Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government are progressing a range of actions to support a sustainable reduction in the prison population, including:

• The passage of the Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025, which changes the point of release for most prisoners serving short-term sentences of under four years from following 50% of their sentence, to following 40% of their sentence.
• Increasing community justice funding by £14m this year to a total of £148m to further strengthen alternatives to custody.
• Introducing regulations that enable GPS technology to be used to monitor individuals being released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC).
• SPS continue to optimise the appropriate use of HDC which allows certain prisoners who have met the requirements of a risk assessment to spend up to 180 days in the community.
• We intend to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the use of HDC with the intention of increasing the period of time individuals can spend on release under licence conditions.
• We have increased the use of electronically monitored bail which is now available in every local authority and its use is at record levels.
• The establishment of an independent review of sentencing and penal policy which will focus on reducing reoffending and ensuring custody is used at the right time, for the right individuals.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) on risks and contingency plans for the prison estate, including HMP Barlinnie.

In response to recommendations made by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, SPS took forward HMP Barlinnie Programme of Works which significantly improved facilitates within the prisoner reception and healthcare areas. These works concluded in April 2023.

SPS are unable to publish the full breakdown of costs as disclosure would be commercially prejudicial to the management of the contract, and to the contractor.

SPS can confirm that the contract contains liquidated damages for any delays.

The following table shows the number of cases closed during the past 5 financial years which were time barred on receipt of report by COPFS. Each case may comprise multiple accused and a variety of charges. To ascertain case type would require a manual check of each report. This information is not readily available.

Criminal cases reported to COPFS

Count is cases closed using the marking - 'No Action: Timebarred On Receipt'

Grouped by financial year case closed

count is by case

Financial year closed

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

The estimated cost for the Throughcare Support Service in 2018-19 was £1,932,654.

The following table provides the number of people departing prison one or more times in each financial year from remand, with index sentences of one year or less, and with index sentences from greater than one year to four years or less.

In 2024-25, the final year of operation of the Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnerships (PSPs), the Scottish Government provided grant funding of:

a) £1,459,620 to Shine PSP; and

b) £1,979,816 to New Routes PSP

Both Shine and New Routes provide support to individuals leaving short-term sentences, however currently only Shine provides support to female prisoners released from remand.

The launch of the new national throughcare service does not affect the duty on local authorities to provide voluntary throughcare support and will not replace any locally commissioned services or local processes.

The new service will be structured to work collectively with local partners, including justice social work services, to meet the needs of people who request voluntary throughcare support for prisoners released from both short-term sentences and those on remand.

The service will employ dedicated prison-based workers in each establishment who will have a role in supporting effective multi-agency pre-release planning to avoid duplication of service provision.

The new national throughcare service will ensure equitable support provisions across all communities in Scotland.

The partnership delivering the new national throughcare service (consisting of Sacro, Access to Industry, Action for Children, Apex Scotland, Barnardo’s, Circle, Families Outside and Turning Point Scotland) has experience of delivering throughcare in rural and island communities and understands the additional considerations needed to achieve a robust and responsive delivery model.

A proportion of the budget has been set aside to ensure a tailored ‘spot purchase’ approach to support individuals returning to rural and island communities. This model will ensure that wrap-around support is available to individuals as required across island communities, whilst ensuring a level of parity with mainland provision.

The partnership will also work closely with existing services and agencies operating locally to ensure that the right support is in place for every individual returning to a rural or island community.

The Scottish Government supports third sector delivery of voluntary throughcare support. We recognise that these organisations are uniquely positioned to offer flexible, community-based and person-centred support to individuals transitioning from prison back into their communities.

A review of throughcare provision by Community Justice Scotland in 2023 found that using a partnership approach to delivering voluntary throughcare was an effective way of supporting people leaving prison, as it enables different partners to apply their specific expertise to address a wide range of needs.

This approach aligns with the National Strategy for Community Justice, which emphasises continuity of care and the importance of reducing reoffending by ensuring that people receive consistent, holistic support during this critical period of transition.

The Scottish Prison Service established, operated and suspended their throughcare support service independently. Any decision regarding reinstating this service would be for the Scottish Prison Service.