Chamber and committees

The independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has the operational responsibility for the collection of criminal fines in Scotland. On 17 October 2022, SCTS published their latest quarterly fines report. This report is an official statistics publication and uses a rolling three year collection rate which reflects that fines and financial penalties, by their nature, require time to pay. As such, using a full three year period containing both newer and older fines gives a more balanced view of collection rates.

The latest report indicated that the three year collection rate for all fine/penalty types showed improvement for both value and number when the figures as at 19 July 2022 are compared with 17 October 2022. For example, 86% of sheriff court fines were either paid or on track to be paid as at 17 October compared to 85% as at 19 July.

We welcome this improvement and support the efforts of SCTS to collect and enforce fines using all the available tools at their disposal.

Comprehensive data on the number of people accessing alcohol treatment services are not available.

Scottish Government is working to make alcohol treatment services more accessible to those who need them. An important part of this is by tackling stigma, to that end we will be publishing a Stigma Action Plan in early 2023.

We recognise the importance of residential rehabilitation being available to everybody who wants it - and for whom it is deemed to be clinically appropriate - at the time that they ask for it in every part of the country. That is why we have made £100 million available towards residential rehabilitation services and associated aftercare over this parliamentary term.

Alcohol treatment targets are being developed alongside stage two of the drugs targets implementation in 2024. This will ensure that people with problematic alcohol use continue to receive the same quality of care as those with problematic drug use.

Zero Waste Scotland sourced this information from SEPA’s waste data tool ( Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk) , to which their researchers applied a compositional analysis to provide the detail found in the table.

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 provides for an offence of abuse of a partner or ex-partner which criminalises psychological, as well as physical, abuse. The definition of abuse includes a course of behaviour which is abusive and which has as its purpose, or which a reasonable person would think would be likely to have the effect of:

• depriving the victim of, or restricting the victim's freedom of action; or
• making the victim dependent on or subordinate to, the perpetrator

As such, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence can be used to prosecute financial abuse. This could include cases where, as part of a course of abusive behaviour, the perpetrator deliberately withholds child maintenance payments from their ex-partner.

Decisions about what conduct is charged as an offence of abuse of a partner or ex-partner are a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, taking account of all the facts and circumstances of the particular case. The Scottish Government does not hold information about the details of individual charges and as such, it is not possible to say whether and to what extent deliberate non-payment of child maintenance has formed part of a charge for this offence.

At present, there is no deadline for unlocking the full £200 million investment ambition. However, it is anticipated that the first six Green Growth Accelerator (GGA) pathfinder projects will collectively unlock more than £50 million investment in low carbon infrastructure over the next two years.

The national strategy for 20 mph continues to make good progress with the Scottish Government supporting local authorities with an additional £1.4 million in funding to undertake the necessary assessments to identify the number of roads affected and the financial implications. This work is scheduled to conclude in Spring 2023 and will enable the multi-partner 20 mph Task Group to then scope the next steps and options for implementation.

Transport Scotland and local authority partners are also exploring the potential for some early adopter schemes. These would enable the Task Group to assess the opportunities, impacts and promotion of 20 mph limits ahead of the 2025 deadline.

In addition Transport Scotland is working with the Scottish Government Marketing and Insight Unit to develop a national campaign that will focus on promoting the benefits of lower speeds and encourage behaviour change pre and post implementation.

Further to our response to S6W-12054, the Scottish Government has the power to operate lifeline ferry services and has been doing so through the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract since 2007. We are currently considering the most appropriate route for continuity of these services supported by the engagement with local communities to be taken forward by the Chair of the Ferries Community Board in the near future and will provide further advice once our plans have been finalised.

There are currently three working groups, nine advisory groups and one that is both a working and advisory group within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio. These are as follows:

‎ Working Groups

‎ • Public Interest Journalism Working Group: Public Interest Journalism Working Group
‎ • Measuring Change Group: National Partnership for Culture: National Partnership for Culture: Workshop 4 – measuring change information paper - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

• Local and National Delivery Group – newly established working group to improve local and national government collaborative working on Culture. Terms of reference in development so not currently published.

‎ Advisory Groups

‎ • Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population: https://www.gov.scot/groups/migration-and-population-expert-advisory-group/

• The Global South Panel
‎ • Creative Industries Leadership Group: https://www.gov.scot/groups/creative-industries-leadership-group/
‎ • National Partnership for Culture: National Partnership for Culture - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

• Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel(SAFAP): SAFAP - Treasure Trove (treasuretrovescotland.co.uk)

• 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships Policy Advisory Group: Governance | 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships (cyclingworldchamps.com)

• Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG): Event Industry Advisory Group - Updates & Guidance | VisitScotland.org

• 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships Cabinet: Governance | 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships (cyclingworldchamps.com)

• Culture Convenors – group jointly chaired by SG and COSLA as described in the Culture Strategy: A Culture Strategy for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Both Advisory and Working Group

‎ • Scotland’s Historic Environment Forum (SHEF): https://www.historicenvironment.scot/media/8668/shef-290622-event-report.pdf

In addition to the groups listed above, Portfolio officials frequently meet with stakeholders across a number of other groups and one to one meetings.

Transport Scotland has not carried out such an analysis.

During the summer of 2022, a timetable with deployment of the mezzanine deck on specified sailings was implemented on the Uig-Tarbert/Lochmaddy route, maximising capacity within crew operating hours.

CalMac kept the route under review and has concluded that the demand in 2022 did not exceeded demand in 2019. There was a slight increase in average utilisation but there was unused capacity on the route.

The NDSP pilot is in the initial business case stage, with Police Scotland currently looking at the internal processing, handling and storage of digital images and how that best fits with current and projected processes.

I have requested a meeting with Police Scotland to discuss progress on the pilot and would be happy to write to the member subsequently.