Chamber and committees

By its nature, it is difficult to estimate the volume of crime in Scotland which doesn’t come to the attention of the police. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) asks victims of crime whether they reported the incident to the police (or any other authority). As a survey of adults living in private residences within Scotland, the SCJS findings do not include any crimes against children (those aged under 16), those living in communal establishments or businesses.

The SCJS results are typically reported for financial years ending in March with figures for 2023-24 due to be published in 2025. The latest figures available, for 2021-22, estimated that 29% of property and violent crimes combined were reported to the police (based on interviews over October 2021 to December 2022), this splits into 27% and 34% for property and violent crimes respectively.

From the 2023-24 survey sweep, the SCJS questionnaire was expanded to include measures of fraud and computer misuse victimisation, including estimates of those cases reported to the police. The first results from this new module will be published alongside the main report next year.

Finally, the survey also asks about experiences of sexual victimisation and partner abuse. The latest figures for 2018-20 estimated that the police came to know about the most recent (or only) incident for 22% and 16% of respondents who experienced serious sexual assault or partner abuse respectively since the age of 16.

We encourage victims to report all crimes to Police Scotland, who are committed to protecting our communities.

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 question S6W-29797 on 19 September 2024. 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.

As a result of significant increases in construction costs due to inflation, and a lower than expected capital grant from the UK Government, a capital review is currently underway.

Alongside this, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system infrastructure plan which reflects on the needs for the whole of Scotland and will support continued safe operation of existing facilities and well as determination of longer-term investment priorities.

On the 3 September 2024, the Scottish Government pre-budget fiscal update outlined savings measures of £115.8m in the Health and Social Care budget, with funding redirected to support emerging pressures within Health and Social Care, not used for wider SG spending.

A breakdown of the savings can be found at: Scottish Government Pre-Budget Fiscal Update: Letter to Finance Committee - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23571 on 13 December 2023. 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.

We remain committed to delivering a Just Transition Plan that reflects the needs of the industrial site operators, workforce and the wider community and anticipate the launch of a draft plan for consultation in the coming months.

We will update the Parliament on the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan in due course.

The number of thrombectomy patients treated at each thrombectomy hub is shown in the following table.

The Scottish Government is continuing with its due diligence process, which includes a value for money assessment.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s statement to Parliament on 3 September outlined the challenging financial situation faced by the Scottish Government following the UK Chancellor's July statement. She confirmed that spending controls are in place to make sure the entire SG budget is being managed prudently. These additional controls set out that any activity undertaken, or commitment made, that generates expenditure in 2024-25 must only proceed if it is truly essential and unavoidable. “Unavoidable” means if the Scottish Government would otherwise breach its legal obligations, or fail to provide essential support to emergency situations, or cause significant economic damage across Scotland. The scale of the savings required means that these exceptional measures are being applied across the whole Government, with all policy areas having to think about what this means for them.

Whilst I had originally set out the intention to make Changing Place Toilets funding available across financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, reductions in the mental health budget mean we are no longer able to launch the fund in the current financial year. Instead, funding will be reprofiled into future years. I remain committed to increasing the numbers of Changing Places Toilets across Scotland and we are continuing preparatory work to enable the launch of the Fund.

Following the UK Chancellor's July statement, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution.

We have sought to protect mental health funding, despite difficult decisions about reductions which affect all of Government.

Despite this reduction to the 2024-25 budget, we remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health, working closely with our key delivery bodies, partners and stakeholders. Our collective focus has to be on making as much difference as possible with our funding.

No elements of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme will be discontinued in 2024-25. Savings were realised through pre-agreed changes in funding to the original pilots, which from 2024-25 will be funded by local areas rather than centrally by the Scottish Government. The DBI programme continues to grow – it is now live locally in 29 of the 31 Health and Social Care Partnership areas, with the remaining 2 actively preparing to go live in October 2024. In addition, 3 national pathways to DBI are live – via NHS24 and via call handling centres operated by Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service.