Chamber and committees

Fair Start Scotland (FSS) is Scotland’s national devolved employability support service, which helps those further from the labour market to progress towards and into fair and sustainable fair work.

We published the third Fair Start Scotland Annual Report on the 14 th October 2021. The report gives an overview of progress throughout 2021-21, highlighting how the service adapted to the demands of COVID-19 and the changing employability landscape to ensure that Fair Start Scotland participants continued to be supported.

It is available from SPICe at reference SG/2021/244

We are also publishing Fair Start Scotland Evaluation Report 4: Overview of year 3. This is the fourth FSS evaluation report, and details the research that supports the third year of service delivery up to 31 March 2021. The report includes findings from a telephone survey of over 1000 participants; local area case studies; interviews with participants across the country, senior Scottish Government colleagues and senior DWP stakeholders, analysis of management information on participants’ outcomes and an economic evaluation which includes an assessment of the value for money of the service.

This report is available from the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014587

The Annual Report and evaluation findings demonstrate how Fair Start Scotland responded to the significant challenges that COVID-19 brought over the last 18 months.

Despite these challenges and the various difficulties faced by participants during this time, over 10,000 people chose to join Fair Start Scotland for help in year three and to date 4,170 of those participants have moved into work.

The impacts of COVID-19 are likely to have a profound and lasting impact on FSS delivery and our ambitions, however the extension of the Fair Start Scotland service for a further two years until 31 March 2023 has ensured that there is continued support and much needed stability for those facing long term unemployment.

As we enter the fourth year of FSS delivery, we are firmly focused on high quality delivery and outcomes, and making our services inclusive and accessible for all. We will also continue to make improvements to the service through our “test and learn” approach working closely with our partners and participants to ensure they continue to receive a quality, tailored service with dignity and respect at the centre of their support.

We also continue to work towards our No One Left Behind ambitions, working with local government and other partners to develop a locally responsive and flexible employability system that delivers the right support at the right time for those who need it most.

In February 2021, the Scottish Parliament debated the subject of an inquiry into the malicious prosecutions involving individuals associated with Rangers FC. Parliament voted in favour of a judge-led inquiry and the Scottish Government is committed to this course of action. The First Minister re-iterated this position at FMQs on 17 June 2021. As the First Minister explained on 17 June, the exact form of inquiry will be determined at the point all legal proceedings in relation to the cases are concluded.

We have consistently pushed the boundaries in our procurement activity to achieve payment of the real Living Wage to those employed in public contracts, and have provided extensive guidance and support to public bodies on this issue.

We are making payment of the real Living Wage a condition of winning Scottish Government contracts and we will engage widely to encourage this practice across the public sector in Scotland.

We acknowledge the valuable work that others such as the Fair Work Convention and the Poverty Alliance have undertaken in this area.

The Scottish Government will bring this matter to parliament on return from parliamentary recess.

The Victims Taskforce will next meet on Wednesday 24 November.

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

The average number of hours per week that convicted prisoners spend on purposeful activity a) across the prison estate and (b) in each penal establishment in each year since 2016-17 is as follows: -

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The operational deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The training and development of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The operational deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The operational deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes annual information on Common assault of emergency workers within two National Statistics bulletins.

The first is Recorded Crime in Scotland [1] . Table A8 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2020-21 National Statistics shows the latest 10 year trend in Common assault of an emergency worker offences for Scotland and this information can also be broken down by local authority area. It should be noted that these figures will not include certain attacks or assaults on emergency workers (for example should an emergency worker be assaulted and sustain a serious assault level injury, this would be recorded as a serious assault). From previous research into common assault and further information published by Police Scotland, the vast majority of police recorded offences of Common assault of an emergency worker relate to police officers.

The second is Criminal Proceedings in Scotland [2] . The number of people proceeded against and people convicted in Scottish courts for assaults against emergency workers under various criminal offences are published in additional tables [3] alongside the annual National Statistics publication. Assaults against police officers may be charged under a range of statutory offences including under section 90(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, section 1 of the Emergency Worker(s) Act (Scotland) 2005, and Section 89(1) of the Police Act 1996. People could be also proceeded against under Section 41(1) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 for offences committed prior to the introduction of the Police and Fire Reform Act. Over 1,300 people in Scotland had a main conviction for assaulting a police officer under these acts in 2019-20. In addition, serious assaults against police officers may be charged under common law of assault and counted as serious assaults in the publication. We cannot determine if a proceeding for serious assault was against a police officer.

Note that the Criminal Proceedings data shows the main conviction in a proceeding, which is the charge that received the most serious sentence. This means that some charges for assaulting a police officer may not be recorded in the publication, as they weren’t the main charge.

Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. For example, recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, the criminal proceedings statistics only count the main charge in a proceeding, but a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime or a set of crimes with more than one victim. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2020-2021/

[2] https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2019-20/documents/

[3] https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2021/05/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2019-20/documents/emergency-workers-tables/emergency-workers-tables/govscot%3Adocument/emergency-workers-tables.xlsx