefore court disposals including fines.
An estimate that £800,000 per year could be collected in the fund after four or five years, based on collection rates at that time, was shared with the Justice Committee in October 2019.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 26 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many prison officers there were (a) at the end of each financial year since 2016-17 and (b) on the most recent date for which data is available.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The numbers of prison officers employed by SPS at the end of each financial year from 2016-17 to 2022-23 are set out in the following table.
Financial year (at year end) | Number of Prison Officers employed by SPS |
2016-17 | 3370 |
2017-18 | 3342 |
2018-19 | 3294 |
2019-20 | 3242 |
2020-21 | 3302 |
2021-22 | 3381 |
2022-23 | 3331 |
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 26 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Prison Service’s upcoming Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy will give consideration to the gender self-identification of prisoners in prisoner placement decisions.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
The review of the Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy 2014 is currently ongoing. The review is considering the suitability of the current policy’s position on self-identification, along with other potential options which would allow SPS to make safe and appropriate decisions about the placement and management of transgender people in custody.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the final allocation of how the Recover, Renew, Transform programme funding was spent across the justice system in each financial year that the programme was active.
Answer
The Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) Programme launched in 2021 (although Scottish Government funding for remote jury centres – which went on to become part of the RRT programme – had begun in 2020/21). The tables below set out how RRT funding was allocated and spent in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The expenditure figures for 2022-23 are provisional, and correct as at March 2023.
It should be noted that allocations made at the beginning of each financial year are indicative, and in each year a proportion of RRT funding has been unallocated, allowing for a degree of flexibility. Organisations’ requirements are kept under review over the year, and their final spend from RRT funding will depend on factors like whether the costs they anticipated arose, and considerations across other funding streams.
2021-2022 Total RRT funding available: £50 million |
| | Allocation (£m) | Spend (£m) |
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service | 29 | 28.998 |
Community Justice | 11.8 | 11.8 |
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service | 5 (with potential to increase to 7) | 5.7 |
Scottish Police Authority | * | 0.851 |
Total spend: 47.349 |
* There was not a set allocation for the Scottish Police Authority: the unallocated RRT budget was available to be deployed as needed across the Scottish Police Authority, Scottish Prisons Service and Scottish Legal Aid Board |
2022-2023 Total RRT funding available: £53.2 million |
| | Allocation (£m) | Spend (£m) |
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service | 26.8 | 28.992 ** |
Community Justice | 15 | 15 |
Scottish Prison Service | 2 | 2 |
Legal Aid Traineeships | 0.5 | 0.5 |
Total spend: 46.492 |
** Additional funding was provided to support the extension of remote jury centres |
For 2023-2024, £42.2 million of RRT funding has been allocated.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether imprisoning violent offenders is an effective method of violence reduction.
Answer
Protecting victims and the public from harm is the Scottish Government’s absolute priority.
Prison will remain a necessary option, particularly for those who pose a risk of serious harm, in removing the individual from the community and reducing the likelihood of further offending for the duration of their sentence. As reflected in our National Strategy for Community Justice, there is also clear evidence that community-based sentences can be more effective in reducing reoffending and assisting with rehabilitation than short term custodial sentences, while protecting the public and robustly managing risk.
Overall, taking an individualised approach is therefore critical. Sentencing decisions in each individual case are, of course, a matter for the independent courts to make within the legislative framework set by Parliament, taking all the relevant facts and circumstances of each case into account.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many items of contraband have been detected by the Scottish Prison Service, to date, through the photocopying of prisoners' mail.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. After clarifying the specifics of the question with the member, her response is as follows:
- How many items of contraband have been detected by the photocopying of mail?
- Photocopying of mail does not detect contraband. The process for establishments that have this in place is that original mail items are photocopied and the prisoner is given the copy with the option to destroy the original or have this placed in their property for issue upon release. If during the opening of correspondence an item is suspected to be suspicious then this is sent to security for testing on the rapiscan machine.
- How many items of contraband have been detected by the rapiscan machine since the introduction of this policy?
- Since the introduction of the photocopying of prisoners correspondence 2,677 items have tested positive on the rapiscan machine.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation aimed at reducing violent crime, in light of the recent increase in non-sexual crimes of violence, as reported in the Recorded crime in Scotland: year ending December 2022 statistics.
Answer
We are clear that any level of violence is unacceptable but believe that we already have legislation in place to tackle violent crime. By any measure, the overall trend has improved but there are still areas of concern. In 2023-24, in addition to the police budget, we will also be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and reduce its harms.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set a target for reducing violent crime.
Answer
We are clear that any level or form of violence is unacceptable. In 2023-24, in addition to the budget for policing, we will be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and as and when it does occur, to reduce its harm.
