Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36700

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering introducing legislative changes to enable individuals or families to pursue criminal justice where concerns have been raised that systemic failures in the prison estate have resulted in avoidable deaths.

Under Scots law, there are established legal avenues for addressing concerns arising from deaths in the prison estate.

The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 requires a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) to be held where the deceased was in legal custody at the time of death. This requirement arises unless the Lord Advocate is satisfied that the circumstances of the death have been sufficiently established during the course of another formal investigation, such as a criminal investigation. FAIs are designed to establish the circumstances of a death and to consider what steps might be taken to prevent other deaths in similar circumstances, including identifying any defects in systems or practices that contributed to the death.

Additionally, individuals employed by Crown bodies can be prosecuted for health and safety offences. There are also relevant statutory offences that could apply following a death in custody, most notably, corporate homicide under the UK-wide Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, for which the Scottish Ministers, via the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), could potentially be held criminally liable.

There are currently no plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area given the existing Parliamentary timetable.

In consultation with the Lord Advocate, I have commissioned an independent review of the FAI system to focus on improving the efficiency, effectiveness and trauma-informed nature of investigations into deaths in prison custody. The review will also identify the specific barriers that families face in engaging with the process and propose concrete solutions to shortened timescales. From 7 April 2025 close family members who are involved in deaths in custody FAIs also now have access to non-means-tested legal aid.

Question reference: S6W-36702

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths in custody have occurred in each of the last five years, and how many of these were followed by internal disciplinary or criminal investigations.

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

Any death of an individual whilst is the care of SPS is a tragedy, irrespective of the cause. All deaths in custody are reported to the Procurator Fiscal and Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAI) are held in due course. Information on deaths in custody can be found on the SPS Website.

The number of deaths in custody over the past five calendar years is shown in the following table:

Year	Deaths in Custody
2024	64
2023	40
2022	44
2021	53
2020	34

Since 2020, a total of 16 internal gross misconduct investigations have been conducted in relation to matters thought to be connected to deaths within prison custody.

As the Member will be aware, any criminal investigation is a matter for Police Scotland, and as such SPS is unable to comment on the number of criminal investigations that may have been progressed.

Question reference: S6W-36851

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the cost of publicly funded care home beds in Scotland are significantly higher than those in England, and what assessment it has made of the reasons for any such disparity.

The Scottish Government is aware of the reports indicating that the cost of publicly funded care home beds in Scotland is higher than in England. This disparity is likely to be influenced by several factors, including differences in service models, staffing levels, and the geographical distribution of care facilities.

Service Models and Staffing Levels: Scotland's approach to care often involves higher staffing ratios and more comprehensive service models, which can increase operational costs.

Geographical Distribution: The spread of care homes across Scotland, particularly in rural and remote areas, can lead to higher costs due to economies of scale being less achievable.

Regulatory and Quality Standards: Scotland maintains stringent regulatory standards to ensure high-quality care, which may result in higher compliance costs for providers.

Question reference: S6W-36701

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure full accountability and transparency in the governance of the Scottish Prison Service.

The Scottish Government ensures accountability and transparency in the governance of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) through the SPS Framework Document which was updated and published last year (2024). This includes the Chief Executive’s direct accountability to Scottish Ministers, financial and performance monitoring, ministerial oversight, and the role of the Portfolio Accountable Officer in overseeing the operational and financial performance of SPS.

The HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) plays a key role in holding SPS to account by reporting on prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners, with recommendations for improvement that must be considered and implemented by the SPS where required.

Question reference: S6W-36699

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on removing the immunity of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) from criminal prosecution, as called for by the SPS chief executive.

The retention or otherwise of Crown immunity from prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is a reserved matter for the UK Government. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the UK Government on the removal of corporate Crown immunity from prosecution, under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice asking to meeting, with this being one of the several agenda items for discussion. The Secretary of State for Justice has now responded and a meeting will be held in due course.

Question reference: S6W-37148

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports a UK-wide framework to safeguard universities against intellectual property and technology transfers to foreign military regimes.

Question reference: S6W-36560

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding any fiscal risks posed by expanding the cost of devolved benefits.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and that we continue to reach a balanced position each year. The upcoming Medium Term Financial Strategy and Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plans will set out how we will progress work to achieve our financial aims over the next five years.

While the Scottish Government ensure devolved benefits are adequately and sustainably financed to provide meaningful support, we are deeply concerned about the cuts to sickness and disability benefits announced by the Labour Government. These changes will push 250,000 people, including 50,000 children into poverty by 2029-30, and will reduce the funding Scotland receives for devolved disability benefits.

Question reference: S6W-36642

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take to reduce the volume and frequency of sewage spills into Scotland’s rivers and coastal waters.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has already taken action and made commitments to improve the sewer network under its improving urban waters routemap, published in December 2021 at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/What-We-Do/Urban-Waters-Routemap. The routemap set out how Scottish Water will invest to:

improve water quality (to support Scotland’s River Basin Management Plan objectives)
increase monitoring and reporting to cover all overflows that discharge into the highest priority waters
significantly reduce sewer-related debris in the environment
reduce spills from the sewer network

Question reference: S6W-36643

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many sewage overflows remain unmonitored, and when it plans to ensure 100% coverage.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water currently has around 1,400 overflow monitors in place (covering over one third of all intermittent discharges). Scottish Water has plans to increase monitor coverage to around 2,000 locations in total (nearly 50% of intermittent discharges) before the end of 2025 and this year will look to determine an approach to establish how many more monitors should be installed in 2026 and beyond.

A significant number of overflow locations are predicted never to spill and monitoring these locations would generate limited value beyond proving that overflow events do not occur. Monitors are relatively expensive to install and deploying these without generating any environmental benefit is unlikely to represent good value for customers.

Question reference: S6W-37114

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many times each local authority has breached its legal duty to provide suitable accommodation for homeless people in the last five years.

The first table shows instances where local authorities are not able to fulfil their legal duties in offering temporary accommodation to households who make a homelessness application, annually for 2019-20 to 2023-24, and for the most recent six months April to September 2024.

Local Authority	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Apr-Sep 2024
Scotland	4,585	595	715	450	7,955	7,545
Aberdeen City	10	5	0	<4	<4	<4
Angus	5	<4	<4	0	<4	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	15	50
East Renfrewshire	0	<4	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh	660	530	700	420	1,515	1,020
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	<4	<4
Fife	50	<4	15	25	140	140
Glasgow City	3,830	55	<4	<4	6,270	6,320
Highland	35	0	0	<4	10	5
Midlothian	0	0	0	<4	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	<4
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	<4	0
South Lanarkshire	<4	0	0	0	<4	10
Stirling	0	<4	0	0	<4	0

The second table shows instances where unsuitable temporary accommodation placements have been offered and taken up, annually for 2019-20 to 2023-24, and for the most recent six months April to September 2024.

Local Authority	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Apr-Sep 2024
Scotland	2,060	2,345	4,790	14,275	20,230	10,780
Aberdeen City	<4	<4	0	670	560	230
Aberdeenshire	10	60	40	50	25	10
Angus	5	5	10	30	35	40
Argyll & Bute	<4	<4	0	40	40	15
Clackmannanshire	<4	<4	50	125	170	85
Dumfries & Galloway	0	0	0	230	670	470
Dundee City	0	0	140	345	865	345
East Dunbartonshire	5	<4	<4	<4	10	<4
East Lothian	10	210	280	385	385	135
East Renfrewshire	10	55	60	90	245	195
Edinburgh	960	530	1,800	3,530	4,725	3,205
Eilean Siar	<4	<4	5	5	10	<4
Falkirk	<4	5	15	110	110	65
Fife	5	265	755	690	675	325
Glasgow City	790	460	770	6,155	9,075	4,660
Highland	20	20	40	60	25	15
Inverclyde	10	5	0	<4	20	20
Midlothian	5	0	0	20	55	35
Moray	0	15	0	115	145	85
Orkney	0	0	0	<4	0	<4
Perth & Kinross	0	<4	<4	15	0	<4
Renfrewshire	0	245	30	145	240	90
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	5	15	0
Shetland	<4	0	<4	5	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	105	310	35
South Lanarkshire	20	305	25	270	685	260
Stirling	20	25	20	35	15	25
West Dunbartonshire	45	20	15	150	260	95

Breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order occur when a household has spent more than seven days in unsuitable accommodation.

Figures on failures to accommodate and breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order are published on a six-monthly basis as part of the Homelessness in Scotland Statistics series.

Notes:

Local authorities are not presented in the tables where they have zero instances across all time periods.

For disclosure purposes, figures are rounded to the nearest 5, apart from 1,2 and 3, which are rounded to '<4'.

Households can have multiple failure to accommodate and/or unsuitable temporary accommodation placement records and so may appear multiple times in the tables.

Data source: Scottish Government, HL3 Homelessness statistics

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