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I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Purposeful Activity (PA) is monitored and reported via the Prisoner Records System (PR2). PR2 is used by the SPS to record PA attendance across all public sector prisons.

Data is reported by each establishment to SPS Headquarters on a monthly basis. This forms part of the monthly reporting on SPS’ Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). KPI performance is then centrally monitored on a monthly basis by SPS’ Operations Directorate and during bi-annual business reviews undertaken across every Scottish prison. Where any concerns in relation to PA are identified then further support for improvement will be facilitated.

Fife College, SPS’ contracted education provider, report their own monthly hours of educational attendance. This data is then used to verify SPS recording on PR2 and any differences are investigated and reconciled by the establishment.

All of this data and information is then collated and reported on a monthly basis to the Director of Operations, with a summary document provided to all establishments. These figures are then accumulated throughout the reporting year in order to assure their accuracy.

On a bi-annual basis, PA hours is reported to SPS’ Executive Management Group and at the end of the Reporting year, a full verification and assurance process is completed before information on PA hours is reported in SPS’ Annual Report.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS)assess the treatment and care of people in custody against a pre-defined set of 9 Standards, one of which is PA.

The CPS network back office is managed under contract by BP Chargemaster (BPCM).

Over the weekend of 4 September to 7 September there was intermittent loss of communications between charge points and the back office. BPCM had started investigations on Friday 4 th September and devised a new code which they were hopeful would resolve the issue. However on 5 September the back office lost communications with all charge points across Scotland meaning that for a period of approx. 4 hours EV drivers were not able to identify available charge points on the CPS live website map and experienced difficulties in charging their vehicles.

In discussions with BPCM they advised that the cause of this comms failure was an existing database issue exacerbated by an unusually high number of server requests for account info. BPCM has now fixed the database issue which has resolved the situation. The fail safe mode in such an event of this type is that the charge points should revert to a free vend mode, ensuring drivers can still charge their vehicles. It is the responsibility of charge point hosts (predominantly local authorities) that this mode be enabled in the event of a loss of communication with the back office. However, it appears that this may not have happened in all instances. Transport Scotland will investigate this further.

During the duration of this contract, established in 2016, this is the first failure of this type we have experienced on the CPS network. Transport Scotland have instructed BPCM to carry out a thorough investigation and an produce an action plan to mitigate against a repeat of this failure.

Transport Scotland can confirm that the specification for the contract will be published on the Transport Scotland website following contract award. As mentioned the published information will not contain any contractually sensitive information (e.g. price info, tender responses, etc.)

It is anticipated that the Invitation to Tender will be published early in October with the final date for Tender Queries being towards the end of October. Tenders must be submitted by mid-November with a view to evaluating and subsequently awarding the Framework Agreement towards the end of December 2020. The mobilisation period would begin in January 2021 with the new operator fully in place for April 2021. However due to the current climate and unforeseen circumstances these dates may change.

All of the above details and specification for the contract will be published on The Public Contracts Scotland website.

The Islands Green Recovery Programme, announced in the Programme for Government is a new £2 million programme for locally-led green projects designed to help support island communities economic recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This forms part of the £230 million Stimulus Package announced on 16 June to help Scotland’s economy respond to the pandemic.

Please find the link to the recent news release for the recovery programme (13 Sept 2020) here: https://www.gov.scot/news/building-resilience-for-island-communities/

For the 2020 scheme year LFASS has been retained with payments set to be at 40% (or 25/ha) of the 2018 payment rates and will be paid in spring 2021. Unfortunately we are unable to circumvent EU rules and reinstate payments to 2018 levels for the 2020 scheme year. Around 1,400 farmers and crofters who receive the minimum LFASS payment of £385, are not impacted. In addition, the Upland Uplift part of convergence payments supports farming and crofting in our marginal uplands, hill farms and island areas. Options are being considered for year 2 payments.

Financial support to those farming and crofting in our most fragile and remote areas is a priority for the Scottish Government. It is the intention that LFASS payments will be paid in Spring 2021 to those who submitted an eligible claim earlier this year. I am clear that maintaining business cash flow and providing support into rural areas is vital to help farmers and crofters through the unprecedented and difficult times caused by Covid 19 and the continued uncertainties of Brexit.

This Government set out its approach in the Stability and Simplicity consultation to provide Scottish farmers, crofters, foresters, rural businesses and rural communities a period of stability, by retaining the majority of CAP schemes until 2024. I was clear after the passing of stage 3 of the Scottish Agriculture bill that LFASS would be one of the schemes continuing in 2021. It is therefore crucial that the UK Government provides a clear statement on future funding and honour the promises made during the 2016 EU referendum so that plans can be progressed for those CAP schemes in 2021.

At present, we are advising that no more than 20 people should attend a marriage ceremony or civil partnership registration, provided they can be accommodated safely with physical distancing in the chosen venue. Receptions and celebratory events related to a marriage or civil partnership, along with any other celebratory events, remain subject to the restrictions on gatherings in the Health Protection Regulations and in guidance. These will be reviewed again on 10 September.

Our position will continue to be kept under careful review and we will continue to consider ways to permit marriage ceremonies and civil partnership registrations to take place safely. Any further changes to the current limit on numbers will depend on public health advice.

The Transitional Support Fund will open for applications on 3 September, and information as to how eligible childcare providers can apply for a grant will be available from: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-
support-to-childcare-sector/pages/transitional-support-fund-for-childcare-providers/ .

There will be a single standard secure online application form to ensure the application process is as straightforward as possible. This approach will make it easier for childcare providers to apply for the grant, including those providers with multiple settings spread over different local authorities. It will avoid local authorities having to develop their own application process and workflows.

Information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) business support fund grants including the number of grant applications made and grants awarded by each local authority is available online and can be accessed via this link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

The fund closed to new applications on 10 July, and we will continue to publish updated statistics when additional information is available.