Chamber and committees

In line with current Scottish Government policy, the new female custodial estate including the community custodial units will be operated by Scottish Prison Service. The community custodial units will work with a range of multi-agency community partners and externally contracted services may be procured as required.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The number of fatal accident inquiries that have been undertaken into the death of prisoners in custody in Scottish prisons since 2010 is 140.

The decisions of the courts can be found on the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/fatal-accident-inquiries

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Sites for the community custodial units have not yet been identified although the process for identifying potential sites is at an advanced stage. Recommendations will be made to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice with regard to the preferred sites prior to comprehensive community consultation.

Any suicide is a tragedy and we express sincere condolences to the families of any person who has died by suicide. Nearly three-quarters of suicides in Scotland are by men. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) OECD reports that death rates from suicide are much higher for men than for women across the EU.

The Scottish population suicide rate fell by 18% between the periods 2001-2005 and 2011-2015. In the last 20 years rates of suicide have fallen for males of all ages in Scotland.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy 2013-16 (published 2013) focuses on key areas which the Scottish Government believes will continue the downward trend in suicides. Further commitments on suicide prevention will be developed in a new Suicide Prevention Strategy or Action Plan to be published in late 2017 or early 2018.

On family law, the Scottish Government intends to review the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to ensure the interests of children and their need to form and maintain relationships with key adults in their lives – parents, step-parents, grandparents and other family members – are at the heart of any new statutory measures. The Scottish Government also intends to publish a Family Justice Modernisation Strategy on improving how family cases are dealt with in the courts and on how the voice of the child is best heard.

The Scottish Civil Justice Council recently consulted on new rules for Fatal Accident Inquiries. The consultation closed on 23 January and the responses to that consultation are currently being considered.

Secondary legislation will be brought forward in conjunction with the rules.

I can confirm that the deadline for the HEEPS loan – with 25% Cashback has been extended. Provided they have submitted their application and secured an offer by 31 March 2017, applicants will now be given a loan offer which is valid for 6 months, during which time they will need to complete works and claim. The new deadline is being promoted by the Home Energy Scotland advice centres through events, communications and social media, as well as through calls into the advice centres.

The Scottish Government recognises the health impacts of exposure to transport generated air pollution, especially on the very young and old and those with existing respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. Scotland’s air quality is generally good, but hotspots of poor air quality remain in some urban areas.

To address this, the Government is committed – through the Cleaner Air For Scotland Strategy (CAFS) - to deliver improvements in air quality and will establish Scotland’s first Low Emission Zone by 2018, as set out in the Programme for Government.

In 2016, we introduced into Scottish legislation the World Health Organisation guideline value for fine particulate matter known as PM_2.5, making us the first country in Europe to take this step. The Scottish objective for fine particulate matter known as PM₁₀ is more than twice as stringent as the equivalent UK and EU targets.

As the Scottish Government meets regularly with all the agencies to discuss a range of topics, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

However the responses to S5W-06996 on 28 February 2017 and S5W-03751 on 10 November 2016 offer some of the information requested.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government has set a vision of freeing Scotland’s towns, cities and communities from the damaging emissions from petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2050. While local authorities with decriminalised parking enforcement powers are responsible for determining the parking charges for on-street parking in their areas, the Scottish Government supports initiatives that makes the uptake of Ultra –Low Emission Vehicles more attractive. Our National Framework of Local Incentives for Electric Vehicles’ paper was published on 4 November 2016 and sets out ways in which local authorities can promote the uptake of electric vehicles locally.

Our Switched On Fleets initiative commenced in 2014 and offered free, evidence-based analysis of public sector fleets, identifying new opportunities for the cost effective deployment of electric vehicles.

Through Switched On Fleets, we’ve provided over £3.7 million to local authorities and their partners to support the purchase or lease of electric vehicles. This will result in around 350 new electric vehicles entering the Scottish public sector fleet by spring 2017.

Building on Switched On Fleets, and as set out in the draft Climate Change Plan, published on 19 January 2017, we propose to work with Scotland Excel, COSLA and other partners to determine whether a new procurement policy could be developed, which introduces a presumption that all new vehicles purchased by public sector organisations in Scotland are ultra-low emission. We will publish our findings by the end of 2017.