Chamber and committees

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s fourth thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also has a tracker showing what progress has been made.

This shows that 55 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 16 non-legislative recommendations still in progress and one to be kept under review.

Through their leadership and commitment, policing partners have delivered major business transformation and service redesign to improve how complaints are handled, bringing greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to systems, policies and processes.

Building on this and as announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will introduce a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary year to further strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805252610

The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with the culture sector, who have been clear that the impact of rising costs are significantly hampering their ability to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6O-01540 on 16 November 2022, which is available on the Parliament’s website Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament .

The Scottish Government’s ability to respond to the cost crisis is limited by the inactivity of the UK Government and the financial restrictions of devolution. The Scottish Government budget is largely fixed.

The Scottish Government will continue to urge the UK Government to take a different approach to public finances in order to ensure sufficient support is made available for Scotland’s culture sector.

The Scottish Government intends to lay an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument in January 2023 that will seek to amend The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022. Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament, this amendment will extend the deadline by which existing hosts must apply for a short-term let licence from 1 April 2023 to 1 October 2023.

This is a one-off 6 month extension recognising the wider economic circumstances of the cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses. It will not unduly delay our primary aim of ensuring that all short-term lets across Scotland meet consistent safety standards and are provided by fit and proper people.

Applications for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme can be made through getyournec.scot in all local authorities. Additionally, each local authority is responsible for providing alternative application route(s) for their residents.

The application routes for each local authority in the Highlands and Islands region are outlined in the following table.

A species control agreement (SCA) is a voluntary agreement between a relevant body and a land owner or manager. NatureScot has not issued any species control agreements within that period. Scottish Forestry has issued a single species control agreement for Rhododendron ponticum, while SEPA issued a species control agreement for North American signal crayfish in 2019. The Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) issued four species control agreements for Didemnum vexillium in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

A species control order (SCO) is a compulsory instrument which can be used to compel certain actions in regard to invasive non-native species and these may be used in situations where an SCA has failed. None of the relevant bodies have needed to make a species control order because there has never been a situation where an owner has failed to cooperate with a species control agreement.

Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2022-2028 were approved by Scottish Ministers in December 2021 and published by SEPA in January 2022. They coordinate the efforts of all organisations that tackle flooding to where the risk of flooding and benefits of investment are greatest. They state the objectives, as agreed by responsible authorities, for tackling floods in areas at risk of flooding. Actions that will then deliver these objectives are described and prioritised in six-year planning cycles.

The plans contain proposals for a number of new flood protection schemes. Local authorities are now in the process of preparing Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMPs) which are due to be published by the end of December 2022. The LFRMPs will provide more detail on how, and when, the actions set out in the Flood Risk Management Plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered.

Scottish Forestry is leading a review of the UK Forestry Standard in partnership with the other UK administrations. Stakeholders are currently being consulted on a revised draft of the Standard which includes a proposed reduction in the maximum threshold for use of a single species from 75% to 65%. This change will help enhance the resilience of Scotland’s forests to a changing climate and increasing threats of pest and diseases. It will not alter the balance of objectives and does not change the proportion of fast growing conifers that can be used.

We welcome the one-year update report from the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) on prison deaths and FAI outcomes in Scotland which will inform work across organisations to prevent deaths in custody and in relation to FAIs.

We are committed to making improvements to the response to, and experiences of, families impacted by a death in custody and to that end we have welcomed the recommendations from the Independent Review of the response to Deaths in Prison Custody and we are working with partners to implement these.

A dedicated Crown Office team was piloted from November 2021 under the umbrella of the Health and Safety Investigation unit to consolidate how we investigate deaths in custody and to make improvements to these processes. During the pilot period, the unit investigated deaths in custody with common underlying themes, namely drug deaths and deaths by suicide. Following a successful Pilot, the Custody Death Unit was established in August 2022 with a remit to investigate all deaths in legal custody occurring in Scotland after that date. It is anticipated that this holistic approach will streamline the approach to investigations resulting overall in a reduction to the journey time of cases whilst still ensuring a robust and through investigation. In addition, it is anticipated that the streamlined approach will allow for accelerated processes for particular categories of death and greater scope for conjoining FAIs which will further reduce the time taken to conclude these investigations.

Preventing suicide and supporting people who self-harm are key areas of focus for the Scottish Prison Service in developing its Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Prevention of Suicide in Prison Strategy aims to care for those ‘at risk’ of suicide by providing a person-centred care pathway based on an individual’s needs, strengths and assets and by promoting a supportive environment where people in SPS custody can ask for help.

In September, the Scottish Government and COSLA published Creating Hope Together - a new long term suicide prevention strategy for Scotland. Our vision is to reduce the number of suicide deaths in Scotland, whilst tackling the inequalities which contribute to suicide. The strategy sets out a new approach to reducing suicide in Scotland, targeting key settings where suicide risk is higher, such as prisons. We are now implementing the strategy and are working with partners across the criminal justice system.

In terms of the findings relating to Fatal Accident Inquiries, the Lord Advocate is constitutionally responsible for the investigation of sudden, unexpected and suspicious deaths in Scotland. These functions are exercised independently of government. Whether or not a recommendation is made at the end of an inquiry is a matter for the presiding Sheriff who has listened to all the evidence.

We keep matters in relation to FAIs and deaths in custody under review in consultation with the Crown Office and continually consider and evaluate whether there are ways in which the system can be improved further.

COPFS is committed to reducing the timescale for commencing FAIs, including those arising from deaths in custody, whilst ensuring that the circumstances surrounding each death are thoroughly investigated. COPFS has introduced a number of measures since the implementation of the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 to reduce the average time taken to complete FAIs.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring people get access to person-centred support that is tailored to their needs. Through working directly with a wide range of stakeholders, which encompasses both NHS directors as well as Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) service leads and third sector organisations, a range of work is underway to ensure that any person that presents at any service with a mental health or substance use issue is offered support and guidance throughout their treatment.

This includes the recent Rapid Review of Mental Health and Substance Use Services; the development and implementation of standards for adult secondary mental health services, alongside the Healthcare Improvement Scotland Pathfinder project to design new approaches to care for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues.

The recently published summary of the 2021-2022 ADP annual survey reported that, over nine in ten (92%) ADPs routinely offer mental health support for people who use drugs or alcohol.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities, health and social care partnerships and people with lived experience to improve services and outcomes for people.

A review of the Home Owners Support Fund (HOSF), of which Mortgage to Shared Equity is part, was commissioned in February 2022.

The review is wide ranging and will consider all aspects of the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MTSE) eligibility criteria including local authority property valuation thresholds and capital and equity limits.The work is being led by two full-time equivalent Scottish Government officials with support from other officials, including analysts, as required.

The main stages of the review include: identification of issues; information gathering and modelling; developing recommendations and implementation. Independent user research has been conducted with a number of key stakeholders, to identify areas of concern and gather information in relation to aspects of the process that are working well. This involved recent applicants to HOSF, registered social landlords and accredited Money Advisers from organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureaux, local authority Debt Advice services and law centres. Further consultation with stakeholders is ongoing and user testing is planned for later stages of the work.

The review will conclude in the spring of next year with implementation of any policy changes to take place thereafter.