Seòmar agus comataidhean

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days

The early prisoner release power within the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act was used once, in May 2020. This power was used to protect the security and good order of prisons and the health, safety and welfare of prisoners and prison staff alike. Such measures were taken across the world, including elsewhere in the UK.

Steps were taken to manage the risks around those being released early to as low a level as realistically possible. That included statutory exclusions and a governor veto where there was a known risk to a specific individual. Furthermore, the scheme applied only to those sentenced to eighteen months or less, with 90 days or less left to serve in custody, at the time of the power being used.

A proportion of those prisoners were returned to custody for a number of reasons including, in some cases, due to reoffending.

No level of reoffending is acceptable. That is why this Government is focused on driving a greater shift away from short-term prison sentences, which those released under this power were serving, towards community-based interventions which we know are more effective at reducing reoffending.

The facilities in place at the 357 fire stations in Scotland are an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including whether to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

The Charge Place Scotland (CPS) network currently hosts 2445 publicly available electric vehicle charge points. Historical data relating to CPS’ development is not available broken down by Local Authority area.

The following table shows the total number of installations across the CPS network in each year since its inception. There are 105 charge point installations that cannot be reconciled with a specific year due to different methods of recording installs employed by CPS’ operators since the network was established, hence the current publicly available total is higher than the figures in the following table.

The information provided only presents charge points registered on the Scottish Government funded CPS network. The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to commercial electric vehicle charging networks.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the amount of money lost through cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Scotland, and the data held for the Criminal Proceedings statistics is unable to separately identify any related charges and convictions which involve cryptocurrency. Collecting data on this subject is very challenging, with the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) highlighting that for most types of cyber fraud, a majority of victims did not report the incident to the authorities.

Scottish Government statisticians are continuing to develop the evidence base in this area. For example, the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics now include analysis of cyber-crimes recorded by the police. In 2021-22 almost half (48%) of recorded fraud was estimated to have been online/through the internet, representing around 8,000 crimes. Whilst this will include incidents of cryptocurrency scams, these cases are not separately identifiable within the data. Work is also being taken forward to develop and incorporate a new module into the SCJS, which will allow us to estimate the volume of fraud and computer misuse experienced in Scotland, including those crimes not reported to the police. These new questions will include details of financial loss arising from cyber fraud. Users will be kept informed as to the development of this work, including when the first results are expected to be published.

As outlined in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, the Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Air Departure Tax when a solution to the Highlands and Islands exemption issue has been found. The Scottish Government is carefully considering the implications for this of the UK subsidy control regime that was introduced in January 2023.

Until Air Departure Tax is introduced, the UK Government will maintain the application of Air Passenger Duty in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05896 on‎ 7 February 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government published a National Carers Strategy on 21 December. This sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding carers’ healthcare at chapter 3. We will consider how to provide flexible health appointments for carers, including how we provide replacement care for appointments as part of the implementation process of the Strategy.

There are already a range of services in place that can support unpaid carers to better manage their health. Some have a carer-specific focus, while others are more general. The Scottish Government will continue to raise awareness of these services among unpaid carers and will ensure that our health services consider the needs of carers. Taking a strategic approach to this will support a joined-up approach that supports all aspects of carers’ lives, and this will be done under the auspices of the National Carers Strategy.

The public consultation on proposals for a new Agriculture Bill, “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture” opened from 29 August 2022 until 5 December 2022. We received a good response to the consultation, including wide-ranging attendance at the 14 public consultation events held, and will be giving careful consideration to the diverse range of views received. The Scottish Government aims to publish a report on the findings of the Agriculture Bill consultation in Spring 2023.

The age of firefighters, broken down into 5 year age bands is published on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Website under its Organisational Statistics. Under the various firefighter final salary pension schemes, the majority of firefighters chose to retire after 30 years service rather than at a particular age. Government Actuary Department data shows that between 31 March 2016 to 31 March 2020, the average retirement age was 54.