Chamber and committees

Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority put their joint response into the public domain in June 2023 item-2-3-1-police-scotland-spa-joint-response-to-the-iag-on-new-and-emerging-te-_.pdf. The Scottish Government published its response to the report in February 2023 Recommendations for the Scottish Government - Policing emerging technologies report: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The adoption of any new technology for policing purposes must be done in a way that secures public confidence. It is important to have clear governance frameworks which take account of ethical and human rights obligations in this area, which is why the Scottish Government commissioned the report into emerging technologies. The report confirmed that Scotland is in a strong position to become world-leading in adopting a rights-based, ethical approach to the adoption of emerging technologies in policing.

The Scottish Government last wrote to the Chief Constable in February 2023 enclosing a copy of the Review of emerging technologies in policing report.

It should be noted that the monitoring of progress to address the report’s recommendations is being taken forward through the Scottish Police Authority. Progress was to be reported and tracked through the Police Scotland Change Board and a short life working group was to task sub-forums across the organisation with activities for specific workstreams where appropriate. The short life working group was to provide an update to the SPA Audit & Risk Committee on a quarterly basis. This is referred to in the note of the Policing Performance Committee - 15 June 2023 | Scottish Police Authority (spa.police.uk).

The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out the Scottish Ministers’ policies and proposals for the development and use of land. If an application for planning permission is necessary for any development associated with the use of live facial recognition technology, it is for the relevant planning authority to consider that application. When making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities must consider the development plan as a whole, comprising NPF and local development plans, alongside all other material considerations.

The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out the Scottish Ministers’ policies and proposals for the development and use of land. If an application for planning permission is necessary for any development associated with the use of live facial recognition technology, it is for the relevant planning authority to consider that application. When making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities must consider the development plan as a whole, comprising NPF and local development plans, alongside all other material considerations.

The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out the Scottish Ministers’ policies and proposals for the development and use of land. If an application for planning permission is necessary for any development associated with the use of live facial recognition technology, it is for the relevant planning authority to consider that application. When making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities must consider the development plan as a whole, comprising NPF and local development plans, alongside all other material considerations.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, these records are unable to accurately capture procedural level data.

More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

Although we are unable to provide procedural level data, the latest data for inpatient or day-case admission for ophthalmology is provided for reference.

Inpatient or Day case Admission: Waiting Times for Admissions

NHS Scotland, Ophthalmology, up to Month ending 30 June 2024

The refresh of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan will examine how and when the traction elements of rail transport can best be achieved. The order and programme in which decarbonisation can be achieved is and remains dependent on business cases and available budgets.

A refresh of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, informed by current progress with rolling stock procurement, is currently expected to conclude in early 2025.

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

A Cell Sharing Risk Assessment (CSRA) must be completed before any individual is allocated to share a cell. SPS has no recorded instances of individuals sharing a cell that conflicts with a CSRA.

The CSRA will be used to make an informed decision on the individual's suitability to share a cell and if required alternative options are explored with the safety, security, health and wellbeing at the forefront of any decision made.

The CSRA process is used as the assessment process in accordance with Rule 28 (Accommodation of Prisoners) of the Prison Rules (Scotland) 2011.

In November 2023 Scottish Government statisticians identified technical issues with the automatic data processing and updating of some of the data sources on the Energy Statistics Hub. This affected the formatted display of some of the figures and charts on the hub. Work is continuing to resolve the issue and updates are being processed as quickly as possible.

Updates to the underlying data sources and publication of Scotland's quarterly energy statistics are unaffected and there has been no delay in the quarterly publication of any of the Scottish Government’s energy statistics. The next Energy Statistics Quarterly publication is on Thursday 26 September 2024.

Key energy statistics are published on the Scottish Government website.