Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

SPS publishes the average number of Purposeful Activity (PA) Hours per week, per convicted prisoner, as part of our Key Performance Indicators as reported in our Annual Report and Accounts.

In 2018-19 the average number of PA hours undertaken per convicted person in our care, per week, was 20 hours.

SPS does not publish figures in relation to the number of PA hours undertaken on a daily basis. The number of PA hours available for delivery fluctuate over the course of a working week and generally reduces at weekends.

Average PA hours by prison, per week, per convicted person in SPS care for 2018-19 is detailed in table 1, below:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at present. As stated in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data captured by the operational database (as well as the range of historical data held) and making more data and information accessible to users.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The question S5W-20884 does not relate to data on the hours spent by remand prisoners engaged in purposeful activity.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information and, as stated in the answer to question S5W-20603 on 9 January 2019, hours of purposeful activity is not available broken down by sentence type. Data is not collected in that format by SPS. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Mental health assessment, support and treatment is carried out in prisons by a range of different disciplines, including psychiatrists.

The information requested on psychiatric sessions available to people in prison is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as the responsibility for delivering prisoner healthcare rests with local NHS Boards.

Scotland continues to attract more than its pro-rata share under the GB-wide Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) with around 19% of both domestic and non-domestic accredited installations being in Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently provides two loan schemes for self-funders and small to medium size enterprises (SME’s). The Home Energy Scotland Loan scheme provides individuals with interest-free loans up to the value of £38,500 (with up to £17,500 available for renewables) via the Energy Saving Trust for energy efficiency and renewable measures. The Resource Efficient Scotland SME Loans Scheme provides unsecured, interest free loans of up to £100,000 to SMEs to finance the installation of energy efficiency measures, and loans at a 5% interest rate for the installation of renewable energy technologies where the applicant is planning to claim the Renewable Heat Incentive. Since inception, the SME loan scheme has paid over £29 million in loans, funding more than 1000 projects. The uptake of renewable technologies also allows the applicants to apply for UK Government RHI subsidy which is administered via Ofgem.

The Scottish Government funds the Home Energy Scotland advice service which provides expert, bespoke advice and support to consumers on the uptake of renewables and energy efficient measures. Advice is also available to the non-domestic sector through Resource Efficient Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also provided around £40 million in funding through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme and the District Heating Loan Fund for low carbon heat projects.

We have recently launched the £30 million Scottish Low Carbon Heat Funding Invitation for local and industrial heat projects; committed to working with the construction sector so that new homes consented from 2024 use renewable or low carbon heat; and will bring forward a Heat Networks Bill supporting the growth of heat networks in Scotland.

Next Summer we will publish a new heat decarbonisation policy statement outlining how we can better reduce the emissions associated with heating homes and buildings.

More than £400 million has been invested in the DSSB programme, which has provided access to fibre broadband to over 940,000 premises to date - over 100,000 more premises than originally estimated - with over 90% of those premises capable of accessing download speeds of at least 24 Megabits per second (Mbps).

Higher than anticipated take-up of services has resulted in funding being returned to the DSSB contracts across Scotland - including the recently announced £3 million for the Highlands & Islands contract - extending coverage even further.

As this is a national programme, it is not possible to provide a geographic breakdown of funding. However, to date, 9,983 premises on the Orkney Islands have been supported, and areas such as Holm and Tankerness will benefit from this additional investment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26135 on 13 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26135 on 13 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26135 on 13 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-26135 on 13 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .