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

The following table shows the number of prisoners who were released during the last 5 years under early release arrangements. The numbers provided relate to the 2020 COVID 19 Early Release Scheme and the 2024 Emergency Early Release Regulations:

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 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.

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.

Individual decisions on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) release are a matter for the Scottish Prison Service. GPS monitoring will initially be available for eligible individuals who have been deemed suitable for release on HDC after the completion of an individualised risk assessment. GPS will only be used within HDC, where the HDC risk assessment suggests that GPS use will be necessary and proportionate.

It is not possible to predict with certainty how many of those released on HDC will have a GPS condition of licence. For planning purposes we have assumed there may be around 20 people on GPS monitored HDC during the initial phase.

The Scottish Government will evaluate GPS to determine the next steps for the development of the monitoring service and any future areas where GPS may be used.

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 Scottish Government does not hold this information

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 Scottish Government is committed to strengthening the involvement of parents and carers as we reform the education system, which is why we provided £60,310 of funding to the Scottish Assembly of Parents and Carers in 2024-25. We welcome the publication of this report and encourage all local authorities to meet their statutory duties to promote the involvement of parents, carers and families in their child’s learning as set out in the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006.

We continue to listen and work with stakeholders to ensure this engagement is further strengthened, which will remain a central focus of our work.

(a)Number of people receiving fines for speeding offences on trunk roads, where main crime, in Scottish Courts, by court location (LA), 2018-19 to 2022-23.