Chamber and committees

You said that the Prison Service is responsible for providing care. I presume that the prison officers have not been trained in that particular area. Do prisons bring in resources from outside—people who are qualified to provide that care?

There is a cost to the Prison Service in bringing in services. I am trying to understand the impact on prison officers and the Prison Service of providing that care. Are Prison Service resources used or are independent resources brought in? You seem to be saying that the latter happens only for the more extreme cases and that the Prison Service deals with the day-to-day stuff, for want of a better expression.

You mentioned prisoners who have dementia. I presume that, at some point, they reach a stage at which it is not even clear to them that they are in prison. Is there a process whereby such prisoners are transitioned into an existing care facility outside the Prison Service?

I am simply trying to understand whether the realities of the situation are looked at sensibly.

My final question is on the prison estate. Among the issues that have been reported on the condition of the prison estate are underspends in the capital budget and savings that have been made from reduced planned maintenance. Do you have any particular concerns about that? Those findings seem odd, given other comments that have been made about the estate.

I have one last question. Previously, reference has been made to reducing planned maintenance to make savings. That, of course, is really just pushing the problem into the future. Are you satisfied with the programme of maintenance that is in place for the prison estate?

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands raised concern about the lack of a formal role for the Scottish Parliament in scrutinising free trade agreements generally. Although international relations is reserved, such agreements, in practice, impact on the competence of devolved Administrations in a number of areas. How would the Scottish Government like to see any future agreements progressed to improve scrutiny?

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I would like to talk about enterprise agencies and their budgets, in which there have been significant reductions. Scottish Enterprise has had its budget reduced by nearly 17 per cent in real terms; for Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the figure is 14 per cent; and for South of Scotland Enterprise, the reduction is nearly 22 per cent. How will those reductions affect the support that will be available to businesses in Scotland in 2024-25? What types of activities will be prioritised and which will be deprioritised?

Are job losses anticipated?

Yes.

I will leave it there.