Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24394 on 19 January 2024 which outlined the objectives of the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) programme and covers the 2019 period. 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 Scottish Government has provided no direct funding to the Al-Mahdi Foundation beyond the Climate Challenge Fund projects.

Representatives from Scottish Government, Petroineos and Unite the Union met on 18 January 2023 to during the Grangemouth Future Industry Board Industrial Leadership Forum discuss the future of the refinery.

For discussion topics I refer the member to the published minutes from this meeting.

The Culture and Creativity in Learning Group will support the delivery of the actions in the ‘Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan’, published in December 2023.

We are working closely with the Culture and Creativity in Learning Group in early 2024 to develop a shared workplan.

There is no record of funding being provided to Lesmahagow Parish Historical Association by the Cultural Access and Organisations Division of Scottish Government since 2019.

Scotland’s Market Framework for natural capital markets aims to guide the development of responsible, high-integrity and values led natural capital markets in Scotland by setting out a clear long-term vision, a policy framework and guidance for market participants.

There has been no reduction to Scottish Water’s budget. The Scottish Government Budget for 2024-25 sets out that during the financial year, the Scottish Government intends to lend £170m per annum in capital funding and to receive some £105.5m income per annum which is the interest on loans issued to Scottish Water. Across the 2021-27 period Ministers have committed to lend Scottish Water up to £1.03bn. Lending in future years will be agreed in future Budget Acts.

The quoted reduction of £1.1m is for the Water Industry portfolio. This reflects additional income from interest payments made by Scottish Water as well as a reduction in spend on some Hydro Nation activity. The impact is outlined in the answer to S6W-24199.

There is no single crime of animal cruelty and such crimes are identified differently in the annual National Statistics publications on Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland . These publications are based on separate and unlinked data sets and cannot be considered as proportions of each other.

Recorded Crime in Scotland is based on a count of crimes reported to Police Scotland. The year is based on when any crime(s) were reported to police. Animal cruelty offences are only identifiable at crime level and the most recent publication covers the 2022-23 financial year.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland is based on a count of people proceeded against in court. A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime and multiple people may be proceeded against for the same crime. Only the main charge is counted in the statistics. The main charge is the one that conveys the most severe penalty and the year is based on the date when proceedings concluded in court. This can be in a later year than when any crime(s) were reported to Police Scotland. Animal cruelty offences are identified at charge level and the most recent publication covers the 2021-22 financial year.

Both data sets cover the animal cruelty crimes of:

• Cruelty to animals (ex dogs) inc killing and maiming cattle
• Cruelty to dogs
• Cruelty to wild animals
• Hunting with dogs

Note: Criminal proceedings data does not distinguish between these first two crimes and they are presented as a single total in the prosecuted and convicted following tables.

Criminal proceedings additionally covers parts of the following crimes:

• Animals, offences involving (ex dogs, birds elswhr classfd) – specifically where the main charge fell under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 Section 23(1)(A), 23(2), 23(4) or 24
• Pet and kept animals– specifically where the main charge fell under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 Section 20(1)(A)
• Sea fisheries offences– specifically where the main charge fell under Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 Section 107

Table: Crimes of animal cruelty reported to Police Scotland, by crime type, 2012-13 to 2022-23

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-24538 and S6W-24539 on 26 January 2024. 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 .

We have committed to developing a ‘Percentage for the Arts’ scheme in ‘A Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan’. We are in the initial stages of scoping this commitment and we will share more information on progress in due course.

The percentage increase cited above is taken to be from the latest National Statistics on the prison population published in December 2023. These state that “The (average daily) population serving index sentences of one year or less increased by around 6% from 921 in 2021-22 to 972 in 2022-23.”

Caution is advised when using this data to examine the sentence length. The National Statistics provide index sentence length only. Where an individual in custody is serving multiple custodial sentences, the index sentence is the single longest sentence to be served. The overall length of the sentence to be served may be longer than the index sentence length. Further information on why this measure is used in the National Statistics is available in the accompanying Technical Manual ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-prison-population-statistics/pages/cellwise-data-construction/#index-sentence-derivation ).

Overall sentence length is published in the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Monthly Data Report ( https://www.gov.scot/collections/justice-analytical-services-safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-reports/ ).

In relation to the extension to the presumption against short term sentences in 2019, we are continuing to monitor the ongoing effect. However, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on the justice system has made it difficult to separate the impact of the pandemic from the effects of the extension to date.

There is however a clear longer term trend away from shorter sentences. The latest National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland show that 83% of custodial sentences were 12 months or less in 2012-13, declining to 73% in 2021-22. The largest fall in the use of short term sentences was between 2018-19 and 2019-20, with a four percentage point reduction, which may be associated with the extension of the presumption to one year.

It should be noted, however, that the presumption is not a ban, and decisions in individual cases are a matter for the independent courts, taking into consideration all the relevant facts and circumstances.