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The Scottish Government is consulting on legislative proposals for Electronic Monitoring until 19 May 2017.

Alongside this consultation we will be developing the potential costs associated with the introduction of GPS and alcohol monitoring technologies. These potential costs will be reflected in the financial memorandum of any Bill that we introduce.

The Scottish Government has committed to publishing a national child protection policy, covering all aspects of child protection which will identify all the responsibilities and actions across Government that are aimed at supporting families and protecting children. As part of the national policy we will develop a plan which will be specifically focused on preventing the emotional, physical and sexual abuse of Scotland’s children. Both the national policy and prevention plan will be published as part of the same document.

The Scottish Government has accepted all the recommendations of the Child Protection Systems Review, including the recommendation to establish a National Child Protection Leadership Group. As I stated in my answer to the member in the chamber, given the expectations that I am setting out for others to show leadership in this area I decided that I should demonstrate my own commitment to leadership by chairing the Leadership Group.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-007710 on 16 March 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The national child protection policy will be published within 12 months of the statement. Support for the policy will be provided as part of the on-going child protection improvement programme.

The budget for child protection for 2017- 18 is £1.166 million. This includes funding for the child protection improvement programme and frontline support for projects that help vulnerable children and families such as the Partnership Drugs Initiative.

The Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children, based at the University of Strathclyde, will provide a report to me on the early findings of the programme of action on neglect in the pilot sites, by 31 March 2017. These findings will be placed in the public domain.

The total number of individual instances of electronic monitoring in each Local Authority in each financial year of the current contract, which commenced in April 2013, are set out in the following table. An individual may have been subject to electronic monitoring on more than one occasion. Figures for 2016-2017 cover the period from April 2016 to February 2017.

Individuals and organisations can currently access data held under the current electronic monitoring scheme in accordance with, and subject to the provisions of, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

"A Consultation on Proposals for Legislation" ends on 19 May. This includes specific questions on about information and data sharing and retentions. We cannot pre-empt responses to these.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring electronic monitoring is tailored to reflect the needs, risks and circumstances of the individual. The expansion of electronic monitoring, including use of GPS, will increase the options available to manage and monitor those who offend in the community and to further protect public safety.

GPS technology to monitor those who offend is used in a number of other jurisdictions. The introduction of GPS will depend on the outcome of the consultation and any subsequent parliamentary process.