Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provided a one-off payment to college and university student associations as an exceptional measure to provide additional mental health and wellbeing support to students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

£730,250 was provided to the Scottish Funding Council in financial year 2020-21 to allocate to college and university students’ associations. The University of St Andrews Students’ Association received £16,000 of this funding.

Further details on the purpose and use of this funding can be found at: https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/announcements/2021/SFCAN012021.aspx

Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association was awarded funding from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to support their Keeping Warm Project and mental health training.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults is distributed in all 32 regions of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations who, working in collaboration with other local partners, are responsible for allocating the funding to local community initiatives which support mental health and wellbeing. This is based on local needs and in line with national criteria issued by Scottish Government.

The grant terms and conditions relating to this funding to Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association are determined by Highland Third Sector Interface

The Scottish Government does not fund Moray Mental Health directly from its mental health programme budget, therefore no objectives have been set.

STPR2 is a long term framework for transport infrastructure, to drive the capital investment decisions for our strategic transport system. It presents the Strategic Business Case for its recommendations, which each in turn will require their own development for delivery. The focus of Recommendation 40 is on improving the safety, resilience and reliability on the A75 and the A77, with Cuckoo Bridge noted as an example location for this.

Transport Scotland is currently developing proposals for safety improvements at the Cuckoo Bridge Roundabout, this includes partial signalisation and active travel improvements. The delivery of these will be subject to available funding being in place.

Data is not held centrally specifically on intentional paracetamol overdose . However, the following table shows the most recent data on inpatient and day-case admissions to hospital as a result of intentional paracetamol poisoning, which includes overdose cases.

STPR2 is a long term framework for transport infrastructure, to drive the capital investment decisions for our strategic transport system. It presents the Strategic Business Case for its recommendations, which each in turn will require their own development for delivery. As STPR2 recommends, the focus of Recommendation 40 is on improving the safety, resilience and reliability on the A77, in turn supporting placemaking opportunities, providing more resilient connections to the ports at Cairnryan.

This would include, but is not limited to, improving junctions, enhancing overtaking opportunities with wide single carriageway, two plus one road layout schemes or climbing lanes at appropriate locations where slow moving traffic leads to risky overtaking manoeuvres, and widening or realigning carriageways to alleviate ‘pinch points’ such as narrow structures or at stretches of older standard single carriageway.

Given that this is a long term investment programme, some elements will not commence immediately and are subject to suitable resources and funding being in place.

Our ongoing commitment to the A77 is demonstrated through our continued investment in the operation and maintenance of the trunk road network. An example of which is our ongoing work with communities in Ballantrae and Kirkoswald on the A77 to address concerns with speeding traffic, noise and lack of pedestrian crossing facilities.

More widely, major resurfacing schemes have recently completed on the A77 at Glen App and around Turnberry and there are plans for further work between Dutch House and Symington; South of Ballantrae and at Stinchar Bridge which will include replacement of the bridge parapets. This is line with the STPR2 Recommendation 32 which stresses the importance of renewing existing infrastructure in order to keep the network reliable and resilient for all road users.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25038 on 26 February 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 .

Running a time-limited pilot of judge-only rape trials was a recommendation of the cross-sector review led by Lady Dorrian, Scotland’s second most senior judge, on improving the justice system in the way it responds to serious sexual offending.

The pilot is part of a package of reforms in the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill that is currently being considered by the Criminal Justice Committee. The Committee has heard a range of views including from some of the most senior, qualified and respected legal voices in the country who have spoken in support of the pilot. Strong support for the pilot has also been voiced by victim support organisations and justice agencies, such as the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

I held a programme of meetings with the legal profession in 2023 to hear their views on the pilot first-hand, and to invite them to work with the Scottish Government as plans for the pilot develop. As I emphasised to the Committee on 7 February, the Scottish Government will work to build consensus as it progresses the pilot and will continue to listen to the voices of partners from across the justice system, as well as, importantly, victims.

The purpose of the pilot is to gather empirical evidence on the most effective way to respond to rape and attempted rape cases. This includes exploring whether changing the decision maker from juries to a judge improves complainers’ experiences (for example, by resulting in shorter, more focussed trials that could minimise re-traumatisation) and whether it removes barriers to victims accessing justice. Judges will be required to provide written reasons for verdicts in the pilot, which will increase transparency, safeguard the rights of accused people, and provide unparalleled insights into the issues, deliberations and challenges in these cases.

The 25-year contract for HMP Kilmarnock under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for a privately constructed and operationally managed prison expires on 16 March 2024. The decision to bring HMP Kilmarnock into public management and ownership and not to tender for a new private contract was taken in 2021. This decision was based on the Scottish Government policy, which has been in place since 2007, that prisons should be owned and managed by the public sector and public safety, rehabilitation and wellbeing should not be driven by private profit.

Procurement regulations mean that it was not possible to extend the existing contract. Scottish Government would have had to tender for the management of the prison, and for any expansion in capacity, if that had been the preferred option.

At no stage was there an offer of building a new houseblock at no cost to the public purse.

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

The complex characteristics of our prison population requires SPS to adopt an individualised approach to establishment regimes. Due to these variances, SPS does not record this information.