Chamber and committees

Work is continuing on the 4 Day Working Week Public Sector Pilot to assess the wellbeing, environmental and productivity benefits a 4 Day Working Week could bring.

The offence types covered by Recorded Police Warnings (RPWs) are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of her independent role as head of Scotland’s system of prosecution.

The Lord Advocate issues guidelines to Police Scotland on their operation of the scheme and decisions about when to issue RPWs are an independent operational matter for Police Scotland.

Publication of the guidelines would be a matter for the Lord Advocate.

The prison population on the morning of 6 May 2024 was 8,203 in custody. Excluding people held for index offences in Group 1 (Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence) or where the index offence could not be classified or originated outwith Scotland, provides a population of 3,927 people.

Further excluding Group 2 (Sexual Crimes) index offences of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault this population totals 2,466.

The full prison population is broken down by index offence type in the following table.

Where individuals in custody are accused or convicted of multiple offences, these are summarised by index offence. This is the offence for which they have received the longest sentence or, where they are on remand, which would on average receive the longest sentence. Each may have other associated offences for which they have received shorter sentences, or for which they have not yet been convicted, which may include acts of violence. Some offences cannot be classified in this way because the charges originate in other jurisdictions or because the data required were not available at the time the snapshot was taken.

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

I refer the member to the response provided for S6W-27206 on 13 May 2024. 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 .

Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has confirmed that each prison cell must be of an adequate size, fitted with a means of communication with an officer and have a standard of cleanliness.

Further, each cell used to accommodate an individual must be adequately:

(a) lit by natural or artificial light;

(b) heated and ventilated; and

(c) furnished as is necessary and appropriate for the type of accommodation or area of the prison.

The management of the police custody suites is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. The Scottish Government supports His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ( HMICS ) and Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) to undertake joint inspections across Police Scotland’s network of custody suites to ensure the safety of these facilities.

Where recommendations have been made, Police Scotland, working with health partners as appropriate, work to address these quickly and effectively.

The Scottish Government remains committed to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030. We are scaling up our efforts and annual rates of restoration are increasing.

Forestry and Land Scotland commissioned research that identified five potential additional sites for the translocation of beavers to Scotland’s national forests in 2024.

As of 1 May 2024, there were 732,654 cardholders under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. The following table shows the number of cardholders broken down to local authority level.

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

I refer the member to the response provided for S6W-27206 on 13 May 2024.

Annual cell certification checks are also undertaken by Estates personnel regarding the physical maintenance of prison cells.

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 .

Between October 2023 and January 2024, the following beavers were translocated to the following locations on Scotland's National Forests and Land by Forestry and Land Scotland:

Knapdale – Two beavers into Loch Laraiche;

Knapdale – One beaver into Loch Linne;

Knapdale – Two beavers into Creige Moire;

Knapdale – Two beavers into Lochan Buic.

Loch Kinardochy – Two beavers.