Chamber and committees

As part of our Agri-Renewable Strategy, the Scottish Government has engaged in the Renewables Development Initiative led by National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS). This was a three year programme aiming to provide practical knowledge to land managers and farmers interested in pursuing on farm renewable technologies through a series of on farm demonstration events. This programme ended in 2017.

As part of our ongoing process to develop the Bioenergy Action Plan, the NFUS were invited to a stakeholder event in December 2018 but were unable to attend. We recognise NFU as a key stakeholder in the development of the Action Plan and are eager to continue engagement with them in the coming months.

Procurement for the R100 programme will conclude this year. We will inform Parliament, once specific timescales for contract award become clearer. We have specified a target for completion by the end of 2021.

The information requested in S5W-20604 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

As stated in the answer to S5W-20604, the operational databases utilised by the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service are not designed to capture the length of time individuals spend on remand. This is because the databases are live, updating on a daily basis to capture movements (e.g. to/from remand) within the prison population and case progression.

The Scottish Government holds detailed historical prison population data up to 2014. This dataset was compiled using daily extracts from the live Scottish Prison Service operational database. Due to technological difficulties arising when the Scottish Government server was upgraded in 2014, it is no longer possible to support what was a complex and resource intensive data cleaning and compilation process. Since 2014, the Scottish Prison Service have continued to extract this data, but it is not currently held in an analysable format.

The Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data captured by the operational database (as well as the range of historical data held) and making more data and information accessible to users.

The Scottish Government is committed to encouraging and promoting renewable technologies, such as anaerobic digestion in Scotland. We recognise that energy from anaerobic digestion, as part of a diverse energy mix, can contribute to our renewable targets, and support the future decarbonisation of Scotland’s agriculture sector and wider energy market.

The UK Government administer a number of revenue support schemes to encourage the uptake of renewable and low carbon technologies such as anaerobic digestion. In addition to actively promoting Scottish participation in UK Government Schemes, the Scottish Government also provide grant and loan funding through a number of programmes that support renewable projects. Details of available support, at time of writing, are set out below.

UK Government Schemes

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme is a UK Government Scheme, administered via Ofgem, in which Scotland participates. The scheme provides tariff payments for heat generated from anaerobic digestion plants. The RHI scheme includes support for biogas combustion, biomethane injection to the national grid at all scales, as well as support for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants. Eligibility criteria and current tariff rates applicable, which can change depending on the date any plant receives accreditation to the RHI scheme, are available via the Ofgem RHI website.

Anaerobic Digestion schemes up to 5 MW have been supported through the UK Government’s Feed-in-Tariffs (FiT) scheme which will close to new applicants in March 2019. The Scottish Government have agreed that the FiT regine should be retained given its importamance for small scale projects and community renewables projects. The UK Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for generation over 5MW opened for applications in 2014. Anaerobic digestion over
‎ 5 MW is eligible to apply for a CfD through a competitive auction process where generators compete alongside other technologies for subsidy support.

Scottish Government Support

Electricity generation from bio-resources has historically been supported through the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) (ROS), which is now closed to new applicants.

The Scottish Government's Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) provides advice and funding support to community groups, organisations and rural small to medium enterprises (SME) looking to develop renewable energy projects. Details on how to access the support can be found at: http://www.localenergy.scot

Anaerobic digestion for district heating purposes is eligible for support through the District Heating Loan Fund.

The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) has also supported a number of projects to develop investment grade business proposals for the inclusion of anaerobic digestion within a low carbon energy system. LCITP also provide capital support for a range of low carbon demonstrator projects under an open call process. These calls are launched by the LCITP according to market demand, as appropriate.

Based on research recently commissioned to support the development of a Bioenergy Action Plan for Scotland, there are currently a reported 38 biogas to CHP sites in Scotland (excluding those at sewage treatment plants). Of these sites, 16 are waste fed and 22 are farm fed. These plants have a reported capacity of 30.8 MW utilising 866 kt of feedstock.

There are also a further 12 biomethane injection sites, of which 2 are waste fed and the remaining10 are farm fed, utilising 761,000t of feedstock to produce and estimated 188 MW gas.

We do not currently have a specific target for anaerobic digestion. However, the technology remains part of our diverse approach to renewable energy and decarbonisation. We recognise the role that anaerobic digestion may play in decarbonisation within Scotland, especially within the whisky and agricultural sectors. Scoltland's Energy Strategy, published in December 2017, sets a target for the equivalent of 50% of the energy required to meet Scotland’s heat, transport and electricity consumption to be supplied from renewable sources by 2030.

In Scotland's Energy Strategy, published in December 2017, we commited to developing a Bioenergy Action Plan for Scotland. This will provide clearer scope for the development of bioenergy in the Scottish energy system, including Anaerobic Digestion. Our approach to developing the Action Plan will apply the following guiding principles where:

• Policies to support bioenergy are consistent with the ambitions laid out in this Strategy, and with Scotland’s Climate Change Plan and Land Use Strategy;
• Bioenergy schemes deliver greenhouse gas emission reductions that help meet Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets;
• Bioenergy schemes represent good value for money, deliver benefits for communities, and help tackle fuel poverty;
• Biomass is produced and managed in a sustainable way, and should be used in heat-only or combined heat and power schemes to exploit available heat and local supply; and
• Demands on land for food, energy crops and other non-food crops are managed equitably.

We are committed to working with stakeholders to provide a supportive policy framework to aid deployment of anaerobic digestion within the wider development of our Bioenergy Action plan. We intend to publish the Bioenergy Action Plan for consultation in Spring 2019.

My predecessor confirmed in a letter dated 11 July 2017 to the Justice Committee that the Scottish Government will be taking a phased, evidence-based approach to allow us to be responsive to the changing profile of the female prison population and emerging lessons learned from development of the first 2 Community Custodial Units (CCUs). He also advised Parliament that work on the Units will respond to the changing profile and risk profile in his statement to Parliament on Community Justice on 14 September 2017.

The letter also noted that decisions on the next phase of CCUs and the remaining 3 possible locations, will be dependent on a number of factors as well as the lessons learned in bringing the first phase of CCUs into operation.

Plans for the CCUs in Glasgow and Dundee are progressing well and expected to be operational by the end of 2020.

The Scottish Government is committed to the continuation of the Air Discount Scheme and will make a formal announcement in due course. The Air Discount Scheme is notified to the European Commission under the General Block Exemption Regulation in order to ensure compliance with EU State Aid rules rather than being necessary for the scheme to function. Brexit will not impact on the continuation of the scheme.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

There are currently 383 women in custody as of 21st December 2018. They are located across 5 prisons in Scotland; HMP and YOI Cornton Vale, HMP Edinburgh, HMP Greenock, HMP & YOI Grampian and HMP & YOI Polmont. HMP & YOI Cornton Vale accommodates women only while the other establishments also accommodate men.

Details of the population at each establishment together with the respective capacities are provided in the following table.