Chamber and committees

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

The information is not held in the format requested.

The following table provides information on the number of women who have disclosed on admission into custody that they consider themselves as disabled.

Section 136 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) provides for the transfer of prisoners to hospital for treatment for mental disorder by way of a transfer for treatment direction (TTD). A TTD cannot be applied to prisoners on remand (those who have not been convicted and/or sentenced yet).

Where a remand prisoner requires mental health assessment or treatment in hospital this would likely be done by way of an assessment order, treatment order, interim compulsion order or temporary compulsion order which are provided for under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act). Data has been provided for females who have transferred to hospital under the 2003 Act or the 1995 Act.

Academic year 2021-22 represented the first graduating year of the ScotGEM course with 52 students qualifying at this time. The second cohort of students will graduate later this summer.

Academic year (AY) 2021/22 represented the first graduating year for ScotGEM, of those who graduated there were four students who took up a bursary but did not take up a place within Scotland for foundation training. Of these four students:

• One is on a repayment plan.
• One has paid their bursary back in full.
• Two are delaying their payment until the beginning of speciality training which starts in August 2024, as they may return to Scotland which will change the amount due to be repaid.

For those graduating in AY 2022-23 confirmation of where the students will be taking up a place after graduating has only recently been received. There are five students who have taken up the bursary and who do not now intend to remain in Scotland for foundation training and discussions have begun regarding repayment.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is expecting to take delivery of the electric appliance in the coming weeks. The vehicle remains with the manufacturers, Emergency One in Ayrshire at this time.

The appliance has now completed and passed its localised testing, however it is awaiting final independent Vehicle Certification Agency testing before being placed in an operational fire station.

Following a period of staff training for firefighters and SFRS fleet maintenance, SFRS expects the electric appliance to enter operational service later in the summer.

The Scottish Government has agreed with local authorities to amend the homelessness data collection to record Ukrainian Displaced People applying for homelessness support from 1 April 2022. For the local authorities that have implemented the required changes, data will be released on the same day as the annual Homelessness in Scotland publication scheduled for August 2023, with the specific date pre-announced by the end of June. This publication will cover the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

The UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill does not currently have legal effect. The Scottish Government has made clear our position that this cruel and inhumane Illegal Migration Bill should be scrapped immediately and will cause significant harm to victims of human trafficking. It will facilitate even greater control by perpetrators as a consequence of its provisions which restrict access to vital support and assistance and will likely deter victims from reporting their situation for fear of removal.

The Scottish Parliament rejected the UK Bill during a debate on 25 April. We set out our intent to lodge a legislative consent memorandum on two clauses within the Bill which alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers. We will recommend that Parliament withhold legislative consent to these provisions. We continue to monitor the Bill closely as it is considered by the House of Lords.

The following table sets out the number of children and young people who have died by suicide annually, since 2018. The suicide statistics for 2022 are due to be released by National Records of Scotland in August 2023.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to delivery of affordable homes across Scotland since April 2007, on a quarterly basis, which can be found online at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-completions-updates/ .

The Scottish Government does not hold information at a constituency level. However, between 1 April 2007 and 31 December 2022 there have been a total of 20,161 affordable homes delivered in Glasgow City, of which 14,560 have been social rented homes.

Homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes, as identified in Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) prepared annually by local authorities.

Figures to end of March 2023 are due to be published on 27 June 2023.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of National Galleries of Scotland, including information relating to any repair and maintenance works, are best answered directly by National Galleries of Scotland.

I have asked National Galleries of Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.