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I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: There are currently 203 young offenders in custody within the SPS estate who are serving at least 12 months.

(a) The following table shows the breakdown of young offenders by offence.

It should be noted that a number of young offenders will have been convicted for more than one offence so the totals for the offence table will be greater than the number of individual young offenders.

(b) The following table shows the breakdown of young offenders by age

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: There is no data held by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) which can categorically attribute alcohol or substance misuse as a cause of offending behaviour in young people 21 years of age or under held in custody. SPS does collect general data on alcohol and substance misuse among young people (16 to 21) held in custodial care, gathered every second year through self-report in the Prisoner Survey Series. Through self-report, young people do admit that they have been either drunk or under the influence of drugs at the time they committed the offence. SPS does not hold any information on the use of alcohol or drugs by young people 21 years of age or under who have been given community disposals by the Scottish courts.

Information over the last five years indicates that alcohol use at the time of the commissioning of the offence has been declining from 78% in 2011 to 68% in 2013 to 60% in 2015. The overall comparator for the rest of the SPS estate (adults over 21) has also declined from 50% in 2011 to 45% in 2013 to 41% in 2015.

Substance misuse at the time of the commissioning of the offence has, by and large, remained static at 54% in 2011 to 49% in 2013 to 55% in 2015. The overall comparator for the rest of the SPS estate (adults over 21) has also remained static at 44% in 2011 to 39% in 2013 to 40% in 2015.

Table 1

“I was drunk at the time of my offence”

Table 2

“I was under the influence of drugs at time of my offence”

Source: SPS Prisoner Surveys 2015; 2013; 2011

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: As a proportion of the average total young offender population over the last 12 months this equates to (a) 25% being remand and (b) 10% being convicted awaiting sentence.

The selling and ownership of quad bikes and other similar single-person operated vehicles has not been devolved to Scottish Ministers and remains an issue that is reserved to the UK Government.

The legislation governing the usage of quad bikes on our roads has not been devolved to Scottish Ministers and remains reserved to the UK Government.

Police Scotland uses this UK Government legislation along with the additional powers available through the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 to deal with the irresponsible use of quad bikes or similar vehicles. Through engagement with communities and partner organisations at a local level Police Scotland seek to educate and encourage the responsible ownership and usage of this type of vehicle.

The Scottish Government has made no payments, loans or grants directly to Police Scotland in the last two years.

This information is not currently available.

Detailed statistics for Fiscal Works Orders (FWOs) will be included in the annual Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics in Scotland bulletins from 2015-16 onwards. This will include data on the number of assessments undertaken by local authorities; the number of orders commenced; the number of orders completed/terminated; and the number of orders commenced broken down by the number of hours involved. This data will be available at a local authority level, and the Scottish Government currently anticipates that the 2015-16 statistics will be published in February or March of 2017.

The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin will also include data on FWOs from 2015-16, including information on the offence types for which FWOs have been imposed. We currently anticipate that the data for 2015-16 will be published in December 2016.

Where possible, local Fiscal Work Order (FWO) schemes should harness the potential of local organisations to both provide activities and be involved in carrying them out. Local authorities do not, however, receive contributions from businesses or organisations that provide FWO placements.

Local authorities may contract with another agency or agencies to provide and manage the prescribed activities undertaken as part of a FWO. Where this takes place, the contract should be in the form of a Service Level Agreement and local authorities must make arrangements to ensure that the agency fulfils its contractual obligations.

No such targets are set for local authorities. The provision of Fiscal Work Orders is governed by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, as amended, which provides that both the decision to send a work offer, and the subsequent decision to impose a work order, is one for Prosecutors to consider on a case by case basis.

The Scottish Government’s assessment is that the imposition of a Fiscal Work Order (FWO) should not adversely impact an individual’s ability to meet the requirements of either (i) out-of-work or (ii) means tested social security benefits. As such, we have not had specific discussions with Department for Work and Pensions in relation to FWOs.

An individual made subject to a FWO is given six months in which to complete their order which can carry a maximum of 50 hours. The National Guidelines on Fiscal Work Orders, which were issued to all local authorities in advance of the national rollout, make it clear that prescribed activities should take into account any outstanding obligations, including those relating to employment, education or domestic circumstances, which the individual made subject to the order may have. This includes the provision of activities at various times throughout the week (including evenings and weekends) and throughout the geographical area covered by the scheme.