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It is vital the public have confidence in policing. Vetting is a key strand in providing that assurance and we welcome the publication of the HMICS assurance review of vetting policy and procedures within Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government notes that work is already underway within Police Scotland to address the report’s recommendations for improvement. Since 2021, Police Scotland has introduced an additional vetting check just prior to new police officers taking their oath of office. Furthermore, as part of the UK wide integrity screening exercise earlier this year, Police Scotland has checked every officer and member of staff against the criminal records database and against their own vulnerable persons database. They have also committed to introducing a rolling programme to review vetting clearances, later this year.

The Scottish Government is committed to exploring the legislative basis for vetting, as per recommendation one of the HMICS review. The Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) Scotland Bill, introduced to Parliament in June 2023, will further improve police complaint and misconduct systems and processes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22110 on 30 October 2023. 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 .

HMP Highland will expand provision of custodial services available within local community and reduce reliance on accommodation in other locations. Its completion will allow the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to better serve the local community, meet the needs of people in their care and support staff.

Enabling work commenced on site in 2021-2022 and further advance works have been carried out during 2022-23 and are continuing into 2023-24. Work has completed on site with the archaeologists finding significant evidence of roundhouses. Site clearing and substantial ground work is complete for the ground source heating system. An advance work contract was awarded to secure the perimeter concrete panels, which are now being installed, as well as the modular cells.

The March 2023 update to the Infrastructure Investment Plan sets out that HMP Highland is estimated to cost £139.5m and construction completion estimated in spring 2025. These time-scales and costs will be updated when the main construction contract is awarded late 2023/early 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18928 on 21 June 2023. 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 .

The survey by the Royal College of Psychiatrists describes some of the issues with current mental health service provision that we are working hard to improve. The recent Audit Scotland report concluded that our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy "recognises the importance of a whole system approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing and provides a foundation for better joint working ". The Mental Health Strategy Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan will be published in the coming weeks, and these will set out the actions we intend to take to address many of the issues across the whole system.

We fully agree with the conclusion in Audit Scotland’s report that our focus cannot just be on access to specialist services for mental health. As well as many other key pieces of work, our commitment to this is shown by:

• Our investment of £51m in the adult Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund since 2021. Approximately 3,300 grants were made to local organisations across Scotland in its first two years.
• Our continuing national roll-out of our Distress Brief Intervention programme.
• Our ongoing investment (£4.4m in 2022/23) in NHS 24’s Mental Health Hub, which continues to receive approx. 2,500 calls a week.

To support the range of help available, mental health spending has doubled in cash terms from £651m to £1.3bn since 2007.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table shows the number of breaches of discipline where an individual had in his or her possession, or used, an authorised personal communication device which was not provided by the Governor for use by that prisoner, up to and including 31 July 2023, the date in which the provision was withdrawn:

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo handled by Clydeport.

Available information regarding waterborne freight at Scottish ports can be found in chapter 9 of the Scottish Transport Statistics publication: https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/statistics/#42763 .

I am pleased to announce that the successful Learning Estate Investment Programme Phase 3 projects are as follows:

1. Hazlehead Academy (Aberdeen City)

2. Mull Campus (Argyll and Bute)

3. Lochies ASN School (Clackmannanshire)

4. Lenzie Academy (East Dunbartonshire)

5. Carrongrange ASN School extension (Falkirk)

6. Forres Academy (Moray)

7. Chryston High School extension (North Lanarkshire)

8. Kirkwall ASN Centre (Orkney)

9. Brae Campus (Shetland)

10. Riverside and Letham Primary School (West Lothian)

I am grateful for all the bids that local authorities submitted. This newest phase of investment through our Learning Estate Investment Programme will continue to support local authorities, who maintain statutory responsibility for the school estate, to build modern, state of the art, learning environments.

The decision will mean that every local authority which has submitted a bid through the Learning Estate Investment Programme has now received funding for a project in Phases 1, 2 or 3.

The £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme follows on from the successful £1.8 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, which delivered 117 new or refurbished learning facilities across Scotland.

As a direct result of Scottish Government investment, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 61% in April 2007 to 90.7% in April 2023.

We will now take forward further engagement and collaboration with COSLA to explore how we can address the remaining sub-standard condition schools, and schools required due to population growth, which remain a priority for local authorities across the country.

Publication of the 2022-23 edition of the Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland statistics has been postponed from November 2023 to March 2024. As outlined within the previous 2021-22 publication, Scottish Government statisticians are undertaking work with Police Scotland to review the methodology for the production of these official statistics, to determine if any future changes in approach could add value. The short postponement of the publication allows us additional time to complete this exercise. We will keep users updated with any new developments via ScotStat and any changes will be highlighted within the next bulletin.

The pandemic and the subsequent pressures on the court system and justice partners arising from the backlog of cases it created, has impacted on the implementation timetable for the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019. We are working with partners and stakeholders through a cross sector implementation group to update the implementation plan and have committed to publish by the end of March 2024.