Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding electronic monitoring use across a broader range of licences and court orders, including exploring the use of new technology, such as remote alcohol monitoring, which is provided for by the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019.

Regulations came into force on 31 January 2025 which enable the use of GPS monitoring devices for those released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC). As work continues to embed these changes, we will engage with justice partners to explore the potential uses of new technologies, including both GPS and remote substance monitoring technologies. The functionality of GPS tags may have a role in helping to address particular behaviour associated with problematic alcohol use, for example, by excluding someone from a town centre on a Saturday night.

The National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) is a planning tool that informs and provides guidance on marine use decisions covering where, when, if and how development takes place. The regulation and management of marine activities including fishing are covered by sector specific regulations outside of planning.

The NMP2 will support the outcomes set out in the fisheries management strategy, and guide decision makers to consider how fisheries management will interact with decisions. This includes supporting improvements in the collection of spatial data, and the requirements for consideration of this data in planning decisions.

The Scottish Government supports the Police Scotland Fleet Strategy. Telematics is a key element of that Strategy which aims to provide a fit for purpose, safe, reliable, and cost-effective police fleet.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with stakeholders including Social Work Scotland, COSLA, the Community Justice Voluntary Sector Forum and Community Justice Scotland, to discuss a range of matters arising in the delivery of justice services. With regard to specific interventions, however, community justice is primarily based on a local model, with local areas providing or commissioning services according to local need, and working in collaboration with relevant health services to ensure that any necessary support and treatment is provided.

Justice organisations are also represented on Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) which are funded to work with a range of partners at a strategic, operational and service level. ADPs commission a range of activity which can provide support for those in the justice system, such as referrals to treatment services, harm reduction interventions, alcohol interventions and alcohol use treatment needs screening.

The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland. This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment, the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems’ (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.

We are also investing an additional £11 million in 2025-26 to support a range of community justice services, including diversion from prosecution, alternatives to remand and community sentencing. This brings our total budget for community justice to £159m, recognising the key role that such services play in our justice system, including in supporting people with alcohol problems or other underlying needs.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with both the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and Police Scotland to discuss a range of matters arising in the delivery of justice services.

Specialist or problem solving courts, the establishment of which is ultimately a decision for the judiciary and SCTS, can be an effective way of supporting those with particular needs and positive work is underway in this area.

For example, the Glasgow Alcohol Court opened in 2018 and aims to reduce rates of offending by supporting people who offend with their underlying alcohol issues. Once accepted into the Alcohol Court, participants receive intensive support from their justice social worker and a substance use worker. In 2022, 240 people were accepted into the Alcohol Court.

There are other good practice examples of problem solving courts, including the Pan-Lanarkshire Alcohol and Drugs Problem Solving Court, which secured funding via the CORRA foundation and launched in December 2023.

In terms of court disposals, community payback orders offer a range of potential requirements including a specific alcohol treatment requirement.

Police Scotland, working in partnership with stakeholders, is establishing a working group that will promote best practice and work to drive an increase in referrals from police custody into support for mental health and wellbeing, alcohol and drugs and other relevant services. The new pathway for arrest referrals has now been established, which involved a full review of practices, mapping of services and establishing any gaps in service provision across Scotland. Further work is planned to drive further improvements in the arrest referral service.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water Group's (including Scottish Water Horizons) generating capacity by technology (2023-24) is detailed in the following table:

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water does not currently have any arrangements in place with community-owned providers.

Land ownership, management and use should deliver a wide range of social, environmental, economic and cultural benefits to the people of Scotland. Community energy has a key role to play in supporting this and we have recently announced £3.5 million in 2025-26 for a new ‘Community Energy Generation Growth Fund’ through our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme. This will support community groups to develop their own renewable energy projects and enable communities to benefit from the energy transition.

Through our Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement and corresponding protocols, we set our vision for the ownership, use and management of land, including recognising that more local communities should have the opportunity to own, lease or use buildings and land which can contribute to their community's wellbeing and future development.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST), on behalf of the Scottish Government, publishes the annual Community and Locally Owned Energy in Scotland (COLO) Report. The latest report states that, as of December 2023, there are 92 MW of operational capacity across 12,110 installations in the Public Sector and Charity category, across a range of technologies.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Currently, Scottish Water hosts 0.17MW of hydro (estimated @ 1.3GWh/annum) and 279MW of wind (estimated @ 831GWh/annum).

The income received from hosting 3rd party renewables was £5.9m in 2023-24 and £3.6m in 2024-25 (note that this income tracks the wholesale cost of electricity).

The Scottish Government greatly values Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) across Scotland. We know that many disabled people currently face significant barriers. DPOs support thousands of disabled people across Scotland through programmes which build the confidence, connections and capacity of disabled people.

£5 million of our Equality and Human Rights fund supports Disabled People’s Organisations to tackle inequality and discrimination, furthering equality, and advancing the realisation of human rights in Scotland.

We are also investing an additional £2 million for the Disability Equality Plan and are working closely with DPOs on delivering essential support to Scotland’s disabled people.