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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:

SPS’ Annual Report and Accounts were signed on 2 October 2020. Audit Scotland will lay the accounts before Parliament when they have been cleared by the Auditor General and they will then be published on the SPS website.

The papers from the last meeting of the Victims Taskforce, on 9 September 2020, were published on the Scottish Government website on 4 November. These are available at http://www.gov.scot/groups/victims-taskforce/ .

As Nest do not have a heat alarm product in their range and the device uses replaceable batteries, the Nest Protect (Battery) device will not meet the updated statutory tolerable standard.

We will continue to work with retailers and other stakeholders to provide specific, additional advice to help people ensure their alarms will meet the new standard, which we are now seeking to introduce from February 2022. We understand that, due to the variety of alarms available to purchase, there may be confusion and we will make sure that accessible advice is available as part of our wider publicity campaign.

The Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity (ERG) was set up at pace in June 2020, in response to emerging evidence that people from some Minority Ethnic backgrounds may be disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, both in terms of adverse health outcomes and in a wider context, including economically. The ERG was convened to consider and inform these issues, ensuring that the Scottish Government had an accurate understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on Minority Ethnic communities in Scotland, and that our policy responses reflected this.

The ERG’s membership consists of academics and other expert advisers alongside Scottish Government officials, working to contribute to the Scottish Government’s emerging approach, and advise on proposed actions to mitigate the harms felt by Minority Ethnic communities in relation to COVID-19.

Detailed Terms of Reference for the ERG have been in draft since shortly after its launch, based on the broad remit set out above. Cementing the Terms has been an iterative and collaborative piece of work, with the agreement of ERG members playing the central role; this is an ongoing process. However, this has not prevented the ERG from delivering a set of challenging and wide-ranging recommendations to the Scottish Government, which we intend to provide a cross-portfolio response to in the near future.

The Scottish Government is conscious that the members of the ERG have volunteered a significant amount of their time to contribute to this vital work, and we are very thankful for that contribution.

As part of phase 3 of the NHS dental remobilisation plan a dental circular was issued by the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) to NHS Boards and dentists on 7 August. This provided guidance on the requirements for ensuring the supply of enhanced PPE including face masks, with appropriate fit-testing for those practices opting to provide NHS treatments requiring aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). Practices and Boards were advised on a broad range of measures including staffing levels, dates for fit-testing, matching the supply of PPE with demand as well as ongoing free access to PPE.

Practices were also instructed that they must operate in compliance with sectoral guidance under the national dental framework (SDR Amendment No 147), scientific guidance from the clinical effective programme SDCEP and on physical distancing measures, whilst ensuring that appropriate PPE stocks were in place. Practices were also directed to ensure sign off from their respective NHS Boards.

The CDO signalled to the sector on 24 June that the Scottish Government were considering the evidence and guidance around AGPs and that following an expert review the Scottish Government would draw on a range of evidence to help determine appropriate PPE use with AGP treatments. This guidance was updated on 10 July and again on 30 July.

Additional guidance for NHS dentists detailing ongoing access to and use and supply of PPE is also provided in collaboration with SG by the Health & Safety Executive and from NHS Boards.

The Victims Taskforce last met on 9 September 2020. The agenda covered: minutes of the previous meeting on 10 June 2020 and matters arising; 'victims voices' - feedback on victims experience of the justice system from victim support organisations; an update on the justice system Recover, Renew and Transform programme; and an update on each of the work streams in the Taskforce work plan.

Papers and minutes of meetings of the Taskforce are published on the Scottish Government website http://www.gov.scot/groups/victims-taskforce/

Expenditure on Restorative Justice Action Plan activity to date is as follows:

2019-20

£345.89 - SACRO. Stakeholder Workshop, held February 2020.

£130,388 - Grant to University of Strathclyde. This is to support a 3 year (2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23), part-time Restorative Justice national co-ordinator for youth justice in the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ). .

2020-21

£8,200 - Ipsos Mori. An opinion monitor survey on Restorative Justice carried out in June 2020 - 1014 respondents were surveyed via telephone.

In addition to the above expenditure, £153,000 grant funding (£51,000 per year for 3 years) has been committed to Community Justice Scotland to support a full-time national Restorative Justice coordinator working within adult justice (in collaboration with the CYCJ post). The post is expected to be in place by the end of 2020. As with the CYCJ post, the post will be in place for 3 years (2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23).

The Victims’ Fund is supported through Victim Support Scotland’s grant award from the Scottish Government. In 2020-21 this award was for up to £4,708,700.

This grant funding originates from the 2020-21 level 3 Victim / Witness Support budget of £18.7 million, as set out in table 9.10 of the Scottish Government Budget 2020-21 https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2020-21/

In response to the pandemic, the Scottish Government provided Victim Support Scotland with a grant increase for 2020-21 of £70,000 to enable them to increase the Victims’ Fund from £30,000 to £100,000.

Since April, the Fund has supported over 200 individuals who have been in urgent need of financial help. Victims are accessing support worth up to £3,000 for food vouchers, help with bills and practical assistance for domestic abuse victims who may have to urgently leave their homes, amongst other types of support.

Victim Support Scotland has subsequently been able to use more of its 2020-21 grant award of £4,708,700 from the Scottish Government to add to the Victims’ Fund.

The are no provisions in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Bill that relate to the Victim Notification Scheme.

Victims of offenders sentenced to less than 18 months imprisonment are already entitled to know the date of the release or escape of the offender and can ask to receive this information by contacting the Scottish Prison Service.