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The Scottish Government recognises that the imprisonment rate in Scotland is high and we are taking action to address that. I wrote to the Criminal Justice Committee on 13 September, to highlight the issue and outline the actions being taken to tackle the rise in the prison population, this letter can be found at: Scotland's Prison Population | Scottish Parliament Website

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

The prisoner population on 15 September 2023 of those establishments operating above their design capacity is detailed within the following table:

In the current system care home providers should clearly set out their terms and conditions to residents and their families in the contractual arrangements; these are covered by consumer protection laws.

The Scottish Government acknowledges, however, that the social care sector requires reform. We remain committed to delivering a National Care Service to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs. The design and delivery of the National Care Service will have human rights embedded throughout.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering Anne’s Law within the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill (NCS) to further support the rights of people living in adult care homes to connect with their loved ones.

At Stage 1 of the NCS Bill, evidence was heard from seven committees and many individuals and representatives on a wide range of topics. The extension to Stage 1 has allowed the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government the necessary time to consider all of the evidence to best inform the development of the NCS Bill including Anne’s Law. During this time we have continued to work with care home providers, relatives and other stakeholders to develop the detail of Anne’s Law and prepare for its implementation.

Meantime, the Scottish Government has already utilised existing powers to adopt the core foundations of Anne’s Law through the development of two new Heath and Social Care Standards introduced in April 2022.

The new Standards establish that people living in care homes can expect to see someone who is important to them, even during an infectious outbreak and be able to name a person or persons who can directly participate in meeting their care needs. The Care Inspectorate now refer to these Standards when registering, inspecting and supporting care homes.

Furthermore, Public Health Scotland’s COVID guidance supports visiting during an infectious outbreak situation. Three named visitors can visit a resident, one per day, in the event of an outbreak, and essential visiting for end-of-life care and distress should always be supported, regardless of the circumstances.

Taken together, these measures have resulted in over 99% of care homes in Scotland reporting that they are supporting indoor visiting (in week ending 17 July 2023, COVID-19 in Adult Care Homes in Scotland , Public Health Scotland). The Scottish Government will continue to work with all parties to ensure that people living in care homes are supported to connect with their loved ones.

We are working to improve neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to ensure that children and young people can receive the support they need quickly. Our National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People aims to ensure that children and families receive the support that meets their needs at the earliest opportunity, based on the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach.

In terms of the referral process, a diagnosis is not required for children and young people to receive support. The Neurodevelopmental Specification makes clear that support should be in place to meet the child or young person’s requirements when they need it, rather than being dependent on a formal diagnosis. For many children and young people, such support is likely to be community based, and should be quickly and easily accessible. In Lothian for example, Edinburgh’s Citywide Neurodevelopmental Diversity Support is a partnership between Barnardo’s, Tailor Ed Foundation and Autism Initiatives aimed at children and young people who have neurodevelopmental diversity. This service provides one-to-one support for children and young people, and also offers support to parents and siblings.

To support national implementation of the Specification, we have funded five Tests of Change to implement various aspects of the specification. These are taking place in Grampian, East Lothian, Highland, Fife and Forth Valley. We are working to collate and share learnings from these Tests of Change to inform next steps around implementation of the ND specification and support wider roll out across other areas in Scotland.

I am pleased to confirm the Scottish Government has no plans to close any ScotRail ticket offices, unlike proposals from UK Government train operators to close ticket offices elsewhere and this includes the Avanti ticket office at Glasgow Central station.

I have written to the UK (Rail) Minister setting out the Scottish Government’s objection to these proposed ticket office closures and raising strong concerns around potential impacts on disabled and other passengers who rely on support from station staff to access rail services. My letter was copied to Andy Mellors, Managing Director, Avanti West Coast and Antony Smith, Chief Executive, Transport Focus.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17566 on 17 May 2023. Due to the annual budget cycle, Scottish Government cannot yet confirm dates or capital budgets for future bidding rounds. However, we continue to engage with regional stakeholders on planning and priorities for future funding calls. The timing of potential future bidding rounds will be considered in the New Year.

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 following number of people in Scotland made a non-directed kidney donation in the last five years:

We need to rapidly accelerate our deployment of renewables in order to support decarbonisation of the GB grid by 2035, and significant investment in our grid infrastructure is required to ensure clean, low-cost renewable electricity can flow to where it is needed. We are clear that such infrastructure must be delivered with lasting benefits for our economy and the people of Scotland .

In regard to the proposals for pylons in the Torthorward area, we understand that Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) has undertaken the first of two rounds of public consultations on the proposed Harestanes West connection. No application has been submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration with regards to this development. Once an application is submitted it is subject to consultation with the public, statutory and local bodies, and local communities have an opportunity to make a representation to the formal application.

The Scottish Government is aware that communities in areas which may be impacted by proposed electricity network developments may have questions and concerns regarding pylon infrastructure, and we can provide assurance that any potential impacts - on communities, nature, landscape and other valued natural assets - are important considerations when determining applications for consent.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland’s report and will carefully consider its recommendations.

The Scottish Government has already taken action to address the gaps in data on out-of-area placements specifically for people with learning disabilities and complex care needs through the implementation of the recommendations made within the Coming Home Implementation Report.

This work is being carried out in partnership with COSLA and brings practitioners, professionals and people with lived experience together to progress these recommendations which aim to significantly reduce inappropriate out-of-area placements experienced by people with learning disabilities and complex care needs.

We launched Dynamic Support Registers across Scotland in May 2023 to improve monitoring of out-of-area placements and to help local areas to plan for people with learning disabilities and complex care needs. Integration Authorities are operationalising these local Dynamic Support Registers and will also report data from them using a new national reporting system.

The operation of Dynamic Support Registers by all Integration Authorities was agreed through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Government and COSLA.

Equally Safe is Scotland’s strategy to take action on all forms of violence against women and girls. By this, we mean violent and abusive behaviour directed at women and girls precisely because they are women and girls. We know that VAWG can have a devastating impact on victims, and we are committed to eradicating VAWG in all its forms.

This is why, through our Delivering Equally Safe Fund, we are supporting 121 projects from 112 organisations that focus on early intervention and prevention, as well as support services. Included are organisations that support victims fleeing from family abuse. Inspiring Scotland manage DES on behalf of the Scottish Government. A full list of all the DES projects can be found on Inspiring Scotland's website.