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We recognise the importance of ensuring that support is available to people leaving custody, including those who have served a period on remand, to enable their reintegration. We know that short periods of imprisonment are not effective and don't address the underlying causes of offending and that is why this Government is committed to reducing the use of short sentences and remand.

For those individuals who do serve a period of remand, the Scottish Prison Service have a range of measures in place to support them during their time in custody and on release. This includes an initial induction process which assesses needs including general welfare, mental health and addiction so that support can be put in place for them during their time in custody. This is further supplemented by support for family contact, provision of housing advice (where needed), access to work and wage earning where appropriate and possible and access to social services through prison Links Centres to deal with immediate concerns regarding social issues.

It is recognised that circumstances where individuals are liberated from a period on remand straight from court can be challenging in terms of linking with local services. To support this, SPS have agreed with GEOAmey that they will provide liberation packs to those released at courts (including those who have been held on remand). These information packs are specific to the local area within which the individual is being liberated.

Specifically for women held on remand, the Shine PSP, funded by Scottish Government, provides support in the lead up to their liberation and beyond.

We will continue to work with partners to explore how we can improve support for people leaving remand.

The Scottish Government currently only allows travellers returning from green and amber list countries to use NHS tests, which are reserved and paid for through the booking portal, CTM. These PCR tests are sent to individuals’ home addresses anywhere in Scotland, including rural areas. The individual should use a Royal Mail priority post box to return their test to the laboratory if they have access to one.

Individuals in Scotland are able to book PCR tests and request lateral flow home devices free of charge via the government portal, however these cannot be used for international travel.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact that periods of imprisonment, including time on remand, can have on families. That is why we are committed to reducing the use of short-term imprisonment, including remand and increasing the use of community-based interventions.

SPS are committed to ensuring that people in prison are able to maintain contact with their family during their time in custody. The SPS Family Strategy puts families and family contact at the heart of supporting prisoners during their time in custody. The Strategy doesn’t differentiate between convicted or remand prisoners and recognises the positive contribution that close family contact and involvement can make in supporting the reintegration of prisoners back into the community.

SPS support family contact during a person's time in custody - including on remand - in a number of ways. This includes in-cell telephony, letters and family contact through visits. Under the Prison Rules, those remanded have a greater visits entitlement than those convicted. Remand prisoners have the opportunity of access to daily family visits in prisons holding remand prisoners.

The Scottish Government has provided £3.9m in grant funding for Prison Visitors Centres since 2016/17. Visitors Centres provide a range of support for families and work in partnership with other organisations to make referrals to more specialist advice and support services for things including financial support, childcare, housing support and welfare counselling. This is in addition to £138k p.a. provided to Families Outside, an organisation which supports families affected by imprisonment so that they can readily access appropriate information and support at a time they need it.

We will continue to work with partners to develop approaches in this area, learning from those with lived experience.

Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy and makes clear our ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by
‎ 2031-32, 70% of which will be for social rent.

Local authorities as the statutory housing authority are responsible for assessing housing requirements in their area and setting out their plans to meet these requirements as part of their Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plan.

Details of the £10 million grant fund scheme - announced by the Deputy First Minister on 22 June to help tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic and are facing homelessness - are being developed at pace and we will provide further information in due course.

The Covid-19 test kits are home PCR kits provided by NHS Test & Trace. The cost of the kits is set by the UK Government and the process managed through its contract with the travel management company CTM.

Currently, the Scottish Government does not allow use of private test providers for international travellers arriving into Scotland from green and amber list countries.

We are having on-going discussions with the UK government on using private test providers and exploring ways to allow private testing for travellers coming to Scotland provided we are confident in the flow of data into contact tracing services and that all positive test results are analysed to identify any variants of concern.

The full Native Woodland Survey of Scotland (NWSS) data set has been available for free download from the Scottish Forestry open data web pages since January 2020.

Prior to that it has been available on the Forestry Commission Scotland web pages since 2014.

The proportion of Home Energy Scotland loan offers that have expired during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the previous three years is:

As set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan, we will take steps to improve waste data by working with the UK Government, other devolved governments, and agencies such as SEPA, to develop and implement the electronic waste tracking system. This step change in the quality and timeliness of waste data will support decision-making and underpin the key building blocks required to reduce emissions and drive delivery on existing waste and recycling targets.

A joint consultation is being planned for this summer on behalf of all four nations of the UK. This consultation will seek views on how and when mandatory digital waste tracking should be implemented.

Rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs) are developed and owned by each local authority in Scotland, working with their partners. The Scottish Government asks each local authority to complete an activities and spend template each year, requesting information about the implementation of RRTPs. The areas covered in the template include the development of Housing First, prevention activity, the use of temporary accommodation, the availability of settled accommodation and yearly spend.

The Scottish Government carries out a review of these templates, including any additional information provided from updated RRTPs, and feedback is provided to each local authority. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing local authority submissions for 2020/21 and feedback to the local authorities will be issued during August 2021. A report on the implementation of RRTPs will be submitted to the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) later this year.

This process provides assurance to the Scottish Government about the development and implementation of RRTPs across Scotland and supports our continued partnership in tackling homelessness. While local authorities and their partners are best placed to develop and implement plans based on local circumstances, the areas covered in the activities and spend template allow the Scottish Government to review how plans support national homelessness policy objectives.