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It is for SPA and Police Scotland to determine the best possible use of the budget according to national and local priorities. All areas of Scotland now have more consistent access to a range of national and regional resources as a result of the creation of Police Scotland.

It is for SPA and Police Scotland to determine the best possible use of the budget according to national and local priorities. All areas of Scotland now have more consistent access to a range of national and regional resources as a result of the creation of Police Scotland.”

The balance of funding has been reallocated within existing funding programmes in 2016-17 for both the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) and the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Schemes (ABS). As part of a call to use unallocated ABS funds, including the balance of SEEP funding, 21 councils received additional ABS funding (see funding breakdown below). Further Information on LCITP can be found here http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Action/lowcarbon/LCITP

Reallocation of unused SEEP and HEEPS: ABS funding

1) Total allocated funding exceeds the £4.9m remaining from SEEP as it includes additional unallocated HEEPS: Area Based Schemes funding

The Scottish Government is opposed to the physical punishment of children. The Scottish Government does not, however, wish to see parents unnecessarily or unreasonably criminalised and we have no plans to bring forward legislation to repeal existing legal defences for parents in relation to physical punishment. There are already restrictions in this area. Section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 makes it illegal to punish a child by way of a blow to the head, shaking or the use of an implement. In addition, section 51 of the 2003 Act lays down a range of factors for the courts to consider when determining whether other forms of physical punishment are lawful. As indicated in paragraphs 214 and 215 of the Policy Memorandum for the then Bill (http://www.parliament.scot/S1_Bills/Criminal%20Justice%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b50s1pm.pdf ), these factors were laid down by the European Court of Human Rights.

It is for the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland to allocate and manage their annual budget according to local and national needs and priorities. The £2 million allocated to Police Scotland as part of the Scottish Government stimulus package, announced in the Programme for Government will assist Police Scotland to make improvements to the police estate.

The current First Minister's personal love of reading and her commitment to improving literacy levels for children and young people across Scotland have been key factors in driving the development and launch of this initiative. While not the only factor that may affect success of initiatives like this, the Office of the First Minister can also bring a significance and profile that a reading challenge might otherwise not achieve - the success in the uptake of the Challenge in the short time since the launch is an indicator of this. The initiative was named the First Minister's Reading Challenge without consideration or rejection of alternatives.

Following discussions with the First Minister, an Advisory Group was set up to help develop the detail of the First Minister's Reading Challenge. The group includes representation from education, libraries, authors, booksellers, parents and community reading groups.

The Advisory Group agreed a process by which the Scottish Book Trust would compile a non-mandatory book list, which would be used as inspiration for those taking part in the Challenge. This list was compiled following consultation with children, teachers, librarians, community groups and the First Minister, who suggested a favourite book from childhood, Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. The resulting '100 places to start your reading journey' was agreed by the Advisory Group and by the First Minister.

The Advisory Group also recommended an expanded range of ways to take part in the First Minister's Reading Challenge, with detail including specific criteria then developed by the Scottish Book Trust, in addition to those originally announced on World Book Day. This gives schools and pupils flexible options that mean they can take part in the way that is best for them. This was agreed with the First Minister and resulted in the seven elements recently launched by the First Minister.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Data is not routinely recorded regarding the time that individual prisoners return to the prison, and modern prisons do not have a “lights out” time. In the Court Custody and Prisoner Escort Services (CCPES) contract, a performance measure is recorded each time that a prisoner arrives after the time when the prison’s prisoner reception would ordinarily close. This time varies between establishments.

The following data shows the number of times this performance measure has been recorded, including instances of excusable failure as well as service provider failure.

This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority and it will be for the Chief Executive in his role as Accountable Officer to satisfy the SPA's auditors that the actions taken in this case were compliant with the Scottish Public Finance Manual

Scottish Ministers were not requested to approve the approach taken by the Scottish Police Authority or to agree any special arrangements.

Consultation responses have been published and engagement activity with children and young people and victims groups continued over the summer. Ministers are considering all views put forward and will respond in due course.