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In the illicit supply of substances, it is quite correct that it is less about hooch, as Mr MacGregor said, and much more about the very dangerous synthetic opioids that are making their way into our prisons and having an impact on the prison population, similar to what is happening in the community.

Nonetheless, alcohol remains a feature in offending behaviour. There are people who are poorly on admission to prison because they are not getting access to alcohol, and there might also be issues to do with withdrawal and people who will need care and treatment as a result. If alcohol is a factor in someone’s offending behaviour, they will benefit from access to the recovery community or other rehabilitative-type opportunities related to their offending behaviour.

It is not that alcohol is not an issue, because if it was an issue for an individual in the community, it is an issue in prison. There is then a risk that needs to be addressed while in custody and that needs to feature in any release planning for that individual. That might be in the conditions that the Parole Board sets or in the more detailed throughcare planning that takes place for individuals.

In general terms, the health and welfare of prison staff is a matter that I discuss with the chief executive of the Prison Service. It is a matter that she raises with me. It is a factor in the issues around overcrowding and staff resilience, for example. The specific issue that you raise is, of course, a purely operational matter, but I know that there are very specific procedures and guidance for staff when they have to have contact with a prisoner when fumes or illicit drugs are involved, because one of the issues with those novel substances is that they can be absorbed by the skin. There are procedures around when to engage in those circumstances, and there are procedures around how that should be approached and the equipment that is required. I can ask the Prison Service to supply me and the committee with a more detailed account of the specific procedures that are in place.

It is an important point that speaks to the change and increasing challenge associated with drugs. It is not just about people ingesting something into their body that has an impact on their behaviour. It is about the ingestion of substances that have a direct bearing on the health and wellbeing of prison officers. I have certainly had constituency cases raised with me about the impact on prison staff and on their health of being in close proximity to fumes and so on.

That is an operational matter, and I am not sure that you necessarily want a politician or former social worker to talk in detail about the exact training that should be given to prison officers. That said, I have visited the SPS college and had the pleasure of meeting new recruits on more than one occasion. What I have observed is that the Prison Service is certainly recruiting a greater diversity of people, by which I mean people from different backgrounds. As you would anticipate, the Prison Service often attracts people who have worked in the military, but I have observed that there is a growing number of people who have worked in the care sector or with children, and I think that that blend is quite important.

The old terminology—this is very outdated language, so I apologise—was that, for criminal justice social work and the Prison Service, it was about care and control. These are controlling institutions, but it is also about the care that is provided, so people need to be safe and secure. Prison officers need to be able to prevent violence, but they also need to be able to respond to violence.

I have also seen mock operations to train prison officers to deal with disruption. The SPS has a facility, which, by chance, is in my constituency, in Fauldhouse, where more operational and tactical training is provided. That is part of the on-going training and development of officers who are given specialist training, because some officers will carry out specialist roles, should that be required, in the prison that they work in or in another prison.

The training is always evolving. For example, the SPS has developed pain-free control and restraint, which came about through its work with and concern about young people. That training has attracted a lot of attention internationally, and that matter is kept under review.

I am very cognisant of the demands on Prison Service staff and of the strains and stresses that they experience, which is probably putting it mildly. We must have acuity with regard to ensuring that we retain experienced staff, because the mix of old and new is really important. I do not imagine that this will surprise colleagues, but the number of prison officers has increased. There is often much talk about the public sector workforce, and rightly so—this is a workforce that has increased from 3,462 prison officers in 2023-24 to 3,797 today.

Of course. Anyone with an interest is welcome to respond to the consultation. It launched on 28 August, the same day that the draft SSI was published. On the Scottish Government citizen space website, there is the draft SSI and text to explain the small number of policy choices that have been made. My officials proactively sent that information to bodies on the hate crime strategic partnership group and those who had responded to the consultation on the proposed misogyny bill.

I appreciate the question. I will not rehearse the arguments that were made at the time when the hate crime legislation was passed; I was not prepared to leave a gap in the law and in existing hate crime legislation for women. That does not mean that a future Government will not take forward a misogyny bill but, right here and now, I have come to the conclusion that, to put it bluntly, I am not having a gap in the law for women. That is my straightforward view.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 deliberately left a power to address the issue. The definition of sex fits well with the hate crime framework, in that it minimises any overlap with other characteristics, although there is always the potential for overlap. At the end of the day, it felt to me as though the gap that had been left was not justifiable, and I wanted to address it before the end of the parliamentary session.

Misogyny legislation differs from hate crime legislation in that the former is specifically gendered legislation and is a more nuanced approach. Baroness Kennedy led some excellent work to lay out the extent of the misogyny and harassment that women face in this country, if anyone was in any doubt about that.

It is complex legislation—I wish it was not thus, but it is. When 16 Scottish Government bills and 15 members’ bills are still to come to a conclusion before purdah, there is a practical reality that is regrettable. I do not think that Baroness Kennedy’s work in the area will be lost. In my view, there is an opportunity for us to strengthen the law with the SSI, and it is important that we do it because, I repeat, I am not having a gap in the law for women.

In short, yes. The hate crime legislative framework is a proven model for providing legal protections. Although there might be a range of views on the approach that was taken, or, indeed, on our not being able to progress with the misogyny bill, I am taking some comfort from the recognition that there is a gap in hate crime legislation and that it needs to be addressed. Of course, it is never as simple as just slotting things in. Philip, would you like to speak to that, since you have done the slotting in?

Of course, because these are serious, important and sensitive matters that are not without their complexity. Given the journey that we have travelled with hate crime law and its implementation, I do not expect to need to resolve any further knotty issues, but we will continue to engage with Police Scotland. I also have a series of engagements with other parties, some of which you have mentioned, that are understandably disappointed that the misogyny bill is not proceeding at this time.

I will briefly add to that. It is of fundamental importance to me, particularly as the chair of the cross-Government ministerial group, to knit together that collaboration between our national health service and the work that the Scottish Prison Service facilitates.

The committee will have heard me say before that, irrespective of where a citizen is residing, whether that is in the community or in custody, the equivalency of service and support in healthcare is imperative.

There are obvious changes and demands in and around delivering services in the context of safe and secure prisons, but, with regard to that collaborative work, what is being rolled out now is an improved healthcare referrals process. There is a revised memorandum of understanding between the Prison Service and the NHS. Crucially—and this is important in relation to the multi-agency working that Ms Todd referred to—more joint training is now taking place between the Prison Service and the NHS. That may sound like a technical point in relation to a target operating model, but I cannot, for a minute, underestimate the importance of getting consistency in the delivery of healthcare to our prisoners at a national level.

Actually, Mr Kerr, I answered your question when I said that I was intensively engaged with the Scottish Prison Service. That work will be built on through engagement with trade unions, victim support organisations and other justice partners. If further measures are necessary, I will, as I have always done, communicate them to Parliament as a whole and explain any action that I believe is required and why that action is necessary at any point in time.

They do, Mr Kerr, and I hope that you will hang on to that thought, particularly when the sentencing and penal policy commission reports later in the year.