Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42507 on 22 December 2025. 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.

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

A range of checks are carried out before the release of a prisoner is authorised including but not limited to, an identity check of the person, confirmation of liberation date and a check for any known outstanding warrants.

A liberation in error occurs when an individual is released from a Scottish Prison Service establishment without lawful authority.  This situation typically arises due to an administrative or procedural mistake, such as incorrect interpretation of documentation, miscalculation of sentence dates or incorrect data sharing from other partners.

When such an error is identified, the Scottish Prison Service works in partnership with Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure the individual is returned to custody as soon as possible.  Once notified, it is the responsibility of Police Scotland to execute any live warrants.

The following table provides the numbers of total liberations, liberations in error and those still not returned to custody since 2021-2022, up to and including 5 December 2025. 

As you can see from the above table, over the period 2021 to 5 December 2025 there are a total of five individuals who have been liberated in error from prisons who have not returned to prison custody. The reasons for these non-returns are outlined below:

*All liberations in error are subject to review by the Warrants Administration Group (WAG), at which point the data may change depending on the outcome of the review. 

We are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of raising awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Information and guidance on IBD including Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis is already widely available to the public via the NHS Inform website: Scottish health information you can trust | NHS inform

The Scottish Government welcomed the recent Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week 2025, “How it feels,” and values the work of charities like Crohn’s and Colitis UK helping raising awareness of the condition.

The Scottish Government is investing £1.03bn to support Scottish Water's £6bn investment programme for the period 2021-27. The Strategic Review of Charges process is underway to establish the maximum level of charges for the period 2027-33. As part of that process, the Scottish Government will confirm the amount it will lend to Scottish Water during that period.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"The cost of providing an overflow monitor varies between £7,000 and £11,000 for the majority of locations. However, some sites with complex access arrangements or traffic management etc can result in significantly higher costs, up to some £20,000."

Being able to use the native app to prove your age is on the roadmap for delivery after we are able to offer transactional and location based alerts and notification services.

There is no defined data for this yet as the focus is being about to offer transactional and location based alerts, however once these are delivered proof of age will be the priority.

Currently work is underway with organisations who would like to use this service.

The Directorate recognises the importance of providing clarity on the app's planned launch date. At present a specific launch date in 2026 has not yet been confirmed.

Final timelines depend on ongoing development, testing and regulatory requirements to ensure the app meets all required standards.

The Directorate will provide a confirmed timeline once the current development and testing phase is completed.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling retail crime was reaffirmed in our Programme for Government and through the additional £3 million in the 2025-26 budget, to assist Police Scotland’s work on this.

This makes clear our strong support for Police Scotland’s robust approach in addressing this issue, and I can confirm that the Retail Crime Taskforce has been working hard in recent months to assist retailers and to catch those responsible.

We are working closely with SPA and Police Scotland to understand their 2026-27 budget requirements, but clearly there is a process to go through and decisions to be made before we can finalise the budget for 2026-27. This will be published on 13 January 2026.

There is no requirement for proof of age to use the app. There will be the opportunity for citizens to use the app with the digital wallet to prove their age if they wish to.

The ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) is a crucial part of delivering Scotland’s net zero ambitions and in line with Committee for Climate Change advice. It will come into force on 31 December this year.

While significant efforts and investment have been made by local authorities and commercial waste operators to prepare for the ban, due to a temporary shortfall of energy from waste capacity in Scotland, some parts of the waste sector identified challenges in fully complying with the upcoming ban.

Taking account of these challenges, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency published a Regulatory Position Statement on 29 October outlining its approach to enforcing the ban.

The Scottish Government recognises the findings of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland, including its determination that in the short-term incineration will have a role to play in managing our waste as we transition to a circular economy.

The Scottish Government is committed to limiting EfW capacity, as part of our transition to a circular economy. Our National Planning Framework 4 makes it clear that development proposals for new EfW facilities will not be supported except under limited circumstances, and there have been no planning applications for new EfW developments since 2023.