Chamber and committees

Maintaining contact with loved ones is important for prisoners and their families which is why the Scottish Prison Service moved quickly to set up virtual visiting arrangements when it became necessary, in line with Covid-19 restrictions, to suspend in-person visiting. There is a range of support in place to help families with virtual visits including detailed multi-lingual guidance for families on the Scottish Prison Service website at http://www.sps.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=4628&sID=1581 and a short video outlining the booking process can be accessed via SPS' YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0SFZZoGbmM .

In 2020-21 the Scottish Government provided grant funding of £138,993 and £700,000 respectively towards the running costs for Families Outside and Prison Visitor Centres enabling them to continue the important work that they do to support families affected by imprisonment. In addition to information contained on the Scottish Prison Service website and given to prisoners, Families Outside and Prison Visitor Centres helped to inform families of the roll out of the virtual visit arrangements. They have also provided families with ad hoc guidance on the steps that they need to take to access the virtual visit platform and with practical support that has included accessing devices for eligible families through the Connecting Scotland programme.

Earlier this month the Scottish Government provided grant funding of £26,255 from the Winter Support package specifically to help families affected by imprisonment access virtual visits with a proportion of this money being directed towards equipment for Regional Support Co-ordinators at Families Outside and Prison Visitors so that they have the tools needed to support families now and in the future. An element of this grant has been allocated to Families Outside to enable them to support a Scottish Prison Service project that is examining the barriers to families engaging in virtual visits and to give direct support, including with devices, to families that are identified through this project. The aims of the SPS Project are to identify the barriers impacting on individuals accessing or utilising virtual visits and to identify areas of good practice so that these could be reflected in a future tender for virtual visit provision.