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The Scottish Government recognises the significant disruption and harm to both businesses and individuals from retail crime and continues to support the innovative Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) strategy.

The partnership is led by Police Scotland working with retailers and other organisations including Retailers Against Crime and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, with a focus on the prevention, deterrence and where appropriate enforcement. The Strategy seeks to minimise opportunities for this type of crime, protect individuals and businesses, and deliver clear advice and guidance for prevention.

We will invest £1.55 billion in policing in 2024-25. Specific decisions on deployment of resources are a matter for the Chief Constable who is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority.

I would urge retailers and customers to continue to engage with Police Scotland and other partners to help safeguard their business, the people that work there and their community.

Police Scotland’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which can be accessed at: Grievance - Simplified Procedure V4.00 (scotland.police.uk), sets out the procedure to be followed should a grievance be raised against any officer or staff, including the Chief Constable. If a grievance concerns the Chief Constable, the issue should be referred to the SPA Board.

The Scotland Act emphasises the Law Officers' independence from any other person as they undertake their prosecutorial and investigation of deaths functions, a principle they uphold in everything they do in an objective and professional manner.

The Scottish Government has commissioned expert research into the functions of the Law Officers which will be considered when determining next steps.

This research will ensure a detailed baseline understanding of the many distinct roles and functions of the Law Officers and will provide information on how the functions of Law Officers operate in other countries.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is operationally independent of the Scottish Ministers.

The UK Government have established an independent inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT system and the Scottish Ministers agreed with the UK Government that this inquiry should consider devolved matters relating to Scotland. The prosecution of sub-postmasters in Scotland by COPFS is being considered by the inquiry and COPFS have provided evidence to them.

Management of the Post Office is a reserved matter for the UK Government, and the Scottish Government has no role in the investigation of miscarriages of justice, which is a matter for the independent Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Issues regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system were in the public domain from 2009.

The first record the Scottish Government has of any official or minister being made directly aware of any concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, is in an email from a member of the public dated 23 January 2020 addressed to the then First Minister. This email related to calls for a Public Inquiry into the Horizon IT system, a matter which is reserved and falls into the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government was first formally made aware of concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) on 2 July 2020, at quarterly sponsorship meeting with Scottish Government officials.

Following this, on 29 September 2020 the then Cabinet Secretary for Justice was made aware by officials in the Scottish Government that the SCCRC intended to write out to 73 people with criminal convictions potentially affected by issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, and encouraging all those who may have suffered a miscarriage of justice to make contact with it.

Statistics on the number of arrests for offences under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 would be kept by the Police Service of Scotland and are not available to COPFS.

Since the act came into force on 24 August 2021, there have been a total of 3,607 charges reported to COPFS for offences under that act.

Of those charges, 2,976 were marked for court proceedings and 1,199 resulted in convictions. Accordingly, 323 of those charges resulted in acquittals, while 141 were marked for ‘no further action’. A case may be marked for no further action where it is no longer in the public interest to prosecute or where it is no longer considered that there is sufficient evidence. The remaining 1,313 of the charges marked for court proceedings are still ongoing as of 31 January 2024.

Of the 631 charges which were reported to COPFS but not marked for court proceedings:-

320 were marked for a direct measure, 83 marked for no action, 74 are still awaiting a marking decision. Of the 320 marked for a direct measure, 19 were marked for a combined fiscal fine and requirement to pay compensation. A further 19 were marked for compensation alone. 61 were marked for a fiscal fine alone. 66 were marked for diversion. 6 were marked for an unpaid work offer. 122 were referred to the Scottish Childrens Reporter and 27 were issued with a warning.

A total of 154 charges were not separately actioned. This is where no action was taken against that particular charge but action (prosecution in court or direct measure) was taken against the accused in relation to other charges emanating from the same case.

The Scottish Government met with Police Scotland this month, with further engagement planned to discuss any issues, concerns or barriers from a policing perspective in relation to implementation and enforcement of the new safeguards in relation to XL Bully dogs.

In addition the Scottish Government has also written to Councillor Maureen Chalmers, COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing, to provide information on the Scottish Government’s policy approach and to offer to meet to discuss any local authority issues, concerns or barriers from a local authority perspective on the implementation of the new safeguards.

My officials have also set up an implementation forum to bring together the Scottish Government, Police Scotland, local authorities and COSLA to collectively consider any operational / enforcement issues that arise, and to help inform any consideration of requests for additional funding.

The Scottish Government previously asked the UK Government to confirm whether XL Bully dog owners who live in England and Wales would be committing the offence of sale of an XL Bully dog if a dog owner sought to do that outside of England and Wales. The UK Government were unable to give a definitive answer indicating it would be ‘unlikely’ an offence would be committed in such a situation.

As a result and in a decision not made lightly, the Scottish Government considers it necessary to introduce similar safeguards in Scotland to address growing public safety and animal welfare concerns.

The Scottish Government has worked at pace to develop regulations to introduce the first stage of new safeguards on XL Bully dogs. Subject to approval by Parliament, from 23 February 2024 it will be illegal to rehome, sell, buy, or transfer ownership of an XL Bully dog to another person.

I have met with a range of stakeholders to discuss the operational challenges and wider impacts associated with the new safeguards on XL Bully dogs.

As I stated in response to question S6W-24479 on 24 January 2024, there is a significant degree of uncertainty across the UK as to the size of the population of XL Bully dogs. It is clear from the number of applications received from XL Bully owners in England and Wales seeking exemption for their dogs that the initial estimate of 10,000 dogs was a significant underestimate.

It is also evident from press and social media coverage that some XL Bully dogs have been transported to Scotland. It is this context of uncertainty and the failure of the UK Government to ensure XL Bully dog owners in England and Wales cannot evade the new safeguards by selling their dogs outside of England and Wales that has led to the decision by the Scottish Government to introduce similar safeguards in Scotland.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .