::If Ms Constance does not mind, I will not. I am a last-minute addition to the speakers list. Perhaps I will give way as I get through my speech; I am only four lines into it.

Let us be clear: prison should be a place of punishment, but it must also be a place of recovery. Right now, it is neither. The facts are damning. More than a third of prisoners now admit to using illegal drugs in custody. One in four say that their drug use started or increased inside prison, and the number of drone drops has exploded, rising from just six incidents to more than 70 in three years. Nearly 15,000 drug recoveries have been recorded. That is not harm reduction; it is institutional failure.

That breeding ground, in combination with a lack of vital rehabilitation services, means that prisoners are not set up properly for release and are not given the best chance at kickstarting their new life. Instead, they are more likely to relapse and reoffend as the right support is not available.

Alcohol misuse is being treated as an afterthought. Around 5,000 people enter custody every year with an alcohol dependency yet, last year, only 167 were referred for treatment. That is not a gap in provision; it is a collapse in basic care. Is it any wonder that deaths in custody are soaring? There have been 64 deaths in Scottish prisons in a single year, which is a 60 per cent increase. Researchers have identified repeated, preventable failures, such as missed cell checks, health concerns being dismissed as drug seeking, and mental health crises being ignored until it is far too late.

It is not just about drugs; it is about control. Overcrowding and staff shortages have allowed the prison drugs market to adapt faster than the system that is meant to stop it. Potent synthetic drugs such as spice are driving violence, psychosis and medical emergencies, which is putting prisoners and staff at serious risk. While the chaos unfolds, SNP ministers talk about compassion but deliver complacency. They fund programmes but do not track outcomes. They announce pathways to rehab but cannot say whether people recover. Since 2022, just 48 people have completed a 12-week residential rehab placement through the prison to rehab protocol. That is not a solution; it is tokenism.

The Government is obsessed with managing addiction, not ending it. We see that in our communities, and now we see it in our prisons. Instead of expanding access to meaningful, structured rehabilitation, the SNP has allowed prisons to become holding pens for people with complex addictions, releasing them back into society no safer, no healthier and no more hopeful than they were when they entered. That is failing victims; it is failing communities; and it is failing prisoners.

The Scottish Conservatives believe in something different. We believe that recovery, not just survival, must be the goal. We will continue to argue for the right to recovery, including access to residential rehabilitation for those who need it who are in custody and on release. Without treatment, stability and proper support, the cycle of addiction, crime and custody will never be broken. The committee’s inquiry should be a wake-up call. Ministers must stop pretending that the crisis is under control. They must restore order in prisons, properly resource staff, clamp down on supply and, crucially, guarantee access to treatment that actually works. Prisons should not be places where addiction festers; they should be places where lives turn around. Until the Government understands that, the drugs crisis inside and outside prison walls will continue on its watch. Enough excuses—the Government must start delivering recovery.

16:43

::Thank you, Presiding Officer—I thought that you had forgotten about me.

Under the SNP, Scotland’s prisons have become warehouses for addiction. The committee’s inquiry lays bare a system that is overcrowded, understaffed and completely out of control. Drugs are rife, alcohol dependency is ignored, and lives are being lost behind bars at an alarming rate.

::If Ms Constance does not mind, I will not. I am a last-minute addition to the speakers list. Perhaps I will give way as I get through my speech; I am only four lines into it.

Let us be clear: prison should be a place of punishment, but it must also be a place of recovery. Right now, it is neither. The facts are damning. More than a third of prisoners now admit to using illegal drugs in custody. One in four say that their drug use started or increased inside prison, and the number of drone drops has exploded, rising from just six incidents to more than 70 in three years. Nearly 15,000 drug recoveries have been recorded. That is not harm reduction; it is institutional failure.

That breeding ground, in combination with a lack of vital rehabilitation services, means that prisoners are not set up properly for release and are not given the best chance at kickstarting their new life. Instead, they are more likely to relapse and reoffend as the right support is not available.

Alcohol misuse is being treated as an afterthought. Around 5,000 people enter custody every year with an alcohol dependency yet, last year, only 167 were referred for treatment. That is not a gap in provision; it is a collapse in basic care. Is it any wonder that deaths in custody are soaring? There have been 64 deaths in Scottish prisons in a single year, which is a 60 per cent increase. Researchers have identified repeated, preventable failures, such as missed cell checks, health concerns being dismissed as drug seeking, and mental health crises being ignored until it is far too late.

It is not just about drugs; it is about control. Overcrowding and staff shortages have allowed the prison drugs market to adapt faster than the system that is meant to stop it. Potent synthetic drugs such as spice are driving violence, psychosis and medical emergencies, which is putting prisoners and staff at serious risk. While the chaos unfolds, SNP ministers talk about compassion but deliver complacency. They fund programmes but do not track outcomes. They announce pathways to rehab but cannot say whether people recover. Since 2022, just 48 people have completed a 12-week residential rehab placement through the prison to rehab protocol. That is not a solution; it is tokenism.

The Government is obsessed with managing addiction, not ending it. We see that in our communities, and now we see it in our prisons. Instead of expanding access to meaningful, structured rehabilitation, the SNP has allowed prisons to become holding pens for people with complex addictions, releasing them back into society no safer, no healthier and no more hopeful than they were when they entered. That is failing victims; it is failing communities; and it is failing prisoners.

The Scottish Conservatives believe in something different. We believe that recovery, not just survival, must be the goal. We will continue to argue for the right to recovery, including access to residential rehabilitation for those who need it who are in custody and on release. Without treatment, stability and proper support, the cycle of addiction, crime and custody will never be broken. The committee’s inquiry should be a wake-up call. Ministers must stop pretending that the crisis is under control. They must restore order in prisons, properly resource staff, clamp down on supply and, crucially, guarantee access to treatment that actually works. Prisons should not be places where addiction festers; they should be places where lives turn around. Until the Government understands that, the drugs crisis inside and outside prison walls will continue on its watch. Enough excuses—the Government must start delivering recovery.

16:43

::Figures that were released last year revealed that there were up to nine incidents of antisocial behaviour on Lothian Buses in Edinburgh a day, with smashed windows and assaults on drivers the most predominant incidents.

In addition to the suspension of concessionary bus travel, which the cabinet secretary mentioned in her original response, can you outline how you and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs are working with Police Scotland and the bus companies to ensure that such incidents are quickly responded to and that offenders feel the full force of the law?

Figures that were released last year revealed that there were up to nine incidents of antisocial behaviour on Lothian Buses in Edinburgh a day, with smashed windows and assaults on drivers the most predominant incidents.

In addition to the suspension of concessionary bus travel, which the cabinet secretary mentioned in her original response, can you outline how you and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs are working with Police Scotland and the bus companies to ensure that such incidents are quickly responded to and that offenders feel the full force of the law?

In your opening remarks, you mentioned the rise in numbers, and the annual report records that there were 98,605 information requests last year, which continues the rise since 2021-22. What is your assessment of how sustainable that trend is for public authorities? You mentioned that it is increasing, but what is the scale of that increase?

Do you mean 110,000 each quarter?

You have perhaps reflected on this and mentioned it in some of your responses, but what impact do the cuts to freedom of information resourcing in public authorities have on your office specifically?

You have a very small team, so are you perhaps suggesting that you might need more resources in your team?

Thank you, David.