Seòmar agus comataidhean

The length of residential rehabilitation treatments varies substantially. This data on individual placements is not collated centrally. The Scottish Government have commissioned PHS to establish the necessary data infrastructure to monitor residential rehab in Scotland. It will include more detailed information on treatment length. This monitoring data is not yet available.

We are not actively considering the establishment of a non-departmental public body and there are no plans to consider this prior to publishing the Programme for Government. The Minister for Housing made a statement to Parliament on 20 June setting out the actions being taken to address the Housing Emergency and this can be accessed at:

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-20-06-2024?meeting=15946&iob=136142

The Scottish Government is analysing landings and liaising with industry in order to understand the impact of the new economic link licence conditions and keep the policy under review.

It is our intention to produce an update on the impact of the changes later this year. However, analysis of provisional landings data for 2023 indicates that the policy change has succeeded in driving up the share of landings for pelagic stocks into Scotland and Shetland in particular.

A Scottish Government public consultation has been published today on a proposal to change the release process for long-term prisoners. This is further to my statement to Parliament of 16 May 2024 about actions required to address the rising prison population.

The consultation seeks views on amending the point at which most long-term prisoners are released under supervision in the community ahead of the end of their sentence. The consultation includes a specific proposal for this point of release to be following two thirds of sentence.

This would mean that the affected prisoners spend less time in custody and more time in the community. In the community, they would be subject to licence conditions, supervision, and recall. Public and victim safety would remain an absolute priority, with specific support and supervision in place reflecting the outcomes of individualised risk assessment.

In addition to helping reduce the pressures on the prison estate, this proposal is also intended to better support the reintegration of long-term prisoners by providing those leaving prison with a more managed return to their communities, with access to the community supports and rehabilitation they need for a longer period of time.

This proposal forms part of a range of measures designed to respond to the rising prison population and responses will inform legislation to be introduced later in 2024.

The consultation paper can be found at https://consult.gov.scot/justice/prisoner-release-process-consultation/ .

Section 10 notices can be issued to a land occupier by SEPA and local authorities. SEPA advises that it has issued multiple Section 59 notices to 26 individuals between 2005 and 2023 (earlier data is not available due to the cyber attack on SEPA in 2020). It is not possible to identify when a notice has been issued to a land occupier who is also the land owner. Data on Section 10 notices issued by local authorities is not held centrally.

SEPA advises that it has issued a total of 255 Section 59 notices between 2005 and 2024. Data from 1996-2004 is not available due to the cyber-attack on SEPA that happened in 2020.

We are committed to discharge this report as soon as reasonably practicable once the Scottish Parliament has reconvened after summer recess.

Recruitment and training of registered mental health professionals is a matter for employers such as NHS boards and Local Authorities. These bodies make informed decisions about recruiting counsellors and psychotherapists or training new mental health practitioners, according to the needs of local service providers and working with relevant professional bodies. The Scottish Government expects employers to apply standards and frameworks which are appropriate to the specialism being recruited for.

In September 2023, we published Mental Health Core Standards , initially applying to adult secondary mental health services. These outline national expectations to boards regarding staffing levels and appropriate skills.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28273 on‎ 5 July 2024. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28205 on‎ 5 July 2024. 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