Chamber and committees

Work to develop the policy of removal of non-residential social care charging is progressing and charges will be removed as soon as is practicable The Scottish Government’s approach is to work with key stakeholders to achieve the best outcome for the people of Scotland. We continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders on this.

The Scottish Government take seriously any suggestion that efforts are being made to disrupt court business and to avoid attendance. It is clearly even more alarming if this can be tracked back to initiatives put in place in response to the pandemic. We have discussed the specific concerns raised at the Criminal Justice Committee with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and can advise the following. SCTS is not aware of any specific instances of fake COVID alerts being used to avoid a court appearance. It is a matter for the presiding judicial office holder in each case to decide what proof is required to satisfy the court on the reason for non-attendance of an accused. This can include the court requiring evidence of a positive COVID test, or notification to self-isolate, before making any decision to adjourn or desert a case. If the evidence provided is not accepted by the court, it is a matter for the presiding judicial office holder to consider whether a warrant to apprehend must be issued for the arrest of the accused in respect of their failure to appear, or whether another course of action should be taken.

The health and safety of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

Nobody should be the victim of abuse or violence at work and the Chief Constable has made a commitment for 2021-22, that he will continue to take action to reduce the impact on officers and staff of violence in all its forms, including psychological injury and hate crime.

Applicants to the Island Communities Fund have all been notified of the outcome of their application. I am delighted to confirm that this will deliver £2 million of ‘on-island’ capital investment for 29 successful island-based community groups and businesses, spread across 23 islands.

This Fund provides grants of up to £150,000 for projects focusing on developing sustainable economic activities on islands, while also supporting the delivery of the Scottish Government’s National Islands Plan.

The programme is in the early stages in terms of spend.

We have invested around £1.3 million since October 2019 through our Young Carer Grant, the first support of its kind in the UK, and have heard from young carers how this has helped make a difference to their lives and helped them access more opportunities.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, we have implemented a range of additional measures to respond to the needs of young carers. As well as making alternative arrangements for the Young Carer Festival and providing extra funding for young carer services during the pandemic, we have invested an additional £100,000 into the Time to Live Fund to enable young carers to take a break from their caring role, and an extra £300,000 to expand the Young Scot young carers package for 11-18 year olds which provides access to non-cash benefits like free subscriptions and e-vouchers to leisure activities and rewards. Many of these are designed to support good mental health. We continue to target promotion of mental health resources for young people such as #AyeFeel, and have been working with young carers to create a young carer specific page for the National Wellbeing Hub. Young Scot ran a social media campaign to raise awareness of young carer issues among trusted adults who may work with or encounter young carers, focused in areas with the lowest sign up to the package.

We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders including the National Care Organisations, Young Scot, Education Scotland and COSLA to help us collectively identify and address the needs of young carers. Young carers can find out about Young Carer Grant through many of these mechanisms. And, in line with our Benefit Take-up Strategy, we have promoted Young Carer Grant through regular social media posts and dedicated promotion on key dates like the first anniversary since the launch.

The Scottish Government is committed in its Programme for Government to start consultations this year on proposals to improve animal transport legislation. It is expected that these consultations will largely relate to the transport of livestock and horses initially. The transport of dogs and other animals will however also be considered in due course.

The Island Communities Fund was announced in summer 2021 and closed on the 16 th of June 2021. We have recently notified applicants to the Island Communities Fund of the outcome of their application.

Supporting island communities remains a Scottish Government priority. Decisions on further funding will be taken as part of future budget setting exercises and alongside continued stakeholder engagement and project evaluation of the full Islands Programme.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes annual information on Common assault of emergency workers within two National Statistics bulletins.

The first is Recorded Crime in Scotland [1] . Table A8 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2020-21 National Statistics shows the latest 10 year trend in Common assault of an emergency worker offences for Scotland and this information can also be broken down by local authority area. It should be noted that these figures will not include certain attacks or assaults on emergency workers (for example should an emergency worker be assaulted and sustain a serious assault level injury, this would be recorded as a serious assault). From previous research into common assault and further information published by Police Scotland, the vast majority of police recorded offences of Common assault of an emergency worker relate to police officers.

The second is Criminal Proceedings in Scotland [2] . The number of people proceeded against and people convicted in Scottish courts for assaults against emergency workers under various criminal offences are published in additional tables [3] alongside the annual National Statistics publication. Assaults against police officers may be charged under a range of statutory offences including under section 90(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, section 1 of the Emergency Worker(s) Act (Scotland) 2005, and Section 89(1) of the Police Act 1996. People could be also proceeded against under Section 41(1) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 for offences committed prior to the introduction of the Police and Fire Reform Act. Over 1,300 people in Scotland had a main conviction for assaulting a police officer under these acts in 2019-20. In addition, serious assaults against police officers may be charged under common law of assault and counted as serious assaults in the publication. We cannot determine if a proceeding for serious assault was against a police officer.

Note that the Criminal Proceedings data shows the main conviction in a proceeding, which is the charge that received the most serious sentence. This means that some charges for assaulting a police officer may not be recorded in the publication, as they weren’t the main charge.

Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. For example, recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, the criminal proceedings statistics only count the main charge in a proceeding, but a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime or a set of crimes with more than one victim. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2020-2021/

[2] https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2019-20/documents/

[3] https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2021/05/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2019-20/documents/emergency-workers-tables/emergency-workers-tables/govscot%3Adocument/emergency-workers-tables.xlsx

The work of Police Scotland’s International Development and Innovation Unit and the papers presented at meetings of their International Development Board are a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, who is operationally independent of the Scottish Government. The decision to enter into UK Government funded contracts to train police forces in countries such as Sri Lanka is also a matter for the Chief Constable with the Scottish Police Authority having responsibility for oversight and scrutiny of his decisions.

Police Scotland has confirmed that their work in Sri Lanka is aimed to improve community policing and gender equality, with all training underpinned by equality and human rights. The training was initially paused due to the coronavirus pandemic and they are now awaiting the outcome of the review of the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessment for Sri Lanka, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, so that this can be given due consideration.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The operational deployment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.