Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware of the reported comments by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Any expedited process for hearing appeals is a matter for the judiciary, who are independent of Scottish Ministers. This process would also only be able to consider those cases which have been referred back to the courts and would not be able to address, for example, any cases where consideration by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has been delayed by difficulties in obtaining timely information from the Post Office, or where no person has approached the Commission for their case to be reassessed.

Given that the UK Government has introduced legislation for England & Wales the Scottish Government plan to ensure, insofar as possible, equal treatment for Scottish sub-postmasters. Any Scottish solution will need to be compatible with both the proposed UK Government legislation and the UK compensation scheme in which the Scottish Government has no locus.

On 13 March 2024 the UK Government introduced the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill which, if passed, will automatically quash on coming into force any convictions which fall within the scope identified on the face of the Bill. Details of the UK Bill can be found on the UK Parliament website: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament

The Scottish Government believes that the best way to deliver a quick, fair and equal solution for all affected sub-postmasters is through a UK-wide Bill, and will continue to press the UK Government to deliver a solution that provides this.

We will introduce Scottish legislation if necessary, but any such legislation cannot be passed in the Scottish Parliament until after the UK Bill has been passed to ensure full compatibility with both the UK legislation, and the UK compensation scheme in which the Scottish Government has no locus.

The Scottish Government is aware of this proposal. During the Lord Advocate’s statement to Parliament on 16 January 2024, I am aware there was discussion of this issue. The Lord Advocate explained that:

‘… It is misleading to suggest that I could simply attend the appeal court with a list of cases and tell the court of criminal appeal to quash the convictions. There is such a process but, for reasons of sound public policy and in recognition of the constitutional role of our court of appeal, prosecutors always have to be able to explain why they are no longer relying on a conviction. As I have explained, not every Horizon case will involve a miscarriage of justice. In some cases, there was sufficient evidence to support a criminal conviction. That is demonstrated by the material from England and Wales that shows that, of the cases that have been referred to the Court of Appeal in England, only some—not all—have resulted in a conviction being quashed because of a miscarriage of justice. Therefore, it is not as simple as my providing a list of convictions to be quashed.’

I refer the Member to the answer to PQ S6W-26520 on 18 March 2024 for information about correspondence between myself and UK Government Ministers on this matter.

The UK Government announced on 22 February that they will introduce legislation to reverse only the convictions of sub-postmasters convicted by courts in England and Wales and introduced a Bill in the Westminster Parliament on 13 March. Scottish Government officials participate in a Devolved Administrations Working Group established by the UK Government which meets regularly to discuss issues relating to the development of legislation to quash the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses. This will assist in the development of equivalent legislation that will apply to sub-postmasters and post office employees convicted by courts in Scotland if the UK Government does not change its position on legislating only to reverse the convictions of those convicted in courts in England and Wales.

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 .

National Services Scotland are currently developing a Primary Care Data and Intelligence platform, which will provide a modern digital infrastructure to unlock the value of data from general practice, including prevalence data on neurological conditions. The platform will be delivered by March 2026, in line with commitments in the Care in the digital age: Delivery plan 2023-24 .

The First Minister's letter to the Prime Minister of 10 January was published on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-minister-letter-prime-minister-post-office-horizon-cases/

Letters I sent to the Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk MP, and the Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, Kevin Hollinrake MP and the letter which the Deputy First Minister sent to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations concerning legislation to reverse convictions that may have resulted from the use of Post Office Horizon evidence are available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-office-horizon/letters-to-uk-government.

It is for the UK Government to decide whether to publish letters sent with an expectation of confidence by UK Ministers to the Scottish Ministers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25624 on 18 March 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 .

We are currently prioritising work across the Scottish Government in light of increased pressures on the Scottish budget.

On 16 March 2023, the then Minister for Community Safety provided a submission to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in relation to Petition PE1968 , which outlined our position on full implementation of the 2020 Act and included a section-by-section breakdown of the Act’s commencement status.

I can provide some further updates.

For the provision on the views of the child in proceedings under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, the recent ‘ Hearings for Children ’ report reviewing the children’s hearings system included a recommendation to commence section 3 of the 2020 Act. The Scottish Government has accepted that recommendation and is taking forward relevant work in that regard.

For the provisions on special measures (sections 4 to 8 of the 2020 Act), Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill currently before the Parliament will, if enacted, extend the provisions which relate to proceedings under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to civil proceedings generally.

In relation to a register for Child Welfare Reporters (section 9 of the 2020 Act), we will be establishing a short-life working group of key stakeholders later this year that will inform the development of policy around the register. It will also consider whether changes made in the past in this area, following a previous working group, are working as intended.

On child contact centres (sections 10 to 12 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government continues to prepare Scottish Statutory Instruments on the regulation of these centres.

For the provision placing a duty on Scottish Ministers to ensure the availability of child advocacy services in court proceedings under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (section 21 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government is considering further whether or not to carry out a consultation.

For the provisions on funding for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and the ADR information pilot (sections 23 and 24 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government provides update reports to Parliament on the progress of this work. The latest report, covering the period 1 October 2022 to 1 April 2023, is available on the Scottish Government website .

As set out in my answer to question S6W-26000 on 18 March 2024, patient related experience and patient outcome measures will be recorded through NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool. The provision of health data through this tool will assist in understanding the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services. Where possible, the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation quintile. This will support understanding of any inequitable variation in service provision, experience and outcomes which may need to be addressed through service changes.

The long COVID National Strategic Network has contracted the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long COVID services in Scotland, using data from the C19-YRS tool. The outputs of the evaluation are expected following the end of the financial year.

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 .

The Scottish Government’s Diabetes Improvement Plan contains a key commitment to further increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies.

Budgets for 2024-2025 are yet to be confirmed, however we recognise the benefits that technology provides to people with diabetes.

It is for each NHS Board to determine how best to utilise the funding and resources provided by the Scottish Government to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations. This includes ensuring that people with Type 1 diabetes have access to the most appropriate treatment and care.