Chamber and committees

Decisions on whether individuals accused of criminal offences should be remanded in custody are for the independent court to make within the overall legal framework. For anyone held on remand, they can seek a bail review at any time so that their position is re-assessed by the court.

The number of individuals held on remand as a proportion of the overall prison population has increased during Covid-19 as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on the processing of criminal cases. A key reason why the Scottish Government has provided an additional £50 million to the justice system this year is so that criminal cases can be progressed, including for those on remand, and justice carried out in each case.

Prior to Covid-19, there were concerns about the use of remand within the justice system and the Scottish Government is committed to taking action to address this. This includes investing in robust alternatives to remand – specifically £550k in bail supervision and an additional £1.5m for bail support for women each year. This is in addition to the £117m annual investment in community justice services. We are also working with partners to implement electronically monitored bail across Scotland – providing a further monitoring capability for courts.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government and COSLA have been jointly responsible for the national Scottish Strategy for Autism to ensure people live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

In March 2021, Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published the “Towards Transformation” plan which reiterates our commitment to collaborate with delivery partners (including local authorities, the third sector and autistic led organisations) to reduce the inequalities experienced by autistic people.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are working with stakeholders, including HSCPs, Local Authorities, and people with lived experience on a new leadership structure to tackle the issues that people with learning disabilities and autistic people face. This new structure has lived experience at its heart.

Officials also regularly attend the Social Work Scotland Learning Disability and Autism sub group to engage with local learning disability and autism leads to share learning related to the Learning Disability and Autism strategies and to hear about local work.

The Scottish Government notes the recent calls for the International Criminal Court to recognise the destruction of nature, “ecocide”, as an international crime.

We are committed to maintaining high environmental standards and have put in place arrangements to establish Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) as the new governance body which has the ability to keep under review the implementation of international obligations relating to environmental protection legislation and advise the Government accordingly.

Data from Public Health Scotland shows the number of (a) children and (b) adults presenting with self-harming issues within Scottish NHS acute hospitals in each year from 2007 to 2020, broken down by calendar year of admission (inpatient data only). Figures for 2021 cannot be provided at this time.

Notes :

• The recording of data does not allow for a breakdown between NHS boards.
• There are some quality issues with this data set due to the recording of self-harm in Acute inpatient settings.
• Figures on self-harm presentations in Accident & Emergency departments, psychiatric inpatient hospitals and outpatients settings cannot be published at this time, due to data quality issues.
• Many people with self-harm related injuries are not treated as Acute inpatients, or do not present to NHS hospitals. Therefore, the data provided will likely be an undercount of self-harm related injuries in the period 2007-2020

The Scottish Government is actively working with partners to develop Scotland’s approach to self-harm; a commitment in the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. We recognise self harm behaviour is complex and often reflects underlying emotional distress. We commissioned Samaritans Scotland to undertake research in 2020 which resulted in the publication of ‘Hidden too long: uncovering self-harm in Scotland’ ( https://media.samaritans.org/documents/HiddenTooLong_uncoveringself-harminScotland.pdf ). Building on that research, our engagement with partners and people with lived experience will allow us to better understand the prevalence and nature of self-harm (and associated data requirements). Crucially, it will inform our approach to ensuring compassionate responses which effectively support individuals and families.

The success of our vaccination programme means we that from 19 July 2021 we started to change restrictions that apply to fully vaccinated travellers from Amber list. Initially this was applied to UK residents who have been vaccinated by the NHS, departure test before travel to the UK, and the day 2 PCR test once here, for detection and genomic sequencing.

From 2 August, fully-vaccinated passengers arriving from amber list countries in EU member states*, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, microstates of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, and the USA do not have to quarantine or take a day 8 test upon arrival in Scotland.

They have to carry with them a form of certification to provide details of their vaccine status. For US arrivals, this proof is a CDC card showing you are fully vaccinated, along with proof of residence in the US. All arrivals from Europe must show a record of vaccination through the European Digital COVID Certificate.

Amber arrivals who have been fully vaccinated must take a pre-departure test before arrival into Scotland, alongside a PCR test on or before day 2 after arrival.

The Programme Business Case which was published in February 2020 provides a full breakdown of implementation costs each year since Social Security Scotland was established. The link to the Executive Summary of the PBC can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-programme-business-case-executive-summary/ .

“This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days” .

Information on the numbers of people employed by Social Security Scotland is published quarterly and can be accessed using the following link:

Social Security Scotland - Social Security Scotland Workforce Information to March 2021 .

"This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days” .

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have already publicly outlined how they will look to manage the impact of COP26 on our Courts. While trials are suspended in the sheriff courts during COP26, the High Court trials will continue as programmed. However, given the proximity of the conference to Glasgow High Court and the potential for disruption, trials assigned for Glasgow during the two-week period from 1 November to 12 November will instead be heard at sheriff courts out with Glasgow. Similarly we have outlined how the additional £50m allocated towards the Justice Recover, Renew, and Transform (RRT) programme, will help drive further reform, including greater use of digital tools and improved support for victims and witnesses. We will also see an increased court capacity from September 2021, which includes the expansion of remote jury centres and a daily increase of 4 additional High Courts, 2 additional Sheriff Solemn Courts and up to 10 Sheriff Summary Courts, all of which will have a positive impact in addressing the case backlog as a consequence of the pandemic. It would be prudent to see how that significant development works in practice before considering what potential and broader impact of any further expansion thereafter might have across the Justice system.