Chamber and committees

Since May 2016, the Scottish Government has maintained a public record of all ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received. This includes meeting dates and attendees.

The Member for North East Scotland can find this information online at www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts .

In terms of Criminal Proceedings statistics, there is no single crime of 'modern slavery'. However multiple types of crime involve, or can involve, 'slavery'. A list of these is provided below. Further information on slavery related activity is also available from the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, within their Annual Report .

• Slavery or forced labour
• Human organ offences
• Immoral traffic
• Procuration (excluding homosexual offences)
• Procuration (homosexual offences)
• Breach of trafficking and exploitation order

Most of these crime types fall under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. This came into effect on 31 May 2016. Prior to the 2015 Act, there were a number of offences under which crimes of modern slavery could be prosecuted.

The latest available information on the number of people prosecuted for modern slavery related crimes, since 2011-12, is provided in the following table.

Number of people prosecuted for modern slavery related crimes (where main crime) in Scottish courts, 2011-12 to 2020-21.

The early prisoner release power within the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act was used once, in May 2020. This power was used to protect the security and good order of prisons and the health, safety and welfare of prisoners and prison staff alike. Such measures were taken across the world, including elsewhere in the UK.

Steps were taken to manage the risks around those being released early to as low a level as realistically possible. That included statutory exclusions and a governor veto where there was a known risk to a specific individual. Furthermore, the scheme applied only to those sentenced to eighteen months or less, with 90 days or less left to serve in custody, at the time of the power being used.

A proportion of those prisoners were returned to custody for a number of reasons including, in some cases, due to reoffending.

No level of reoffending is acceptable. That is why this Government is focused on driving a greater shift away from short-term prison sentences, which those released under this power were serving, towards community-based interventions which we know are more effective at reducing reoffending.

The facilities in place at the 357 fire stations in Scotland are an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including whether to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

We agree that agroforestry and hedgerows can be incorporated throughout agriculturally productive land, offering carbon sequestration and biodiversity benefits. We support this through grants and the initiatives such as the Integrating Trees Network. The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) is the Scottish Government’s mechanism for providing targeted support to land managers to undertake specific actions on environmental management. Inclusive of contracts issued through the 2022 round of AECS, to date the scheme will have committed over £14.5 million to support the planting or replanting of over 678,000 metres of hedgerows.

In the Climate Change Plan update (CCPu), we committed to ambitious targets for tree planting, rising to 18,000 hectares per year by 2024-25. A range of different types of tree planting, including agroforestry and farm woodlands, contribute to this target which has reporting arrangements in place through the CCPu.

We are aiming to introduce a Natural Environment Bill in year three of this parliamentary session which will contain provisions to put in place statutory targets for nature restoration and a framework for setting, monitoring, enforcing and reporting on those targets.

The public consultation on proposals for a new Agriculture Bill, “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture” opened from 29 August 2022 until 5 December 2022. We received a good response to the consultation, including wide-ranging attendance at the 14 public consultation events held, and will be giving careful consideration to the diverse range of views received. The Scottish Government aims to publish a report on the findings of the Agriculture Bill consultation in Spring 2023.

The age of firefighters, broken down into 5 year age bands is published on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Website under its Organisational Statistics. Under the various firefighter final salary pension schemes, the majority of firefighters chose to retire after 30 years service rather than at a particular age. Government Actuary Department data shows that between 31 March 2016 to 31 March 2020, the average retirement age was 54.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Chair asked chief constables in England and Wales to take immediate action to check officers and staff against the national police database. While Police Scotland are a member of the National Police Chief’s Council, the direction in this case was provided via the Home Office. However, following discussions with the NPCC, Police Scotland have confirmed that they will align with the work being taken forward in England and Wales and check all officers and staff against national systems for criminal records and ongoing investigations.

In 2022 Police Scotland increased vetting resources by nearly 50% and introduced an additional check for new recruits, prior to being sworn into office. From April, they are also introducing dip sampling which will see around 1,200 vetting reviews of officers and staff being conducted each year.

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

The decision as to whether a member of staff discloses that they have attended hospital is one for the individual member of staff, and there is no requirement for this information to be shared. SPS has a focus on supporting staff who may have been injured, and ensuring that any reasonable preventative measures can be put in place to ensure that the likelihood of a similar incident occurring is mitigated as much as possible.

At this time, there are no plans to change the current methods of recording, however SPS will always look at ways which we can ensure we provide the right support to our staff.

As at 23 January 2023, the Office of the Public Guardian are processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 25 May 2022
• Postal submissions received around 10 June 22

An expedited service is available for Power of Attorney applications that are to be processed urgently. Urgent applications will usually be processed within five working days.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13059 on 9 January 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