There has been no reduction to Scottish Water’s budget. The Scottish Government Budget for 2024-25 sets out that during the financial year, the Scottish Government intends to lend £170m per annum in capital funding and to receive some £105.5m income per annum which is the interest on loans issued to Scottish Water. Across the 2021-27 period Ministers have committed to lend Scottish Water up to £1.03bn. Lending in future years will be agreed in future Budget Acts.

The quoted reduction of £1.1m is for the Water Industry portfolio. This reflects additional income from interest payments made by Scottish Water as well as a reduction in spend on some Hydro Nation activity. The impact is outlined in the answer to S6W-24199.

There is no single crime of animal cruelty and such crimes are identified differently in the annual National Statistics publications on Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland . These publications are based on separate and unlinked data sets and cannot be considered as proportions of each other.

Recorded Crime in Scotland is based on a count of crimes reported to Police Scotland. The year is based on when any crime(s) were reported to police. Animal cruelty offences are only identifiable at crime level and the most recent publication covers the 2022-23 financial year.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland is based on a count of people proceeded against in court. A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime and multiple people may be proceeded against for the same crime. Only the main charge is counted in the statistics. The main charge is the one that conveys the most severe penalty and the year is based on the date when proceedings concluded in court. This can be in a later year than when any crime(s) were reported to Police Scotland. Animal cruelty offences are identified at charge level and the most recent publication covers the 2021-22 financial year.

Both data sets cover the animal cruelty crimes of:

• Cruelty to animals (ex dogs) inc killing and maiming cattle
• Cruelty to dogs
• Cruelty to wild animals
• Hunting with dogs

Note: Criminal proceedings data does not distinguish between these first two crimes and they are presented as a single total in the prosecuted and convicted following tables.

Criminal proceedings additionally covers parts of the following crimes:

• Animals, offences involving (ex dogs, birds elswhr classfd) – specifically where the main charge fell under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 Section 23(1)(A), 23(2), 23(4) or 24
• Pet and kept animals– specifically where the main charge fell under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 Section 20(1)(A)
• Sea fisheries offences– specifically where the main charge fell under Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 Section 107

Table: Crimes of animal cruelty reported to Police Scotland, by crime type, 2012-13 to 2022-23

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-24538 and S6W-24539 on 26 January 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 .

We have committed to developing a ‘Percentage for the Arts’ scheme in ‘A Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan’. We are in the initial stages of scoping this commitment and we will share more information on progress in due course.

The percentage increase cited above is taken to be from the latest National Statistics on the prison population published in December 2023. These state that “The (average daily) population serving index sentences of one year or less increased by around 6% from 921 in 2021-22 to 972 in 2022-23.”

Caution is advised when using this data to examine the sentence length. The National Statistics provide index sentence length only. Where an individual in custody is serving multiple custodial sentences, the index sentence is the single longest sentence to be served. The overall length of the sentence to be served may be longer than the index sentence length. Further information on why this measure is used in the National Statistics is available in the accompanying Technical Manual ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-prison-population-statistics/pages/cellwise-data-construction/#index-sentence-derivation ).

Overall sentence length is published in the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Monthly Data Report ( https://www.gov.scot/collections/justice-analytical-services-safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-reports/ ).

In relation to the extension to the presumption against short term sentences in 2019, we are continuing to monitor the ongoing effect. However, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on the justice system has made it difficult to separate the impact of the pandemic from the effects of the extension to date.

There is however a clear longer term trend away from shorter sentences. The latest National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland show that 83% of custodial sentences were 12 months or less in 2012-13, declining to 73% in 2021-22. The largest fall in the use of short term sentences was between 2018-19 and 2019-20, with a four percentage point reduction, which may be associated with the extension of the presumption to one year.

It should be noted, however, that the presumption is not a ban, and decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent courts, taking into consideration all the relevant facts and circumstances.

The Regional Early Years Speech and Language Leads will work alongside the Regional Improvement Collaboratives and across local services and agencies to encourage the development of a sustainable whole systems approach to improving children’s speech, language and communication outcomes from pre-birth to school entry. They will work together to connect partners, develop and share resources and expertise, and maximise opportunities to support children’s speech, language and communication development.

Orders for Lifelong Restriction (OLRs) are a long-standing valuable sentencing option for courts to use for the most dangerous offenders. The OLR is an exceptional risk based sentence which is only used by the most senior judges in Scotland in the High Court following a risk assessment process carried out by accredited experts.

In order for the High Court to impose an OLR, they must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the nature of, or the circumstances of the commission of, the offence of which the convicted person has been found guilty - either in the circumstances themselves or as part of a pattern of behaviour - are such as to demonstrate that there is a likelihood that he or she, if at liberty, will seriously endanger the lives, or physical or psychological well-being, of members of the public at large.

Decisions on the release of OLR prisoners are taken by the Parole Board for Scotland. New rules were introduced last year which require that the latest Risk Management Plan (RMP) or the Risk Assessment Report is available to the Board when consideration is made for the release of a person subject to an OLR. The Board will only direct release when they are satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public but in circumstances where their decision differs from the recommendations in the RMP, they must provide a reason for that decision.

The Risk Management Authority (RMA) have a legislative responsibility around the evaluation and approval of RMPs and can make recommendations around the role of social work and psychologists involved in those cases. The RMA have produced evidence-based Standards and Guidelines for Risk Assessment and Management to support criminal justice partners in consistent risk practice. Last year, they also published extensive research into the Order for Lifelong Restriction sentence, a report which is available on their website, and the Scottish Government continues to reflect on these findings.

Professional standards bodies such as the Scottish Social Services Council sets out national standards of conduct and practice that apply to all social service workers and their employers.

Over the last few years, there have been changes to pilot delivery of two new national offender programmes, an expanded Self-Change programme to address intimate partner violence and sexual offending and a redesigned Moving Forward to Change (MF2C) sex offender programme. It is expected that MF2C will support a greater throughput of prisoners through the programme, optimising access to it.

Future funding for the for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults will be subject to the annual budget process and approval by the Scottish Parliament. We expect to confirm funding as soon as possible thereafter.

The Scottish Government provides annual funding towards the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF), administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), to enable libraries to undertake a wide range of pioneering initiatives within communities.

The following table provides a breakdown of the PLIF funding allocated to libraries since 2013-14.

We are in the initial stages of scoping the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Culture Partnership Agreement, which will require extensive collaboration with COSLA.

We will be able to share more information on this work in the months following the Cultural Value Summit, which will take place in 2024.