Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03003 on 1 October 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Our Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan includes a number of actions around raising awareness of hate crime and to encourage reporting. For information, a full list of action commitments in this area can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/1336/5 . We will publish a report on progress made in delivering those actions during the coming months.

Implementation of the Hate Crime Act provides a good opportunity for the Scottish Government, justice partners and stakeholders to take stock of and refresh our approach to tackling hate crime and we are committed to developing a new hate crime strategy later this year. The new strategy will support implementation of the Hate Crime Act, as well as further work to consider the need for the Scottish Government to define Islamophobia, including consideration of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group’s definition.

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

A solution was identified with the provider in relation to illicit SIM cards being used in prison issued mobile phones and it is currently being implemented across the prison estate. This solution enables the SPS to blacklist handsets on various network providers rendering the handsets unusable with a non-prison issued SIM. The security measures in place will continue to be monitored by the SPS.

We understand that some parents may have concerns about children and young people attending school due to the associated risk of transmission of COVID-19. We also recognise the responsibility of local authorities and the school workforce to support families with these concerns. We therefore continue to work with local authorities via CoSLA and ADES to ensure that Directors of Education receive relevant and up-to-date information on COVID-related mitigations in schools.

I would like to reassure any families with concerns that we continue to take a data-led approach to all mitigations in relation to the pandemic, and mitigations in schools specifically are developed and reviewed with the advice of the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues , and guidance from the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group. We are particularly reassured by recent PHS analysis indicating that of close contacts in school settings identified during the last academic year, just 5% of pupils later tested positive within 14 days of contact. This 5% includes community as well as in-school transmission. We also know that 62% of positive pupil cases had no close contacts that tested positive within 14 days.

The risk of transmission in schools is now reduced further thanks to the rollout of vaccines to pupils aged 12 and over. This sits alongside the asymptomatic testing programme, and other proportionate mitigations, such as face coverings and physical distancing in some settings, as outlined in the Reducing risks in schools guidance.

We recognise that there have been a lot of changes for local authorities and the school community throughout the pandemic. Therefore, in order to support local authorities to implement this guidance and to address education disruption caused by Covid-19, we have invested £450m to fund various actions over 2020-21 and 2021-22. This includes £90m for logistics such as enhanced cleaning, and more recently £10m to ensure that schools and childcare settings have access to CO2 monitoring.

In relation to attendance, national guidance is clear that measures of compulsion for attendance should only be used as a last resort once all other approaches to support attendance have been undertaken. Additional codes have been developed within SEEMiS to support the recording and monitoring of attendance and absence, including specific codes relating to COVID-19.

Applications from Registered Social Landlords for grant funding through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme at tender stage contain information on any projected rent levels at the date of completion which are more than 5% above the relevant social rent benchmark published by the Scottish Government. Information on the Registered Social Landlords’ applications which were approved began to be collected in 2018-19 as follows:

While it is up to individual social landlords to strike the best balance between rent levels and meeting the housing needs of local communities, rents for social rented homes should not be set without regard to the importance of affordability for tenants. The Scottish Government therefore considers the proposed rents for Registered Social Landlord social rented homes at the point of first let as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant assessment process

Applications from Registered Social Landlords for grant funding to deliver projects through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme at tender stage contain information on any projected rent levels at the date of completion which are more than 5% above the relevant social rent benchmark published by the Scottish Government.

Information on the number of tender applications which were approved which contained Registered Social Landlord projected rent levels at the point of completion which exceeded the relevant social rent benchmark by more than 5% began to be collected in 2018-19 as follows:

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our criminal justice system, and others throughout the world, in ways never seen before. Our priority was, and remains, to ensure that our system can operate as effectively as possible for everyone involved in it: victims, witnesses, accused and offenders, and for society as a whole

We have committed an additional £50 million to increase capacity across the justice system as we tackle backlogs built up while public health restrictions are in place. This includes recruitment of additional staff, greater use of digital tools and improved support for victims and witnesses. We continue to work with partners, including victims organisations, the Scottish courts and prosecution services, and the legal profession to identify the best way to deal with the backlog.

We have also taken action to ensure victims have been able to quickly access practical, emotional and financial support. This includes providing an additional £10.75 million since the start of the pandemic to frontline domestic abuse and rape crisis services and awarding £157,000 through the Victim Surcharge Fund to meet the immediate financial needs of the most vulnerable victims.

Furthermore, as part of the early release of a limited number of short-term prisoners in response to the pandemic, we ensured public protection was paramount through a ‘triple lock’ set of restrictions. These included the exclusion from the process of those in prison for the most serious crimes, including sexual offences.

We remain committed to delivering solutions which keep victims at the centre of our decision making, whilst balancing the rights of the accused to ensure a fair justice system for all.

This is a matter for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The information that has been requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

Mr McArthur may be interested to know that a consultation seeking views on options for changes to the way legal services are regulated and how the legal complaints system operates is currently open and is running from 1 October to 24 December 2021. The consultation is available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .

We have awarded a grant of £0.5 million to Care and Repair Scotland to provide additional support in relation to the new standard for fire alarms in all Scottish homes. Care and Repair Scotland will provide a report on the use of the grant funding at the end of the current business year.

As mentioned in the previous answer S6W-03311 on 8 October 2021, we are in contact with the Cabinet Office on this matter, and have emphasised to them the need to involve representative Scottish stakeholders. We will consult the other Devolved Administrations on their approach to these institutions once we have further details from the Cabinet Office on the consultation responses and of the process to be followed in determining membership of the Civil Society Forum and Domestic Advisory Group.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers