Chamber and committees

(a) The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) considered the Scottish Police Federation’s (SPF) Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions which were planned and put in place by Police Scotland. The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.

(b) Due to its rural location, and the distance to the nearest police stations, Police Scotland did not close Oban Police Station. Police Scotland did however implement an extensive programme of work to upgrade facilities. As a result of this work Police Scotland is confident that the works identified in the SPF report were completed and the standard across both the police station and the custody suite were significantly improved.

Following the publication of the SPF report, additional inspections have been introduced and further works have been carried out which involve close collaboration with Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team, SPF and Union representatives. Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team has confirmed that the improvement works meet health and safety requirements.

Given the age of Oban Police Station, Police Scotland has embarked on a programme of work which seeks to replace Oban Police Station, including a new custody suite.

(a) The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) considered the Scottish Police Federation’s (SPF) Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions which were planned and put in place by Police Scotland. The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.

(b) Prior to the publication of the SPF report, Police Scotland had already commenced improvement works to these two properties in Dunoon. The properties were closed and residing officers were decanted to suitable temporary accommodation whilst the improvement works were underway.

Since then, the SPA has approved Police Scotland’s Housing Strategy (2022) which aims to bring all of Police Scotland’s housing stock up to Scottish Government’s EESSH2 2032 standards over the next 3-5 years.

Police Scotland is currently undertaking further work around its Dunoon housing requirements as part of delivering its Housing Strategy.

As at 29th June 2023, the number of premises in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency scheduled for connection through the Reaching 100% (R100) North contract is 2,206. A further 1,975 premises are eligible for a connection through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS). This is, of course, in addition to the 15,099 premises already connected to fibre broadband through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme.

Our online checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com remains the best way for anyone to track the most up-to-date connectivity status of premises, including the most recent plans and indicative timescales for R100 contract build and eligibility for the R100 SBVS.

(a) The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) considered the Scottish Police Federation’s (SPF) Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions which were planned and put in place by Police Scotland. The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.

(b) Police Scotland closed its Lochgilphead custody suite between 3rd and 7th May 2019 to allow for urgent upgrade works to be carried out, during which time the custody suite operations were moved to Fort William.

Due to its rural location, and the distance to the nearest police stations, Police Scotland did not close Lochgilphead Police Station while other remedial repair works took place within the police station itself. As a result of this work Police Scotland is confident that the works identified in the SPF report were completed and the standard across both the police station and the custody suite were significantly improved.

In the years following the publication of the SPF report, additional inspections have been introduced and further works have been carried out which involved close collaboration with Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team, SPF and Union representatives. Police Scotland’s Health & Safety Team has confirmed that the improvement works meet health and safety requirements.

Police Scotland continues to consider options for the future of Lochgilphead Police Station in line with the delivery of its Estate Strategy.

We have committed to building a system of school age childcare, providing year-round childcare for families on low incomes by the end of this Parliament. This involves working with Local Authorities to design and deliver a system that works for those who use and deliver it.

This year, we are investing £4 million to support Local Authorities with costs related to the delivery of planned summer programmes for children from low-income families during the 2023 school summer holidays. This is in addition to the £21.75 million investment for delivery of holiday free school meal alternative payments for eligible families. We are also investing around £3 million to expand and deliver services in our four Early Adopting Communities (Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Inverclyde).

The Scottish Government continues to deliver on its commitment to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and I’m pleased to confirm that today we are publishing Citizenship in an independent Scotland.

This is the fifth paper in the Building a New Scotland series which sets out the Scottish Government’s proposals for an inclusive and welcoming approach to citizenship in an independent Scotland. It sets out our vision of citizenship after independence for people, whether or not they were born in Scotland or define themselves as primarily or exclusively Scottish, and describes who would become a Scottish citizen at the point of independence, and who could become a Scottish citizen from then on.

The publication also gives detailed proposals on passports, the Common Travel Area and the European Union, and citizenship and the constitution, with analysis of the evidence that informs these proposals.

The Scottish Government is continuing to prepare further papers in the Building a New Scotland series and these will be published in the coming months.

Building a New Scotland: Citizenship in an independent Scotland is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today at www.gov.scot/newscotland .

Inequalities within the screening programmes are complex issues; tackling them will require sustained focus over the longer term, and an acceptance that improvements are likely to be incremental. This in turn will require leadership, collaboration and ambition, and this work must be a priority for Scotland’s national screening programmes, and everyone who supports them.

The National Screening Oversight (NSO) with the support of Scottish Government have developed the Equity in Screening Strategy which, combined with an action plan, will be published on 27 th July 2023. The vision of the strategy is for equitable access for all eligible individuals, across the full screening pathway.

The Strategy will launch alongside the Equity in Screening Network, which will support the strategy by capturing local and third sector research activity, and allow individuals that work across screening to share evidence, best practice and learning around screening inequalities.

The 2022 Country and Regional Analysis (produced by HM Treasury) includes analysis of expenditure on public services in Scotland and comparisons with other parts of the UK as a whole. In 2021-22 public order and safety spending in Scotland was £3.3bn. On a per capita basis spending in Scotland was 13% higher than in England and 7% higher than in Wales:

Public Order & Safety Expenditure (per capita)

Currently in Scotland a new constable will start on a salary of £28,074. In England and Wales the lowest starting salary for a Constable is currently £23,556.

You will wish to note that police pay negotiations are ongoing for 2023-24, therefore salaries for police officers in Scotland will be revised on the conclusion of those negotiations. You should also be aware that the UKG’s decision to accept PRRB’s recommendations in E&W, indicates that salary levels there are also likely to change.

More information on Police Officer salaries in Scotland can be found on the Police Scotland website using the following link: Pay and Grading Structure - Police Scotland .

While vouchers issued through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) can be used to connect individual properties, the scheme was specifically designed to allow vouchers in a community to be combined to extend available funding. Indeed, there are a number of examples of communities across Scotland – including Ardnamurchan within your own region – pooling together vouchers to deliver superfast broadband connectivity to a number of properties.

We also remain actively engaged with all 32 Local Authorities to ensure they are fully aware of any developments around the R100 SBVS, as well as other elements of the wider R100 programme. We hold quarterly meetings with a network of Single Points of Contact, and we also maintain a data portal that all Local Authorities can access to identify and support voucher-eligible properties.