Chamber and committees

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The use of common good funds (CGF) within Scottish prisons aligns with the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) and is governed via the SPS Financial Policy and Guidance Manual.

The SPS Financial Policy Guidance Manual itself details accountability, sources of income and approved areas of expenditure on the use of the CGF.

Compliance with this guidance is mandatory and only Governors in Charge (GICs) are authorised to approve expenditure, which must benefit all, or groups, of prisoners within their establishment.

Information on the number of incidents involving illegal drugs in schools is not held centrally. The recorded crime official statistics include data on crimes of drug supply and drug possession, however this does not specify the type of location where the crime occurred.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening the involvement of parents and carers as we reform the education system, which is why we provided £60,310 of funding to the Scottish Assembly of Parents and Carers in 2024-25. We welcome the publication of this report and encourage all local authorities to meet their statutory duties to promote the involvement of parents, carers and families in their child’s learning as set out in the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006.

We continue to listen and work with stakeholders to ensure this engagement is further strengthened, which will remain a central focus of our work.

The Scottish Government is carefully considering the report of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee’s ‘Follow-up inquiry into salmon farming in Scotland’ which was published on 17 January 2025, and which included a recommendation for welfare guidance for farmed salmon to be introduced. A response will be provided to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee in due course.

Scottish Government officials wrote to all CLLD delivery stakeholders on 18 December 2024 to extend the deadline to submit final claims to 14 April 2025.

The deadline is aligned with Scottish Government end of year financial procedures. This allows for payment of claims to be attributed to the financial year in which they were budgeted, which is a financial standard required by audit.

We publish an annual report of progress against our Heat in Buildings strategy. The most recent report was published in October 2024: Heat in Buildings: progress report 2024 - gov.scot. This includes estimates for number of domestic and non-domestic properties with heat pumps, as monitored through the Scottish House Condition Survey(SHCS) and the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

Data in relation to the housing circumstances and employment status of individuals released from custody is not available.

Individuals serving short-term sentences are not routinely subject to any form of post-release supervision or monitoring, and those that had supervision or monitoring requirements post-sentence were automatically excluded from both the Coronavirus specific early release process in 2020 and the Emergency Early Release process in 2024.

Pre-release planning, including in relation to housing needs, was a key feature of both of the emergency early release processes (2020 & 2024). The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) worked closely with representatives from Local Government – including housing departments, wider public bodies, and the third sector in the planning and operation of the processes.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table shows the number of prisoners who were released during the last 5 years under early release arrangements. The numbers provided relate to the 2020 COVID 19 Early Release Scheme and the 2024 Emergency Early Release Regulations:

a. Food Standards Scotland liaises extensively with the Food Standards Agency, who are responsible for food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, before advising Scottish Ministers of the need to amend any food safety legislation in Scotland. This is undertaken in line with the provisionally agreed Common Framework for Food Safety and Hygiene.

b. The UK is an active member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the body responsible for developing international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice. Codex standards aim to harmonise national food safety regulations to ensure safety, quality and fairness in international food trade and to protect consumers. Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency liaise with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the lead UK Government Department for Codex, to represent the UK position in Codex on food safety matters within our remit, such as food hygiene, food additives, methods analysis and sampling, food contaminants and imports import and export certification systems.

Food made from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) is classed as a regulated product. Therefore, it must undergo rigorous pre-market safety and risk analysis before sale in Scotland. This analysis will inform Food Standards Scotland (FSS) risk management recommendations to Scottish Ministers who decide whether to authorise a product. The FSS Regulated Products Service monitors all GMO products, and all businesses are legally required to report any new/emerging information that may affect the safety of an authorised product. The FSS Website contains guidelines for GMO’s including labelling and traceability and links to the register of authorised GMO’s.