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The Scottish Government is committed to expanding electronic monitoring use across a broader range of licences and community orders, including exploring use of remote alcohol monitoring as provided for by the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019.

Following passage of the Act a new national contract was procured that would allow for use of new technology. The majority of the Act has now been commenced and from 17 May 2022 provisions were commenced to allow electronic monitoring as part of bail and to allow electronic monitoring with Community Payback Orders at first disposal. As work continues to embed these recent changes, we are now engaging with justice partners to explore the potential uses of new technologies, including remote substance monitoring technologies.

The ETSU steering group comprising of the four Governments of the UK is considering, under the lead of the UK Government, how best to take forward the recommendations of the WSP report .

Until this work concludes, ETSU-R-97 should continue to be followed by applicants and used to assess and rate noise from wind energy developments.

Scottish Government officials continue to engage with UK Government officials on this work.

The Scottish Government has been actively engaging with local authority partners, who have statutory responsibility for school buildings in Scotland, for some time.

Those schools where RAAC has been identified are taking mitigation steps in line with guidance from the Institute of Structural Engineers which has not changed. Any local authority which deems it necessary to close a school in their authority, in whole or in part, is empowered to do so. For example, Riverside Primary School in West Lothian fully closed its building over the summer holidays and moved pupils in to alternative provision.

COSLA have confirmed that safety is the central consideration and there is robust guidance which is followed by every local authority to ensure these settings are safe for the pupils, staff and the public to be in.

Public sector organisations may occasionally commission external consulting support where this provides value for money and there is a requirement for a specific skill or service that cannot be delivered within existing capacity.

As public bodies make their own independent arrangements with external contractors, the information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information of this nature can be attained by approaching individual public sector organisations accordingly.

Inspiring Scotland through the ‘Support in the Right Direction’ (SiRDS) programme, provides access to independent advice and advocacy in 31 local authorities, with a forthcoming scoping project tasked with identifying a SiRD partner to offer services in the Moray area from FY 2023-2024. SiRDS is supporting over 9,000 people and families.

Our ambitious work on suicide prevention is underpinned by a significant funding commitment of £2.5 million in 2023-24. This includes funding of approximately £1.9 million specifically focused on the delivery and implementation of the Creating Hope Together Action Plan and ongoing research to inform future suicide prevention activity and targeted support. Funding of approximately £600,000 has been allocated to taking forward priority programmes initiated under the previous plan including our bereavement support service pilot and the improvement of suicidal crisis responses.

The £2.5 million ring-fenced for suicide prevention is part of the core mental health budget. However, other elements of the mental health budget also support suicide prevention work. For example, our £15 million per annum Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults supported nearly 300 suicide prevention projects in 2022-23. Likewise, wider Scottish Government spending contributes to tackling the inequalities which can contribute to suicide.

The Scottish Government, through our National Delivery Lead, will be tracking national spend against the annual delivery plan and £2.5 million budget. We will not be tracking local spend. It is for local authorities and NHS teams to agree local action plans which meet local needs and agree resources to support these. As at the national level, there is recognition that suicide prevention involves a broad range of services and budgets including housing, money advice, alcohol and drug services, and it is therefore not possible to determine the full funding picture. We will however be actively working with our local partners, including NHS Boards and local authorities, to identify opportunities to co-ordinate action and share practice and learning so that our collective plans and resources work to prevent suicide.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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 Daily Mile Foundation have developed their 'The Daily Mile Scotland Strategy 2023 - 2026' which was published in August 2023 to align with the start of the new academic year. Scottish Government are working closely with the Foundation to support the delivery of the strategy.

The Scottish Government is contacted by a wide range of organisations and individuals on various policy issues, and we are committed to ensuring everyone in our society can live with dignity and enjoy their rights in full. Within mental health, we work closely with a range of human rights and equalities bodies through the Mental Health Equality and Human Rights Forum. This meets monthly and provides a space for human rights organisations to discuss and influence the development of mental health.

In addition, we have recently committed to establishing a Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme following on from the recommendations of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, which considered how we could give further effect to human rights within mental health. The Programme will drive action to improve the way human rights are put into practice across mental health and incapacity law and policy, including care and treatment.

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

Based on our knowledge of the SPS estate, we do not believe that RAAC is present within the prison estate.

SPS is however conducting a further evidence based scoping exercise to identify any buildings that cannot be categorically ruled out as containing RAAC. Any buildings identified will require further investigation and may need more intrusive testing/inspection by specialist consultants.

The initial scoping exercise should be concluded by 30 September 2023.