Chamber and committees

The anticipated spend on the HMP Kilmarnock transition project for 2023-24 is £1.5m.

In 2024-25, the total running costs of HMP Kilmarnock are anticipated around £18.6m, to accommodate around 600 people. This figure excludes the uplift for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 pay rise which is currently being processed. Final costs will depend on the date of any harmonisation of the existing staff group to SPS terms and conditions, and the actual spending within the financial year.

The price of the HMP Kilmarnock contract in the final year of the contract (year 25) is £19.5m for 596 prisoner places. This figure does not include the direct public sector costs of managing, monitoring and supporting the contract. There is no comparable price for private operation of HMP Kilmarnock in 2024-25 as the contract would have been retendered in this scenario using different pricing models. Hypothetically, if the existing terms of the contract went into a notional 26 th year, indexation of around 5.1% would have been applied.

CalMac currently expects that there will be two tankers a week per vessel to operate the service. CalMac will review the fuel requirements once the new vessels are in operation and make any necessary changes to supply requirements.

The 25-year contract for HMP Kilmarnock under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for a privately constructed and operationally managed prison expires on 16 March 2024. The decision to bring HMP Kilmarnock into public management and ownership and not to tender for a new private contract was taken in 2021. This decision was based on the Scottish Government policy, which has been in place since 2007, that prisons should be owned and managed by the public sector and public safety, rehabilitation and wellbeing should not be driven by private profit.

Procurement regulations mean that it was not possible to extend the existing contract. Scottish Government would have had to tender for the management of the prison, and for any expansion in capacity, if that had been the preferred option.

At no stage was there an offer of building a new houseblock at no cost to the public purse.

The Scottish Government has provided grants for 2 projects delivered by the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) via the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) since 2019.

1. CCF-5601 – Cook, Grow and Sew – Branching Out (2018-2020)

2. CCF-6523 - Cook, Grow, Sew - Branching Out (2020-2022)

The answer to S6W-24394 on 19 January 2024 outlined the objectives of the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) programme and covers the 2018-2020 project.

The main objectives for CCF-6523 were as follows:

• Supporting 2000 people in their community to increase their awareness and understanding of Climate Change and enabling them to make informed choices on how to move to low-carbon lifestyles.
• 260 minority ethnic and vulnerable households will reduce their carbon emissions by 36 tonnes CO2e, by receiving home energy visits, workshops and surgeries across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire.
• 725 minority ethnic individuals across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire will reduce their food waste, waste production and material consumption by 42.9 tonnes CO2e through advice, repair/reuse workshops and events.
• 115 minority ethnic individuals reduce food emissions by 8.0 tonnes CO2e across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire through gardening, home growing support, partnership workshops and foraging sessions.
• 32 minority ethnic young people with focus on asylum seekers and refugees will be capacity built to share environmental learning to peers and networks. A further 8 minority ethnic led organisations become ecos-conscious and support wider communities through environmental activities.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding to the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council through the Victim Centred Approach Fund.

Organisations that receive support from VCAF are required to demonstrate how the services they provide, or propose to provide, can contribute towards delivery of one or more of the following priorities:

• Priority 1 - Victims will have access to practical and emotional support, regardless of: whereabouts in Scotland they live; the nature or severity of the crime; whether it has been reported; or what stage of the justice journey they are at.
• Priority 2 - Victims will have access to joined-up services that are inclusive and accessible to all, are trauma-informed, provide streamlined support, and reduce the need for victims to recount their experiences to several different organisations.
• Priority 3 - Families bereaved by crime committed in Scotland or abroad will have access to specialist practical and emotional support.
• Priority 4 - Victims / survivors of gender based violence will have access to consistent and specialist criminal justice advocacy support.
• Priority 5 - Adult victims of human trafficking and/or slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour will have access to support and assistance.

Full details on the terms and conditions for the Victim Centred Approach Fund are set out in the application guidance .

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland (PHS) as our national health protection body. Given the serious nature of measles and the current risk of importation and onward transmission, the Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland and NHS Boards through the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) on a range of measures to promote vaccination uptake.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the industry and stakeholders to find ways for producers to transition towards implementing improved animal welfare methods and practices.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Committee’s thorough and wide-ranging report and we are committed to working with local government to deliver our shared climate change goals.

Following the Committee’s Inquiry, COSLA and the Scottish Government is working collaboratively to develop a Climate Delivery Framework to agree shared approaches to delivering action on climate change. As recommended by the Committee, we have also established a Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) jointly funded with local government, which will help build the capacity of local authorities to reduce area wide emissions. A single data platform, currently being procured, will enable consistency of approach and adoption of best practice methodologies across local authorities and their delivery partners. This will provide all 32 local authorities with data-informed evidence, insights and intelligence they need for continuous improvement of their climate action plans.

The Scottish Government does not fund Moray Mental Health directly from its mental health programme budget, therefore no objectives have been set.

The Scottish Government does not hold information about the types or numbers of funeral services in Scotland and does not make an assessment of trends in funeral choices.

Unattended funerals are most often direct cremations where there is no funeral service at a crematorium. Sometimes these are arranged as a preference by the deceased or by their relatives who might arrange a separate wake or celebration of the deceased’s life.

According to the recent Sunlife Cost of Dying report published in January 2024, the cost of a basic funeral rose from £3,953 in 2022 to £4,141 in 2023, an increase of 4.7%. The report shows there has been an increase in direct cremations over the past five years with 3% of funerals described as a direct cremation in 2019, rising to 20% in 2023. Direct cremations are often seen as a more affordable option but according to the Sunlife report there are various other reasons for choosing this option; this is often requested by the deceased or chosen because it is simpler to organise.

Issues relating to pricing and consumer protection are reserved to the UK Government. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) publish an annual review of market outcomes in the UK funerals sector and the most recent is available at: Review of funerals sector - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . Officials continue to engage with the CMA as required in relation to their Funeral Markets Investigation and the upcoming regulations for inspection of the funeral industry and licensing of funeral directors being made under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.

Health Boards are responsible for delivering abortion services as part of their overall budgets, in a similar way to most other health services. Therefore the Scottish Government does not determine how much is allocated to the provision of abortion services. Health Boards will decide appropriate levels of funding for their requirements within their overall funding.