Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-34637 on 24 February 2025. 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

The Scottish Government and the partnership that will provide 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) are committed to delivering a smooth and supported transition for those currently receiving assistance through the Shine and New Routes programmes.

We are working closely with Shine and New Routes around the decommissioning process to ensure there is no gap in service provision resulting from the transition.

Where relevant, there are clear communication and engagement plans for those individuals who are currently accessing throughcare support and wish to be transferred to the new provision.

Additionally, where possible, staff across Shine and New Routes will be transferred to the new service, ensuring continuity of a skilled and experienced workforce.

The measures and indicators which will be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and value for money of the new third sector national throughcare service are in the process of being developed. This work is being done in consultation with the partnership of organisations that will deliver the service (consisting of Sacro, Access to Industry, Action for Children, Apex Scotland, Barnardo’s, Circle, Families Outside and Turning Point Scotland) and Community Justice Scotland, who will be responsible for monitoring the new service on behalf of the Scottish Government.

This includes the consideration of what, if any, data will be made publicly available.

At present, the existing Public Social Partnerships Shine and New Routes provide support to around 1750 individuals each year. It is anticipated that the level of funding provided to the new service will allow an additional number of people to be supported, including men leaving a period of remand, who will be eligible for throughcare support for the first time.

The number of people supported will depend on the volume of eligible population of prisoners, and an assessment of individuals’ required level and duration of support.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information

The Parliament seeks to engage with other legislatures, inter-parliamentary bodies and international organisations in line with the SPCB’s International Strategy. This engagement is kept under regular review, with the Parliament’s International Relations Office providing six-monthly updates to the SPCB. Invitations to any event are a matter for the organisers. The International Relations Office constantly reviews opportunities for the Parliament to develop its engagement and maintains contact with event organisers, including of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth, and will seek involvement for the Parliament where appropriate.

In Scotland, the government does not have the authority to unilaterally implement a salary cap for agency locum doctors working in the NHS. The remuneration of agency locum doctors is determined by the terms and conditions outlined in their individual contracts, which are negotiated between NHS employers and the doctors themselves. Internal NHS Locum Doctors however are employers on NHS Terms and Conditions, at NHS rates of pay.

We recognise that we must seek to secure best value whenever we are delivering services within NHS Scotland, allowing us to maximise the impact that our investment has on the quality and availability of patient care.

Accordingly, we are working with colleagues across NHS Scotland to explore how we can reduce our reliance on agency and have developed best practice guidance to ensure that all locum engagements have the appropriate senior sign-off by an individual working under the delegated authority of the Chief Executive.

The announcement of the second tranche of 2024-25 Community Led Local Development (CLLD) funding totalling £4.25m was provided to all delivery stakeholders on the 27 November 2024 and grant letters with details of their funding awards were issued to all areas on 28th November.

This was later than the Government would have liked, owing to the extremely challenging financial position across the public sector through 2024-25 and the announcement of expenditure controls in August. This required further review of all expenditure. Fortunately the second tranche was able to go ahead.

We recognise that this has compressed the timescales for delivery and have provided an extension to the final deadline for submitting payment claims to Scottish Government.

Local authorities have statutory responsibility for education in their area. Officials have met with education leads within local authorities to understand the impact on the Scottish state sector to date. Scottish Government has received assurance from local authorities that they have the capacity to support increased school rolls.

Scottish Government continues to engage with local authorities and the independent school sector, including the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), to understand the impacts of the UK Government policy since its implementation. The independent school sector has conducted its own assessment of financial impact, which is available here: Economic-Impact-of-SCIS-Member-Schools-in-Scotland-2022-23-8Feb24.pdf.

Scottish Government officials wrote to all CLLD delivery stakeholders on 18 December 2024 to extend the deadline to submit final claims to 14 April 2025.

The deadline is aligned with Scottish Government end of year financial procedures. This allows for payment of claims to be attributed to the financial year in which they were budgeted, which is a financial standard required by audit.