Chamber and committees

As set out in the Programme for Government 2016-17 this Bill is part of the Scottish Government’s Year one legislative programme.

The Government sequences the introduction of Bills across the parliamentary year. The Minister for Parliamentary Business has met with relevant Committee Conveners to discuss timings and allocations of Government Bills, including that referred to by the member.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Implementation of the Police Scotland Gaelic language plan is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Minutes of my meetings with policy officials are not routinely taken.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Implementation of the Police Scotland Gaelic language plan is a matter for the Chief Constable.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-06563 on 8 February 2017. 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.

Since 2006-2007 Highlands and Islands Enterprise draft budget has been made available on SPICe and full details of income and expenditure are included in HIE’s Annual Report and Accounts, published on HIE’s website. Scottish Government funding and activities to support business has evolved and changed over time, most notably with funding transferred from the enterprise bodies to create SDS and Business Gateway in 2008-09. Further developments to the business support landscape have also taken place in more recent years such as the establishment of four Enterprise Zones spread over 14 sites and the introduction of City Deals.

The Scottish Government has invested heavily in projects in the Highlands and Islands, either directly or indirectly (through our economic development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise), that have supported and progressed economic, social and community benefits to the region.

These include:

• a clear commitment to our ferry services to support our island communities with an investment of a record of over £1 billion in port infrastructure, vessels and services in the Clyde and Hebrides and to the Northern Isles since 2007;

• investment in new vessels including the MV Loch Seaforth at a cost of £41.8m; two new 100m duel fuel vessels at a cost of £97m; three hybrid vessels, the latest of which, the MV Catriona, cost £12.3m;

• committing to dualling the A9 from Perth to Inverness by 2025, with construction now underway, and to complete the dualling of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen by 2030;

• investment in the Inverness to Perth and the Inverness to Aberdeen train lines;

• investment in national initiatives such as Wave Energy Scotland which has awarded £15m to 51 projects and worked with 129 separate organisations since formation, across five different countries;

• digital connectivity. The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme which is delivering over £400m of investment to extend fibre broadband access to areas where the market would not otherwise go. DSSB is progressing as two separate, but interlinked, projects: one led by HIE covering the Highlands and Islands, with SG leading the Rest of Scotland programme. Scottish Government investment in the £145.8m HIE contract to boost connectivity going ahead in the Highlands and Islands. HIE is also delivering SG funding of £7.5m through Community Broadband Scotland (CBS), an initiative designed to support the most hard-to-reach communities across Scotland to deliver innovative broadband solutions.

• commitment to delivering 100 per cent superfast broadband access by the end of 2021. HIE have been a key player in delivering broadband projects to date and are helping to shape future delivery plans. However, they don’t yet have an agreed formal role in R100 delivery and are therefore not in receipt of any funding to deliver anything beyond DSSB and CBS. SG recently announced an additional £51 million in the 2017-18 budget as the starting point for delivering the 100% commitment, forming part of a wider £112 million investment in digital infrastructure that will support the final phases of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme and enable new activity to begin on the Reaching 100% programme (as well as mobile infill).

• the new SLF, launched in April 2016, has an annual budget of £10m. Communities across the whole of Scotland (including the islands) can apply for assistance towards the purchase of land and building assets;

• the Small Business Bonus alone has saved Highland and Eilean Siar ratepayers around £90m since it was established in 2008 and almost 11,000 properties in Highland and Eilean Siar benefit this year from up to 100% business rates relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme;

• the £1.8bn Schools for the Future Programme which will deliver will deliver 112 new or refurbished schools by end of March 2020 and which includes 22 schools within the Highlands and Islands region;

• the £75m Orkney New Hospital and Healthcare Facilities which is the biggest project in NHS Orkney’s history and will replace Kirkwall’s Balfour Hospital as well as integrating other health care facilities. Construction is estimated to commence early 2017;

• the £315m Inverness City Deal which will see Highland Council and the UK and the Scottish Government working in partnership over 10 years. The Scottish Government will invest up to £135 million into the city’s infrastructure with the UK Government committing up to £53 million and Highland Council and regional partners contributing £127 million. The deal was formally signed in January 2017 and funding will be targeted towards improving the regions transport and digital connectivity networks, fostering innovation of high growth businesses through the creation of a Northern Scotland Innovation Hub, promoting tourism and delivery of local housing and assisted living schemes.; and the £52m Inverness College campuses at Balloch and Beechwood which completed and opened to students in August 2015.

We are currently not able to provide the exact answer to this question, because the dataset used for the Reconvictions in Scotland publication is not held in a way that would allow such an analysis. However, we can provide the number of reconvictions for each cohort from 2010-11 to 2013-14 by custodial sentence/community sentence. Please find in the following table:

Reconvictions and Sentencing, 2011-12 to 2013-14 cohorts

1. Please note that this is not a sub-set of the number reconvicted, as this counts every conviction in the 12 months after the index conviction. Some people will receive multiple convictions over the course of a year. Please also note that there are other sentence types not included here.

2. 'Community Sentence' refers to Restriction of Liberty Orders, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, Community Service Orders, Probation Orders and Community Payback Orders (CPOs).

The Scottish Government believes that custodial sentences should be reserved for those individuals whose offences are so serious that prison is the only appropriate form of punishment, and for those who pose a risk of serious harm. We recognise however that for individuals who do not fall into these categories, short-term sentences do not help either to rehabilitate or to reduce the risk of reoffending.

The proposal to strengthen the presumption against short periods of imprisonment is only one part of our on-going and wide-ranging work designed to move away from a reliance on custody and focus on robust community sentences that promote rehabilitation. Evidence demonstrates that individuals released from a custodial sentence of 6 months or less are reconvicted more than twice as often as those given a Community Payback Order.