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Delivering Community Payback Orders (CPOs) and ensuring completion of these orders is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. National completion rates for Community Payback Orders (CPOs) are 70%, as reported in the Criminal Justice Social Work statistics for 2017-18.

The Scottish Government is working with national and local partners including Community Justice Scotland, Social Work Scotland, the Care Inspectorate, local authorities and third sector partners to help ensure orders are implemented as effectively as possible and improve completion rates where possible. The national Community Justice Leadership Group, which I co-chair with COSLA, will drive action to improve the delivery of community justice services across Scotland, with a focus on supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending whilst promoting public safety.

Updated CPO Practice guidance was published earlier this year which supports effective practice, and included a focus on breach and compliance, and reiterates the importance of successful completion.

We value the work of justice social workers and unpaid work managers in helping ensuring individuals successfully complete their orders. This is particularly the case when they are dealing with people who have chaotic lifestyles, which may include mental health issues and/or a history of drug or alcohol problems.

Outcomes are likely to be influenced by who gets the orders in the first place, the nature of the offending and their underlying needs. Some caution is therefore needed against seeing completion rates as the sole indicator of effectiveness. Short custodial sentences are not an effective alternative as 35% of those who receive short sentences are reconvicted and given further custodial sentences within a year.

As set out in my answer to questions S5W-22749 on 2 May 2019 and S5W-19571 on 7 November 2018, we were seeking an Order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998 to facilitate recovery of the surcharge via deduction from benefits and bring Scotland into line with the powers that already exist in England and Wales.

The Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential Modification) Order 2019 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/1092/signature/made subsequently came into force on 8 July 2019.

We intend to lay the Victim Surcharge (Scotland) Regulations, which will implement the surcharge, before the Scottish Parliament shortly.

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 .

Temporary release is an important part of the rehabilitation process which helps the Parole Board assess whether someone is ready to be released back into the community. It is one of a number of considerations taken into account in assessing the person’s risk to the public. A rigorous risk assessment process is undertaken by the Scottish Prison Service before any offender is granted any form of unescorted leave. This involves psychological assessment, social work reports and reports on their time in prison. Home leave is an important part of the reintegration process and allows an individual to be tested on how they adapt to living in the community. Furthermore, individuals who have joined the Victim Notification Scheme, and have expressed a desire to make representations in relation to licence conditions under section 17 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.

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

Operational guidance has been developed to support our staff to better understand how to minimise exposure to unknown substances. As new and emerging substances come to our attention, this guidance will be reviewed in order to ensure that the health and safety of staff is maintained at all times. SPS also has robust mail handling procedures in place across all Scottish prisons to deter and disrupt attempts to introduce illicit articles to the prison estate and support the identification of any substances recovered.

SPS is currently trialling technology across a number of sites to support the identification of illicit substances on paper. Early indications suggest that this technology is preventing illicit substances from entering our prisons.

A Strategic Risk and Threat Group (SRTG) has also been established which is responsible for providing an overview of any emerging threats and the deployment of resources and tactical options. The SRTG is responsible for the management of a national tasking log which supports planned programmes of large scale tactical searching across the estate. These searches are frequently supported by trained drug detection dogs able to identify illicit substances which have been impregnated on to paper.

Our vision, as set out in the Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, is to have restorative justice (RJ) available across Scotland to all those who wish to access it, and at a time that is appropriate to the people and cases involved.

The Plan also explains that RJ is offered as a further option in how justice can be experienced across the communities of Scotland.

In line with the Scottish Government Guidance for the Delivery of Restorative Justice https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-delivery-restorative-justice-scotland/ , risk assessments must be carried out throughout the RJ process and will take full cognisance of the role of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) as the independent public prosecution service for Scotland. In that respect, RJ will not impinge on any ongoing criminal proceedings. Decisions relating to the prosecution or diversion of a case from prosecution are matters solely for COPFS.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21680 on 1 March 2019.
In addition, the Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, sets out in more detail the analysis which underpinned its development and the actions planned to achieve our vision of having restorative justice available across Scotland to all those who wish to access it, and at a time that is appropriate to the people and cases involved. 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 use of exclusion zones as a licence condition for parole is being considered in light of the public consultation on parole. We will reflect on whether the conclusions of this are applicable to temporary release. In addition, in implementing the Management of Offenders (Scotland ) Act 2019 we will be looking at the introduction of new technology, such as global positioning system technology, which presents opportunities to improve the effectiveness of electronic monitoring.

In the Programme for Government 2018-19, the Scottish Government committed to taking steps to allow animals taken into the protection of the Scottish SPCA or local authorities to be rehomed much more quickly and efficiently than at present.

A public consultation was run between 1 February 2019 and 26 April 2019 on a number of proposed amendments to the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, including proposals to speed up the process for making permanent arrangements for seized animals. The analysis of responses to this consultation was published on 17 July 2019.

We expect to announce shortly our plans to take forward legislation to increase the penalties for cruelty offences and to allow animals seized to protect their welfare to be quickly rehomed.

I have not visited the site in question, nor met with any representatives from the Newtonhill community to discuss the appeal at Park Place, Newtonhill (Case ref no. PPA-110-2372). The appeal in question was a delegated appeal and therefore Ministers played no part in the decision making process. Ministers become directly involved in only a very small minority of cases. This is in line with Ministers' proportionate approach in the handling of planning matters. It would not be appropriate to discuss the merits of an appeal either during the course of that appeal or after the decision has been made. The decision of a reporter is final subject to review by the Court of Session. The appeal in question remains subject to challenge until 24 September 2019.

The Scottish Government proactively publishes Ministerial engagement data on the Scottish Government website and may be accessed using the URL https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data .

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information regarding clinical equipment should be directed to individual NHS Boards.