Chamber and committees

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

The health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons is a key priority for the Scottish Prison Service.

Investment in technologies such as Rapiscan machines, now available in every prison, and the recent purchase of 9 new Body Scanners, further enhance a comprehensive range of security measures already deployed by the SPS to detect illegal substances. We are also piloting Drone Detection technology to help detect and prevent the introduction of illicit articles and substances through this channel.

By working closely with partners such as Police Scotland, SPS must and does remain vigilant to the continuously evolving nature of drug use to ensure use of technology and tactical measures remain current, adaptable, and capable of detecting and preventing drugs from entering our prisons.

SPS will continue to work with partners to prevent the introduction of contraband and seek convictions where appropriate.

SPS also continue to advise staff on safety and risk assessment processes in conducting their duties, to minimise the impact and risk of exposure to any unknown hazardous substance.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of the Sands Listening Project: Learning from the experiences of Black and Asian bereaved parents report as an important addition to the landscape of confidential enquiries, audits and other reports that inform the work already underway to address racialised inequalities in maternity. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24319 on 29 January 2024 which outlines this programme of work. 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 .

We have committed to a £1.8 billion investment over the course of this parliamentary term to make our homes warmer, greener and more efficient. This includes an allocation of £350m to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures in 2023-24, including £119m targeted at fuel poor households. This is delivered through two long-standing energy efficiency programmes – the Area Based Schemes and Warmer Homes Scotland - that have already supported over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty.

In addition, since the winter of 2020 the Scottish Government has allocated funding for the Fuel Insecurity Fund which has been providing support to households who were at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing their energy use. Further funding has been allocated for wider fuel poverty action. Among other things, this budget line has supported the costs of the previous non-statutory Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel and our current statutory, Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel.

The following table sets out the allocations towards tackling fuel poverty across the consecutive years from 2020-21 to the draft Budget for 2024-25:

Based on the latest publication of National Statistics on the prison population, the average age of individuals spending any time in prison in 2022-23 was 37.4 years.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-prison-population-statistics-2022-23/pages/individuals-experiencing-imprisonment/

The Scottish Government continues to improve provision of maternity and neonatal services through implementation of The Best Start: A Five Year forward plan for Maternity and Neonatal care in Scotland.

We receive regular reporting from Health Boards stating they have accommodation provisions in place to support and meet the needs of the parents.

With the announcement of the new model of neonatal care the Scottish Government have commissioned RSM UK to provide detailed analysis of the capacity requirements associated with the new model.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the local economic impact of road closures. The impact of closing a road due to a collision depends on the specific circumstances such as the collision location, the time of day, the duration of the closure and any diversion route.

At a more general level, the Department for Transport has estimated the values assigned to the cost of road casualties and collisions in Great Britain, for use in cost-benefit analysis of the prevention of road casualties and collisions in road schemes. This information is used in the assessment of road schemes in Scotland via Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and is published in Transport Scotland’s annual Reported Road Casualties publication: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2022/table-9a-b/

The OBC indicates a total of 472 total beds. In addition to 92 assessment and observation beds the breakdown is as follows:

The wrasse fishing season is open from 1 May to 30 November, so at present no vessels hold a derogation giving permission from Scottish Ministers to fish for wild wrasse. Applications are assessed on a year by year basis, and do not automatically carry over. In the 2023 season, 67 vessels were issued with a derogation and of those 51 used creels to fish for other species at some point over the course of 2023.

One of the key priorities identified in Our Past, Our Future, Scotland’s revised historic environment strategy which was commissioned by Scottish Ministers, is “Delivering the transition to net zero.” Actions identified to deliver this priority include improving the delivery of heritage skills training by revising and expanding the Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s historic environment to identify the opportunities and actions needed to create a sustainable skills ecosystem. And also improving and enhancing the research and development infrastructure for heritage in Scotland by creating new national centres for skills and innovation.

The Scottish Government delivers support for the historic environment through its sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland, along with key partners, have consulted with 340 individuals and 160 organisations as part of the refresh of the Skills Investment Plan which is due to be published in April this year. As part of this refresh, a net zero roundtable was held on the 26 October 2023 to specifically look at the priority actions needed to support a skilled workforce to deliver the transition to net zero.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland published a new report which has assessed the known investment, the skills demand now and in the future, and current training and learning support for green skills in Scotland. This report is available at https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/news-events/2023/november/90-billion-of-investment-in-green-industries-signals-need-for-net-zero-skills .

We are also continuing to effectively integrate sustainability and green skills into apprenticeships in Scotland to ensure the system remains flexible and relevant as we transition to net zero.

Scottish Government are in regular dialogue with NHS Boards and senior leaders on their community nursing services, including health visiting. Scottish Government policy officials are a member of the Health Visitor Leads Network which meets bi-monthly and includes representation from all of Scotland’s territorial Health Boards. The last meeting was held on 16 January 2024.

In addition, Scottish Government policy officials are undertaking bilateral meetings with all Health Boards, between November 2023 and March 2024, to discuss their health visiting services and the outcomes of the recent Evaluation of the Universal Health Visiting Pathway:

Universal Health Visiting Pathway evaluation - phase 1: main report - primary research with health visitors and parents and case note review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .