Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics reports data on people convicted in Scottish courts. This data is drawn from a subset of Police Scotland’s Criminal History System, with only the minimum information required for statistical reporting and publication received. Alongside any crime(s) committed and the main sentence given, this includes data on a convicted person’s date of birth (used to calculate age at sentencing) and sex. In some cases their Local Authority of residence is also known. Although breakdowns by crime (main charge), sentence (main penalty), age (at sentencing) and sex are included in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin, there is currently no published disaggregation of those convicted of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in violence prevention activity through our grant funded partner organisations, including the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Youthlink Scotland’s No Knives Better Lives.

This includes the development and delivery of two campaigns on knife crime and weapon carrying, to raise awareness to older children and the adults around them, including a campaign specifically targeting primary aged school children.

The Quit Fighting for Likes campaign will be promoted to front line professionals to encourage conversations with young people to explore the impact of filming and sharing violent images online. Resources will also target parents to help support young people away from carrying weapons.

We are considering what more we can do to strengthen support for young people and communities.

The First Minister convened the meeting on 12 June to focus on the views of those working in the youth work sector on violence among young people.

We recognise there are a wide range of organisations working to support young people and families across communities who are undertaking valuable prevention and early intervention work. To ensure those attending were able to put forward views in the time available, it was necessary to restrict numbers, so were unable to invite everyone with an interest in this matter.

The Scottish Government remain open to meeting with organisations wishing to contribute to this discussion to help inform the overall response to strengthen support to young people and communities.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Law Commission’s report on the common law offence of misconduct in public office in England and Wales and its recommendation that this is replaced with two statutory offences. The common law offence of misconduct in public office does not exist in Scots law. However, there is a comparable common law offence in Scots law of wilful neglect of duty. The Government is actively considering the Law Commission’s recommendations. Any changes to this area of law will require further examination.

The Scottish Government remain committed to addressing anti-social behaviour in partnership with COSLA and Police Scotland who have statutory responsibility for developing strategies to tackle antisocial behaviour at local level.

Recent actions of the Scottish Government contribute to a number of recommendations. For example, we recently announced a £26 million investment in the next phase of the CashBack for Communities programme. The programme’s focus on supporting projects that divert young people from anti-social behaviour and towards positive opportunities is closely aligned with the report’s findings and overall direction.

Further actions from the report are currently under active consideration, and we will provide a full update on implementation plans and timelines in due course. A formal response to the report is expected to be published later this summer.

The Scottish Government has been engaging in ongoing discussions with the UK Government regarding the introduction of a “Hillsborough Law”, including a legal duty of candour for public servants and accompanying criminal sanctions. The Scottish Government is considering the extension of this to Scotland and the work in relation to this is ongoing.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Law Commission’s report on the common law offence of misconduct in public office in England and Wales and its recommendation that this is replaced with two statutory offences. The common law offence of misconduct in public office does not exist in Scots law. However, there is a comparable common law offence in Scots law of wilful neglect of duty. The Scottish Government has had some early engagement with the UK Government in relation to the Law Commission’s report.

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

Since 2020 SPS has paid 753 compensation payments to prisoners, resulting in a total expenditure of £1,443,627, broken down as follows:

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

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-38480 on 23 June 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

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

SPS are committed to prepare those in our care for a return to their communities and, for some, this includes access to personal items and various forms of media.

As defined in The Prisons and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011, the Governor in Charge (GiC) must establish a System of Privileges, taking into consideration a number of factors, including security.

Access to watching DVDs is at the Governors discretion and remains a privilege and not a right.

Currently, there are no plans to review this current practice.

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

SPS recognises that where the Court supports a claim, the appropriate compensation should be paid. This may include incidents where the belongings of someone in custody have been lost or damaged, where an injury has occurred or in the limited occasions where someone has been detained in error.

SPS can confirm that in the last five years, prisoners have been awarded compensation. Compensation has been awarded for reasons such as personal injuries, damaged or lost property and unlawful detention, however we are unable to release the specific reasons for individual compensation payments, as this could lead to the indirect identification of the person involved.