Chamber and committees

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

At present there are no current plans to review the SPS Prisoners Wage Earning Policy within the current financial year. It is however anticipated that a review will be scheduled for 2024.

SPS have implemented a range of measures to lessen the impact of price increases including a temporary £1 per week supplement introduced to offset some of the price rises of canteen goods available to purchase, some of which have also been reduced to help with the rising costs.

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

SPS records the number of training interventions delivered rather than the number of staff who have received the training. The diverse range of individuals who have benefited from these interventions include both operational staff and members of the senior leadership team.

SPS Trauma-informed training is linked to a range of learning and development interventions for SPS staff. As of 10 July 2023, SPS has delivered 2608 trauma-informed training interventions to staff.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on whether all employees of Community Justice Scotland have been directed to receive training on trauma-informed justice, or how many employees have received this training to date. This is a matter for Community Justice Scotland.

The Trauma Informed Justice: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for Working with Victims and Witnesses, published on 3 May 2023 , gives organisations the information they need to develop and deliver training for their staff, tailored to the nature of the engagement those staff have with victims and witnesses. Justice organisations represented on the Victims Taskforce are working in collaboration to implement the framework and are being supported by NHS Education Scotland, the authors of the Framework.

The provisions in Part 2 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill have been designed to make sure our justice system recognises how common trauma is, understands how trauma can affect people, and adjust its ways of working to respond to those impacts as far as possible and reduce the risk of retraumatising people. The Bill creates a legal definition of trauma-informed practice for the justice sector, to help provide clarity and consistency, and it requires criminal justice agencies to have regard to trauma-informed practice in their work with victims and witnesses of crime.

Transport Scotland publishes the results of all regulated procurements through contract award notices on the Public Contracts Scotland website. The call-off contract awarded to Turner and Townsend for work associated with the provision of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, was awarded under the Scotland Excel, Engineering and Technical Consultancy Framework, Lot 9, Project and Commercial Management. This can be viewed via the Scotland Excel website through the contract register, ref 0820.

The CHFS3 Project Team is a recently formed team which sits alongside the Ferries Unit within the recently restructured Ferries Directorate at Transport Scotland. Staffing for the CHFS3 Project Team was formalised in April 2023.

(a) The team consists of permanent staff members tasked with developing and procuring the next CHFS contract.

(b) The CHFS3 Project Team currently consists of 11 FTE members, with 2 FTE posts still to be recruited.

(c) Staffing costs for the team are included within the wider staffing budget of Transport Scotland and are not identified separately.

Transport Scotland is considering the recommendations from the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 as part of their work on the Islands Connectivity Plan and subsequently will consider how best those recommendations can be reflected within the contract specifications for our lifeline ferry services.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

Our sympathies are with the victims of historical abuse.

The independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football, commissioned by the Scottish FA Board to examine what was known about abuse in Scottish Football in the past and what actions were taken as a result, acknowledged the significant physical and mental harm caused to individuals. The review delivered 97 recommendations, all of which were accepted, and which the Scottish FA is continuing to implement and report on annually. Over 80% of the review recommendations have either been implemented or are on track to be completed in the next 12 months. We believe a continued focus on the implementation of these recommendations is critical to help us ensure the safety, rights and wellbeing of children involved in football today.

In terms of justice for the survivors of historic abuse, investigation and prosecution of those guilty of abuse remains a matter for Police Scotland and the courts. In the civil justice system, the Scottish Government has removed a longstanding legal hurdle for adult victims of child abuse seeking damages claims by legislating to scrap the three-year ‘time-bar’ for all cases involving child abuse. We support the ongoing work of Scotland’s police and prosecutors to bring perpetrators to justice.

Transport Scotland publishes the results of all regulated procurements through contract award notices on the Public Contracts Scotland website. In addition to the award of contracts and conclusion of framework agreements, we also apply this requirement to call-off contracts awarded under framework agreements; these include the contract with Turner and Townsend for work associated with the provision of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.