Chamber and committees

We have been advised by Police Scotland that they are currently in the process of developing a prostitution policy, supported by an operational toolkit, which aims to deliver a consistent approach in relation to men and woman involved in prostitution with the key objectives of protecting individuals from the threat, risk and harm of exploitation while pursuing and disrupting individuals and organised crime groups who abuse, exploit and control. The overarching principle of the policy is one of harm reduction.

In development of the policy, Police Scotland has engaged with a wide range of partners and stakeholders including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Woman’s Support Project, Scotpep, The Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance, Routes Out, NHS Ending Violence and Abuse Services and SACRO.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above.

This information is not routinely gathered, as it is not required for the management of the contract.

Children and women may be escorted in the same vehicle as adult male prisoners. The vehicles utilised in the vast majority of these movements are of a cellular type and while on the same vehicle, prisoners are not in direct contact with each other.

Under the terms of the contract, the vehicle fleet must be sufficiently flexible to cover the range of care or specific needs of individual prisoners (both adults and children) and this includes those who are deemed to be vulnerable. An individual assessment would be undertaken and if necessary, a single person special observation vehicle, or a multi-purpose vehicle, could be used to undertake the escort. In these cases, the individual would be the only person escorted.

The exception to individual travel is movement for prisoners on temporary licence (e.g. work placement, home leave) where larger groups can be transported outwith cellular vehicles. In these instances, the passengers are transported within their own prisoner category, so adults would not mix with young offenders, and males would not mix with females.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above.

The service provider has a responsibility to ensure the safety, welfare and dignity of those people being escorted. The contract requires appropriate meal provision for prisoners which addresses the needs of those with special dietary requirements. The service provider must also ensure that the supply of water is available at regular intervals and is appropriate to the length of time that the prisoner spends in their care. As a minimum, an offer of drinking water should be made to each prisoner at least every 2.5 hours or otherwise as reasonably requested by the prisoner.

There is also a contractual obligation for in-transit toilet and comfort breaks to take place. G4S also have agreements in place with police offices (in England and Scotland) and SPS establishments to allow prisoner access for the purpose of comfort breaks.

While the provision for food, drink and toilet breaks is available, they will not routinely be provided during short journeys, such as from prison or police custody unit to the local court.

To ensure that the contract requirements are being met, the escort monitor team carries out a number of on-site audits at courts, G4S vehicle bases and vehicles as part of their annual assurance plan. This in-depth audit includes reviewing G4S toilet breaks, food and water provision. Failure to provide services is formally reported to G4S managers at that time and may attract applicable performance measures.

If prisoners are unhappy about the service they have received, they are able to make complaints directly to G4S with G4S complaint forms available at court and within prisons. Prisoners are also able to raise complaints via the SPS complaint process. Similar to SPS complaints, any unresolved complaints can be sent to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above.

The following table sets out the total number of complaints by prisoners in each of the last three years.

Both the SPS and the service provider have well established complaints procedures for prisoners to utilise.

The service provider’s complaints procedure for any prisoner complaints requires prominently displayed posters at each location where the service provider operates, which informs anyone who wishes to make a complaint, of the process, timescales and how to obtain further information and documentation. The service provider’s compliance team send complaint responses to escort monitors and complaint responses are further reviewed at the mid-monthly performance management meeting.

If the complainant is unhappy with the response to a complaint, they can pursue their complaint through the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Prisoners may also raise complaints in relation to the escort service provider through the SPS complaint process.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above.

The table below shows the number of healthcare appointments attended by women believed to be pregnant in the past three years, as reported by the escort contractor.

Whenever it is made known to the service provider that a pregnant woman requires to be escorted to hospital, there is a presumption against the use of handcuffs unless a risk assessment indicates otherwise.

The service provider reports that none of these individuals were handcuffed at hospital.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above. This answer refers to this contract only.

Prisoners are routinely advised at least the day prior to the escort unless security or operational risk assessments dictate otherwise.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above.

The following table sets out the self-harm incidents confirmed by the escort monitor in this period.

Self-harm is defined in the contract as ‘Any incident of deliberate self-harm by a prisoner which results in a need for medical attention or on-going medical care which is beyond first aid.’

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract includes escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above. This answer refers to this contract only.

The following table sets out the number of reported accidents.

The road traffic accidents shown in the table include all incidents of accident or vehicular (non-breakdown) damage reported to SPS by G4S. This will include collisions between vehicles as well as minor damage caused by single-vehicle incidents (e.g. clipping a bollard).

Each year, Police Scotland undertake a survey to seek the views of members of the public on what the local policing priorities for their area should be. Last year, over 43000 people were surveyed through face to face interviews. These were undertaken by local officers, within each of Police Scotland’s 14 divisions, carrying out a number proportionate to the local population.

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

The court custody and prisoner escorting in Scotland contract provides escorting services for prisoners aged 16 and above. This information is not readily available.

While the escort contractor is required to arrive at court by a set time, there is no deadline for escorting people from police custody. It is therefore not possible to calculate any additional time when prisoners are kept in police custody.

Within the contract, the escort contractor has two hours from receipt of legal detention paperwork for a person going to prison to leave court. On the occasion where a custody court runs late, the day after a bank holiday for example, prisoners are escorted to prison regardless of what time they will arrive.

Unlike England and Wales, prisoners in Scotland do not spend time in Police custody due to being ‘locked out’ of prison. This is because prisoners can be admitted to prison custody at any time during the day or the night. While admissions after a prison’s ‘normal’ lock-up times are the exception, they do occur. For example, on one occasion, a prisoner was admitted to HMP Grampian at midnight.