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The health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons is a key priority for the SPS.

By working closely with partners such as Police Scotland we remain vigilant to the continuously evolving nature of drug use, ensuring that our technology and tactical measures remain current, adaptable, and capable of detecting and preventing drugs from entering our prisons.

We continue to advise staff on safety and risk assessment processes in conducting their duties to minimise the impact and risk of exposure to any unknown hazardous substance. At this time, we do not have any plans to introduce respiratory protective equipment (RPE) to prisons.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on how many operational frontline officers are deployed in divisions. Police workforce data collection are a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland publish officer number data each quarter which includes information on the total number of officers in each policing division. These can be found on the Police Scotland website at: Police Scotland Officer Numbers - Police Scotland.

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

The SPS Public Protection Unit (PPU) review risks on a regular basis and based on intelligence analysis carried both locally and nationally, there are no current plans to implement a phased removal of wet shave razors from adult male prisons.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers act in a manner consistent with the Scottish Government’s duty to uphold the Equality Act 2010 at all times.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-34926 on 4 March 2025. Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP) sets out our vision for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people affected by respiratory conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease.

There is also a significant respiratory work programme managed by the Respiratory Speciality Delivery Group within NHS Golden Jubilee. They have pathways under development for severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. ILD will continue to be considered within any new respiratory programmes.

Our new Prescribing Guideline set out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care and we also have national workstreams focusing on access to pulmonary rehabilitation and smoking cessation.

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 does not hold the information requested.

Our police officers are the best paid in the UK, at the minimum and maximum of each rank, and I welcome the outcome of the police pay arbitration process, which means that police officers in Scotland will receive an uplift of 4.75%, backdated to 1 April 2024, in their March salaries.

This recognises the hard work and valuable contribution that police officers make, and reflects this Government’s continued commitment to investing in policing.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold information on the operational base levels for officers. Officer deployment nationally and locally is quite rightly a matter for the Chief Constable.

The information is not available in the format requested, however, the Scottish Government routinely publishes data on local authority voids, with the latest data available here: Housing statistics: Local authority housing stock - gov.scot.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will continue to implement the commitments in the Plan over the coming year, alongside our work to explore a new long term conditions strategy to ensure equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need, while still allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate. We will take the progress of this work into account as we consider the best way to continue work to improve care and support for people with respiratory conditions in the future.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) based at the Golden Jubilee Hospital is developing national pathways for respiratory conditions including severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. This work to improve patient journeys aligns closely with the Respiratory Care Action Plan and we are working with CfSD to understand the implications for wider respiratory policy.