Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network in August 2022 to review oncology capacity and demand and consider development of a national plan. This work was completed in January 2023.

In collaboration with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), and other key justice organisations, we are taking action to tackle the rising prison population.

Prison will always be necessary for those who pose a risk of harm or threaten the delivery of justice. Equally, the Scottish Government is committed to shifting the balance between the use of custody and justice in the community. The budget for 2024-25 includes an additional £14m in support for community justice services and ongoing work to further enable a shift away from the use of custody, bringing the total to £148m. This will support work to strengthen alternatives to remand and the provision of community sentences and interventions, which we know can be more effective in reducing reoffending and assisting with rehabilitation than short-term custodial sentences, leading to fewer victims and safer communities.

To date we have taken action such as the extension of the presumption against short sentences from three months or less to twelve months or less, to enable a further shift away from short custodial sentences, and introduced the use of electronic monitoring on bail. We have established a Prison Population Leadership Group, engaging a range of Justice partners, to further consider the challenges and mitigations associated with the rising prison population.

SPS is taking forward action to respond to the pressures caused by the rising prison population and remains committed to prioritising the health and wellbeing of staff and those living in prison. It is keeping its current population management strategy under review in order to accommodate the rising prisoner numbers. It is also taking forward a range of proposals to optimise the current prison estate which has already seen the transfer of male prisoners into accommodation previously housing women at HMP Edinburgh and the transfer of robustly risk assessed adult male prisoners to HMP&YOI Polmont.

It is well established that some occupations are restricted by capacity and age due to the physical demands of those roles, making it untenable to expect them to be carried out until the State Pension Age. This was recognised by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 which set a pension age of 60 for firefighters, police officers and the armed forces.

Prison officers do not have a dedicated pension scheme as they are members of the Civil Service pension scheme, which is a reserved matter for the UK Government. The Scottish Government has raised concerns with the UK government regarding the requirement for prison officers to carry out frontline operational duties including control and restraint until the age of 68. We have always accepted that some jobs are restricted by capacity and age, and need to be viewed and treated as such.

The Scottish Government and SPS both duly recognise that prison officers work in a very challenging environment and are committed to a person centred approach to all employees and their circumstances.

As required by Section 103 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, the next report to the Scottish Parliament on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will be published in 2024. The Scottish Government intends to publish the next report in December 2024. Reporting occurs in a 6-year cycle. The last report was published in December 2018, and is available here: Marine Protected Area Network - 2018 Report to the Scottish Parliament - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Routine monitoring is not carried out in all Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The Scottish MPA Monitoring Strategy sets out a framework for a risk-based approach to planning and prioritising monitoring activities. Prioritisation of MPA monitoring effort is guided by principles defined in the strategy. These principles firstly identify target features based on criteria including risk from negative impacts, importance within Scotland and functional importance within the ecosystem. Additionally, location of monitoring is prioritised using criteria including site management characteristics, covering feature geographical range and existing data availability.

Evidence-gathering in accordance with the principles of the strategy is then carried out by government, agencies, academics and often supported by citizen science projects. This information underpins assessment and reporting obligations, as well as enabling monitoring of the ecological benefits the network provides.

The annexes to the MPA Monitoring Strategy are regularly updated with details of recent and upcoming surveys. The latest update detailing plans for surveying in the next two years will be available soon on the Scottish Government website: MPA monitoring strategy - Marine environment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Government does not fund North East Edinburgh Counselling Service directly from its mental health programme budget, therefore no objectives have been set.

Engagement between Scottish Enterprise and Gibson's Engineering Ltd led to a Business Gateway referral in 2022. In addition, the Find Business Support website ( findbusinesssupport.gov.scot ) provides information on the advice and funding offered by Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway and I would encourage Gibson’s Engineering to consider the full range of support available.

Specialist support is also available through the Rail Cluster, an initiative designed and funded by Scottish Enterprise and Transport Scotland which is being delivered by Scottish Engineering. The aim is to connect Scottish SMEs with the country’s top manufacturing innovators and supply chain partners to help deliver the decarbonisation of Scotland’s railways. I understand that Gibson’s Engineering has already engaged with the Rail Cluster.

A significant amount of work is still required to make Section 8 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 law. Transport Scotland Officials are currently progressing work to determine the scope of the required public consultation which will help inform the secondary legislation required to bring this into force.

The Gender Equality Taskforce in Education & Learning developed a set of ambitions in order to help inform its work, including consideration of the optimum way in which to deliver these ambitions, including through the establishment of working groups. Since then, discussion and work has been ongoing to refine the workplan, to ensure that it is able to enact the type of long term, complex, systemic change that is needed. I am committed to continuing and accelerating such work to ensure that girls and young women have a gender equal experience of education and learning.

The Scottish Government recognise the importance of gender-competent school estate planning.

The guiding principles within our Learning Estate Strategy, which was produced in collaboration with COSLA and sets out our strategic approach for managing the learning estate, makes clear that learning environments should support the wellbeing of all learners. Furthermore, it states that good consultation about learning environments, direct engagement with learners about their needs and experiences, and an involvement in decision making processes should lead to better outcomes for all.

It is the statutory responsibility of all Local Authorities to manage their school estate and the Scottish Government expects them to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all school users.