Chamber and committees

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02922 on 17 September 2026. 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.

There is no publication date set for the remand outcomes project because the project is in the scoping stages only.

Scottish Government (SG) analysts receive a subset of information from the records held by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to produce the Criminal Disposals Dashboard. SG analysts also receive a subset of information from the prisoner records held by Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to produce the official statistics on the prison population. On their own these datasets do not allow the tracking of outcomes in cases where individuals are held on remand.

To address this gap in analysis, SG analysts have been developing a research project to link the data in these subsets to determine outcomes in cases where the accused was held on remand during proceedings. Scoping work has revealed challenges. Individuals held on remand can have multiple charges across different criminal cases, so determining if and how the outcomes for specific charges or cases relate to time spent on remand is not straightforward.

If analysts are able to reach a suitable method for linking the data and producing meaningful outputs, notification of intent to publish will be provided here: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a range of measures aimed at improving continuity of treatment and support for people leaving prison, recognising that the period immediately following liberation carries a heightened risk of drug-related harm and overdose.

These include implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards, support for transitions between prison and community healthcare services, pre-release GP registration arrangements, and access to throughcare services that help individuals remain engaged with treatment and support following liberation.

Together, these measures are intended to support continuity of prescribing and reduce the risk of drug-related harm during the period following release from custody.

Both the Prison IT healthcare system and GP IT systems will use the same Vision system that is due to complete Scotland wide rollout for all GP Practices by mid-2027. This will enable potential future integration and sharing of information between Prison Healthcare staff and GP Practice staff, which will be considered by the NHS led programme boards for these systems.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

As confirmed in the recent letter to the Criminal Justice Committee, as of 3 September 2026, SPS employed 4009 operational (frontline) staff, equating to 3797.09 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts.

(a) 3442.18 FTE Operational staff were available for duty.

(b) SPS does not currently record information on the number of Prison Officers undertaking roles with reasonable adjustments or restricted duties. SPS is reviewing its workforce data arrangements to consider how this information could be captured and reported in the future.

(c) 354.91 FTE prison officers were unavailable for operational duty. This includes absences due to sickness, parental leave, suspension, special leave, other authorised absences, and staff temporarily undertaking non-frontline roles.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

SPS has committed to review the end to end recruitment and selection process for Prison Officer roles. This work has commenced and will be delivered to support continuous improvement and ensure recruitment processes remain effective and fit for purpose.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02875 on 17 September 2026. 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 Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing:

The Prison Officer staffing complement refers to the total number of Prison Officer posts across the Scottish Prison Service (SPS).

SPS does not record the number of occasions on which staffing complements are not met, as staffing levels fluctuate throughout the year and differ between establishments.

Based on staffing levels at the end of each financial year, Prison Officer numbers were below the agreed complement in two of the last five years. Over the most recent two-year period, the average vacancy rate was 0%.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

SPS provides a comprehensive range of occupational health, wellbeing and psychological support interventions for staff experiencing workplace stress and exposure to traumatic incidents. These include workplace stress risk assessments, Occupational Health services, confidential counselling, specialist trauma support, Mental Health First Aid training, wellbeing and resilience support, and digital wellbeing resources.

SPS has also implemented a Post Trauma and Resilience Policy, developed the Lifelines Prison Service resource in partnership with NHS Lothian's Rivers Centre for Traumatic Stress, and established a dedicated Senior Leader Wellbeing Support Programme.

Appropriate governance and oversight mechanisms will depend on the nature of a review and the scope of its recommendations. For example, following Lady Dorrian’s 2021 review on Improving the Management of Sexual Offence Cases the Scottish Government established the Lady Dorrian Review Governance Group to consider approaches to implementing the review’s recommendations. Many of the recommendations requiring legislation were taken forward in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which was enacted last year, and the Group remained active throughout the Bill’s passage.

For internal reviews, responsibility lies with the relevant organisation. For example, in 2021 the then Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, commissioned Susanne Tanner KC to carry out a review of how prosecutors deal with reports of sexual offences. The report, which was published in December 2025, is being considered by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

There are also regular cross-sector forums where key issues relating to the prosecution of sexual offence cases may be reviewed and discussed as necessary, including the Victims Taskforce, which I co-chair with the Lord Advocate. Details of the Taskforce’s meetings and work can be found here: Victims Taskforce - gov.scot.

Scottish Government officials regularly meet representatives from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to discuss the implementation of the sexual offences court (SOC). Central themes of this engagement have included the increase in the number of sexual offence cases being prosecuted; the projected caseload for the SOC; and how to most effectively sequence the establishment of the SOC with wider reforms in the criminal justice system.

Scottish Government officials have also met a range of other stakeholders to discuss necessary preparations for delivering the court, I have discussed the SOC with the Law Officers, the Lord President and the Chief Executive of SCTS.

The Scottish Government has also engaged with the Scotland Office and the Ministry of Justice on the preparation of necessary secondary legislation to support the implementation of the SOC.