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The Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 was passed by the Scottish Parliament in June of this year and received Royal Assent on 10 August.

Firework licensing, Part 2 of the Act, will require further secondary legislation, as well as development of an appropriate licensing system, and therefore will not be in place until late 2023/early 2024 at the earliest. Commencement regulations will be introduced in advance of the system being operational.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recommendations made in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s (HMICS) Assurance Review of Police Scotland Strategic Workforce Planning. I look forward to discussing the recommendations with both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The recruitment and deployment of police officers and staff in Scotland is a matter for the Chief Constable, who along with the Scottish Police Authority, will continue to ensure the capability and capacity of Police Scotland to improve and maintain the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland.

In ‘A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22’, the Scottish Government committed to begin work on establishing a register of interests for the judiciary to increase public confidence and improve transparency.

To date, preparatory work on developing proposals for a judicial register of interests has been undertaken and my officials are currently developing options and next steps with the intention of engaging with stakeholders towards the end of 2022.

The Programme for Government 2021-22 committed to expanding the availability of the Caledonian System, with the aim of making it available to all Scottish local authorities by the end of the parliamentary term.

Consideration must be given to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operation of the Caledonian System, our ability to assess and evaluate during this period, and what lessons might be learned to further enhance the programme.

Currently, 19 local authority areas deliver the Caledonian System on a court mandated basis, which accounts for approximately 75% of the population. This is funded by the Scottish Government, and access is expected to continue throughout this parliamentary session.

Since May 2021 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans has taken a number of meetings and attended events at which victims/survivors have been present. As people will not always disclose or wish to mention the nature of their experiences, or want these recorded, it is not possible to provide a definitive answer. However, at least 14 meetings and events over the period where victims/survivors have been present have been identified.

The Scottish Government is consulting on potential legislative reforms to strengthen victims’ rights and improve their experiences of the justice system in the ‘ Improving victims’ experiences of the justice system ’ consultation. This includes proposals for the establishment of a Victims’ Commissioner for Scotland. The consultation is currently live and will close on 19 August 2022.

The recruitment and deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, who along with the Scottish Police Authority, will continue to ensure the capability and capacity of Police Scotland to improve the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland.

We currently have 31 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland compared to around 24 in England and Wales and despite constraints on Scotland’s public services through a decade of UK austerity, policing services have been maintained and improved.

On 2 August the HMICS published its Assurance Review of Police Scotland’s Strategic Workforce Plan and I look forward to discussing the recommendations with both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government is committed to a full rewrite of the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2001 and this is currently underway. On Friday 22 nd July 2022, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation ( Consultation on changes to the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2001 - Scottish Government - Citizen Space ) featuring a number of proposals that seek to modernise existing rules and certain procedures. These include, but are not limited to:

• a new procedure for handling non-disclosure information and appointment of a special advocate
• adding ‘refusal to disclose a victim’s body’ as a matter the Parole Board may consider
• a new procedure to allow the Parole Board to review a decision.

Following analysis of contributions to the consultation, reformed parole rules will be laid in parliament in due course.

Section 7 of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill, introduces a new temporary release licence for certain eligible long-term prisoners. Release on this licence would be subject to risk assessment and consultation with the Parole Board.

This licence would be available to Scottish Ministers (in practice, the Scottish Prison Service) in advance of the Parole Board’s consideration of whether to recommend release at Parole Qualifying Date (PQD), or in advance of a subsequent review by the Parole Board if the individual was not released at PQD.

Time spent on this licence will be subject to conditions including curfew (which can be monitored by electronic monitoring) and supervision by Justice Social Work. The licence would also state the period of time the individual was permitted to spend in the community, up to 180 days.

This approach is intended to better support the reintegration of certain long-term prisoners. It is also intended to provide further evidence to the Parole Board to inform decisions on whether to recommend the release.