Chamber and committees

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

The SPS has a zero tolerance approach towards violence. SPS staff are trained to recognise and respond to the precursors of violence and manage any incidents when they do occur.

SPS continues to seek to understand the changing nature of the prison population profile and the subsequent impact on violence, particularly in relation to serious organised crime. SPS implements measures to prevent individuals identified as enemies from being located within the same residential areas. There has been a 2400 % increase in the number of Serious and Organised Crime Group (SOCG) Principals in custody between 2015 and 2019, as well as a significant increase in the number of intervals arrested and then convicted as a result of SOCG.

Violence Reduction meetings take place on a monthly basis across Scottish Prisons to discuss all notable incidents, trends and preventative actions.

CCTV cameras operate within all Scottish prisons to deter violent incidents and assist in any post-incident investigations. Violent incidents are always reported to Police Scotland.

The information is not centrally held.

Testing for COVID-19 is available for all symptomatic key workers. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/who-can-be-tested/

As I outlined in my written response of 15 June 2020 to question S5W-29808, the law on arrest and police custody was substantially reformed by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 to provide a modern framework, consistent with the requirements of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 5 secures the right to liberty. The suggestion that all persons arrested for coughing or spitting on police officers during the COVID-19 pandemic, should be detained in custody, would not be consistent with this legal framework.

Lord Advocate’s Guidelines on the Liberation of Accused Persons in the context of COVID-19 have been published and are consistent with the legal framework regarding a person’s right to liberty. The Lord Advocate’s Guidelines enable the detention in custody of accused persons, including those persons accused of assaulting police officers in the manner described during the pandemic, where that is properly justified.

An accused person who has been detained in custody by the police must be brought before the court, which will determine whether or not the accused should continue to be remanded in custody pending trial or granted bail (section 22A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act)). Thereafter, any decision to review the release, or otherwise, of an accused person from custody is a matter for the court, following an application for bail review under section 30 of the 1995 Act or following a bail appeal under section 32 of the Act. Section 24 of the 1995 Act also gives the Lord Advocate power to admit an accused person to bail.

These are not decisions for the Scottish Government.

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 is working with partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to reduce opportunities for criminals to exploit individuals’ concerns generated by the COVID-19 crisis and have been raising awareness of the potential risks.

The effort to raise awareness among the public is being delivered through various means such as Police Scotland’s ‘Shut out Scammers’ campaign and the opportunity for the public to subscribe to Trading Standards Scotland’s Scam Share e-Bulletin. The Scottish Government Cyber Resilience Unit is working with partners including the UK Government, National Cyber Security Centre, Scottish Business Resilience Centre, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Police Scotland to support a regular bulletin which provides a collated source of trusted actionable cyber threat and scams advice that businesses, charities and umbrella organisations can amplify in their messaging to their staff and the wider public.

The Scottish Government has provided guidance to Scottish local authorities and other public sector organisations giving grants to mitigate the effects of Covid 19 requiring them to ensure that procedures for administering the grants are robust and include due diligence to mitigate fraud.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) methodological paper on response rates found that a small reduction in the proportion of those taking part has not had a meaningful impact on data quality, although it cannot be assumed that any additional fall would have the same effect. As such we continue to encourage those requested to take part in the SCJS, so that their experiences can help support the ongoing evaluation of trends in crime and the response of Scotland’s justice system.

Any changes to the method of data collection, such as moving to virtual face-to-face surveys, may have an impact on accessibility and inclusion (i.e. excluding those without access to digital technology), response rates and ultimately survey bias. They are also likely to have an impact on the comparability of results to earlier survey years as a respondent may not give exactly the same answer in a virtual interview to what they may have said to an interviewer in person (i.e. the current method of data collection). This is particularly pertinent to the SCJS where sections on more sensitive topics (for example partner abuse) are completed by the respondent themselves using the interviewer's laptop or tablet as part of the main interview. As such changes to the method of collection would need careful consideration, given the value users of these statistics attach to their ability to compare results over different time periods.

Further to this, statisticians are continuing to keep the method of data collection for Scottish Government household surveys under review, particularly given the suspension of face-to-face interviewing from the 17 th March to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In the short term we continue to speak with public health advisors on when it will be safe to resume face-to-face interviewing for the SCJS, though depending on the length of the suspension we will also consider with the other survey leads and the Office of the Chief Statistician what options there may be for collecting data through alternative means, including any role that online interviews may have.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report by Sheriff Principal Pyle and also recognises the importance of stakeholder engagement in the development of virtual summary trials, in particular the engagement of defence agents, the Crown and third sector organisations. The successful completion of these ground breaking virtual trials is a testament to the hard work and collaborative approach taken by those working in Scotland’s courts and throughout the wider justice system. We will continue to work with our justice partners and stakeholders to ensure that progress is made both in terms of tackling the backlog of summary cases which has built up as a result of COVID-19 and also in respect of the overall modernisation of the court system.

Arrangements for the efficient disposal of business in the courts is the responsibility of the senior judiciary. As set out in Sheriff Principal Pyle’s report, the pilot of virtual summary trials in Aberdeen and Inverness involved cases deliberately chosen by the Crown and defence as being less complex trials suitable for the pilot. The report recommends that, in order to maintain momentum, the rollout of such trials should continue to use this model with defence agents and the Crown co-operating to identify suitable straightforward cases where virtual proceedings can take place. Sheriff Principal Pyle acknowledged that the success of the virtual trials in Aberdeen and Inverness was down to all the parties involved embracing the concept of virtual courts and that this approach should be replicated as the model is rolled out. While the operation of the courts is a matter for the senior judiciary, the progress of virtual summary trials is being considered as part of wider work to support the recovery of the justice system being overseen by the collaborative Justice Board for Scotland.

While it is the responsibility of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to hold the Chief Constable to account I would like to draw your attention to the fact that 87.6% of people in Scotland have experienced no crime in 2018-19 and that 78% of adults felt very or fairly safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark.

This is an increase of 12% since 2008-9 demonstrating that the public continue to hold a generally positive perception about the police and justice system.

This has also been reflected in the recent public survey commissioned by the SPA (Policing Lockdown: The Public’s View) which identified that there is a high level of support and confidence in the police during the pandemic.

I would also like to highlight that the proportion of adults who were a victim of crime has fallen from one-in-five (20.4%) in 2008-09 to one-in-eight (12.4%) in 2018-19 and that overall crime is down by 45% since 2008-09, and by 20% since 2016-17 to the lowest level ever estimated by the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey.

Adults in Scotland are now less likely to experience crime than those in England & Wales, who had an equivalent victimisation rate of 14.9% in 2018-19.

Violent crime is down by 48% and property crime by 44% since 2008-09 and the proportion of younger adults experiencing violent crime has almost halved between 2008-09 and 2018-19, from 12.0% to 6.1%.

These results are consistent with our recorded crime figures over the longer term which show crime is at one of the lowest levels since 1974.

The survey findings also show that public confidence in the police is broadly higher than in 2008-09 and that the majority of people who have come into contact with the police in recent years reflect positively on their experience.

We have also established a Victims Taskforce, which I co-chair along with the Lord Advocate, which is focusing on improving the experiences of victims and witnesses. Membership consists of senior decision makers in justice, support, legal and local authority sectors.

The Scottish Government has also committed £17.9 million for victim support services.

While the allocation and prioritisation of resources is for the Chief Constable and SPA to determine. The Scottish Government are protecting Police Scotland’s resource budget in real terms in every year of the current Parliament, delivering a boost of over £100 million by 2021. Furthermore, at the last Scottish budget announcement, the Scottish Government increased the policing budget by £60 million, a 5.1% rise compared to 2019-20.

Decisions on the frequency of Scotland’s Official Statistics on police recorded crime are a matter for independent Scottish Government statisticians and the Scottish Crime Recording Board (SCRB), rather than Ministers. A monthly publication of crime statistics was introduced to inform users about the volume and type of crimes and offences recorded in Scotland during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These publications also informed users that the Scottish Government will continue to publish monthly crime statistics up to the release of the September 2020 figures in October. After that point, the SCRB will review whether and how this process should continue, including user feedback on the value of these statistics.

The position remains as per my answer of 4 June 2020. The impact of Covid-19 has meant development of new services in this area is not likely to be possible while the current focus is on maintaining and recovering justice services. My intention is though that these discussions will resume as soon as practically possible.