Chamber and committees

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

As defined in the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011, all female prisoners who require sanitary products are provided with them free of charge. There is therefore no need to record instances of products not being provided.

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

With the exception of 2 prison cells at HMP Open Estate, Castle Huntly, all other cells across the SPS estate have access to natural light.

All prison cells have access to artificial light sufficient for reading purposes.

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

SPS does not record this information. However, as defined in the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011, individuals must have, and do have, access to showering/washing facilities a minimum of every second day.

The Scottish Government is advised on food safety and hygiene matters by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). Retained Regulation 853/2004, Annex II, Section I and Schedule 5 of the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 allow for the slaughter of poultry on-farm and the supply of un-eviscerated birds to approved establishments for delayed evisceration. This procedure is allowed providing such production is ‘authorised’ by FSS. No consideration has been given however to extending this to beef and lamb sectors, as there is no provision to permit this within the Regulations.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) are preparing to launch a 3 month consultation on a proposed amendment to the Home Slaughter Guidance, following which responses received will be considered as part of the ongoing review and FSS intend to publish the outcome of the consultation and any revised guidance in 2024.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

One of the ways in which irretrievable breakdown of a marriage is taken to be established in divorce actions is if since the date of the marriage the defender has behaved in such a way that the pursuer cannot reasonably be expected to cohabit with the defender. This can include sexual infidelity, both same sex and mixed sex.

Another way in which irretrievable breakdown can be established is if since the date of the marriage, the defender has committed adultery. The Scottish Government’s understanding is that adultery is defined in common law as meaning heterosexual sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

Issues on adultery in divorce law were considered when what became the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 was being prepared. As the last bullet point of paragraph 138 of the Policy Memorandum for the Bill which became the 2014 Act notes, it appears that for a small number of spouses it may be important to have the civil court find that the other spouse was adulterous.

The consultation planned for 2024 will, in relation to divorce and dissolution, cover court procedures rather than the grounds of divorce and dissolution.

The Scottish Government has no plans to do so. The consultation planned for 2024 will, in relation to divorce and dissolution, cover court procedures rather than the grounds of divorce and dissolution.

There has been recent legislation for England and Wales which changed the law on divorce and dissolution of civil partnership. Before the changes, two of the grounds of divorce in England and Wales were based on periods of separation: two years if both spouses consented to the divorce and five years otherwise.

In Scotland, irretrievable breakdown of the marriage for the purposes of divorce can be established in a number of ways, including non-cohabitation. The required periods of non-cohabitation were reduced by the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 to one year if both parties consent to the divorce and two years otherwise. The 2006 Act also reduced the non-cohabitation periods for dissolution of civil partnership.

The vast majority of divorces and dissolutions in Scotland are on the bases of non-cohabitation: Supporting documents - Civil justice statistics in Scotland 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (see Divorce and Dissolutions Supplementary Tables 2021-22; tables 2 and 3).