Chamber and committees

The maximum penalty for the offence of 'abuse of a partner or ex-partner' at section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 is 14 years imprisonment, where the offender is convicted on indictment and sentenced in the High Court. Other offences used to prosecute acts of domestic abuse include assault and sexual assault, which carry maximum penalties of up to life imprisonment.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary, within the overall legal framework, taking account of all the relevant facts and circumstances of each individual case, and of any relevant sentencing guidelines produced by the Scottish Sentencing Council. This preserves the operational independence of the criminal justice system and keeps it free from the risk of political interference. In any given case involving domestic abuse, the independent judiciary has extensive powers to impose an appropriate sentence on domestic abusers.

The Scottish Sentencing Council paper, Public Perceptions of Sentencing: 2025 Survey Report which can be found at Public perceptions of sentencing, found that 60% of respondents to a poll commissioned by the Council thought that sentencing is either 'much too lenient' or 'a little too lenient'. These findings related to sentencing generally and was not directly related to sentencing for domestic abuse crimes.

The survey asked respondents for their views on sentencing of people convicted of domestic abuse offences. It found that a majority of participants thought a community or other non-custodial sentence was the most appropriate sentence for offences involving either a violent assault or a pattern of coercive control. In line with this, most people were supportive of requiring people convicted of these offences to attend courses aimed at addressing their offending behaviour as an alternative to prison.

The Scottish Sentencing Council, which is independent from the Scottish Government, has the statutory functions of

• promoting consistency in sentencing practice;
• assisting the development of policy in relation to sentencing; and
• promoting greater awareness and understanding of sentencing policy and practice.

One of the main ways it does this is via the production of sentencing guidelines for the Scottish courts. Sentencing guidelines help to ensure sentences are consistent, fair and proportionate. The Council recently consulted on a draft guideline on sentencing for domestic abuse offences. More information about this work can be found on their website at: Domestic abuse | Scottish Sentencing Council.

The management of the court estate is an operational matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

The details of the situations under investigation by the International Criminal Court are publicly available on the ICC website. Where relevant to matters within devolved competence, the Scottish Government has taken account of proceedings before competent international courts and tribunals, including where courts have identified a plausible risk of serious violations of international law in the form of genocide. Determinations on questions of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are matters for the courts themselves.

Examples generally of action taken by the Scottish Government within devolved competence include engagement on humanitarian and human rights issues in a range of countries and regions, including raising concerns regarding the situation in Gaza as well as in Myanmar following the 2021 military coup and supporting accountability through the UK Government and international mechanisms, including the measures announced in September 2025 following consideration of proceedings before international courts, in particular the International Court of Justice. Such actions are taken having regard to the specific evidence, legal context and lawful options available to the Scottish Government.

I recognise the challenges posed by the current prison population pressures, which is why Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) have taken a number of actions, including increasing capacity across the current estate by 640 places over the past three years. HMP Glasgow itself will deliver 357 additional spaces to the prison estate based on design capacity, thus increasing the net design capacity.

SPS continually assess capacity throughout their estate to maximise the use of all space. These assessments will form part of SPS’ transition arrangements as and when the time comes to relocate those housed in HMP Barlinnie.

In addition to this, the affordability and deliverability of additional capacity within the prison estate is now being considered, including the possible use of temporary modular accommodation and building of additional house blocks at existing sites.

While Scottish Government sets NDR policy including tax rates and reliefs, the valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government. The independence of valuation is critical for the credibility of the system and Scottish Ministers have no role in setting rateable values.

Decisions regarding the allocations of resources, recruitment and deployment of police officers, including road policing officers, are operational matters for Police Scotland under the direction of the Chief Constable, who is responsible and accountable to the Scottish Police Authority.

Police Scotland works closely with local communities and local authority partners across Scotland, and lead the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), a multi-agency partnership aiming to prevent, reduce and tackle rural crime.

The Scottish Government has allocated record funding of more than £1.7 billion to policing in 2026-27, which the Chief Constable has confirmed will enable Police Scotland to maintain officer numbers at around 16,500 while continuing to prioritise front-line services. Scotland continues to have more police officers per head of population than England and Wales, with around 30 officers per 10,000 population compared with around 24 in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government has received two requests for support and has provided two grants to the Acorn Project and Scottish Cluster partners.

A £2 million grant was provided to National Gas Transmission plc in response to a written funding request to support the pre-FEED phase of the SCO2T Connect project, which aims to repurpose a pipeline for the transport of captured CO2 from central belt emitters to Acorn.

A £3.1 million grant was provided to Pale Blue Dot Energy (Acorn) Limited in response to a funding request from Acorn to help support them develop a business case to unlock the £200m development funding announced by the UK Government in June 2025.

Further support for the Acorn Project and Scottish Cluster will be considered when requests are submitted, subject to the UK Government providing a clear pathway to the £200 million announced in June 2025.

Scottish Government has a capital budget for Heat in Buildings of £302.5 million for financial year 26/27, the details of which are published at Heat in Buildings Budget Allocations. Please note that the allocation for Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loans includes an allocation for the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan (c£500,000) and for WABS Loan (c£500,000), which offers funding for Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based Schemes customers where a personal contribution is required.

The funding available for each delivery scheme for the installation of low-carbon heating systems is variable, as schemes are demand-led and installations are subject to assessment. Details of measures installed are reported in the Annual Progress Report: Heat in Buildings Progress Report 2026.

Homes by tenure for each delivery scheme by the most recent reporting are as follows:

• HES Grants and Loan: In FY25-26 supported installs in 4,059 owner-occupied homes.
• Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan: In FY25-26 supported installs in 48 private landlord properties.
• Warmer Homes Scotland: In FY26-26 supported installs in 6,027 owner-occupied homes, 93 life rent homes, and 150 private landlord properties.
• Area Based Schemes: In FY24-25 supported 3,645 owner occupier homes, 104 private landlord properties, and 1,482 social landlord properties.
• Social Housing Net Zero Fund: The scheme has supported improvements in over 13,000 social homes since 2021. These figures do not include FY25-26 and FY26-27, which will be available on receipt of project completion reports.

The Scottish Government did not undertake separate formal consultation with local authorities or community councils before deciding to close the scheme to new applications. However, throughout the duration of the scheme, we have maintained regular engagement with Local Authorities through an established network of Single Points of Contact. We are happy to engage with community groups and/or individual applicants on any outstanding or new applications prior to its closure.

It would be for the relevant planning authority, in determining a planning application, to consider whether any conditions regarding decommissioning and restoration are required.

As I have made clear in Parliament, we will publish planning guidance on data centres by Christmas.