Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12706 on 28 November 2017.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Establishment of the Victim Surcharge Fund (VSF) has taken longer than anticipated as we’ve undertaken detailed consideration and consultation with partners on the most effective mechanisms to operate and manage the VSF.

Our intention is to announce further details on the VSF, following the summer Parliamentary recess.

In the meantime, we are providing £17.9 million in 2018-19, to third sector organisations whose work supports victims of crime. This includes over £4.6 million to Victim Support Scotland, who continue to operate a Victims Fund to provide immediate and practical support to victims and their relatives in the aftermath of crime.

'Up-skirting' is covered by specific sub-sections of the voyeurism offences (i.e. sections 4A and 4B of the offences at sections 9,26 and 36 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

The available information is provided in the following tables, which have been produced from the Scottish Government’s' criminal proceedings database .

Number of people prosecuted for specific voyeurism offences¹, 2011-12 to 2016-17 .

In Scotland the system for the investigation of deaths is difference from the systems which exist in other jurisdictions within the United Kingdom. As such the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) do not hold information which would enable this question to be answered and cannot undertake the comparison requested.

The Lord Advocate is responsible for the investigation of all sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths which occur in Scotland. That is a function which the Lord Advocate exercises independently of any other person. Where a death requires investigation, this is undertaken on behalf of the Lord Advocate by COPFS. If, following the investigation, a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) is to be held, the procurator fiscal makes the appropriate application to the Court, and the scheduling of the FAI is thereafter a matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.

Where a death has occurred in another part of the United Kingdom, it is a matter for the appropriate one of Her Majesty’s Coroners, based in England and Wales or for the Coroners Service for Northern Ireland, to consider in accordance with their own systems of investigation of deaths whether a death should be investigated and whether a Coroner’s inquest should held.

Table A indicates, in relation to deceased whose deaths were reported to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service, during the financial years (1 April to 31 March) from 2010 -11 through to 2017-18, the time from the date of death to conclusion of evidence in FAIs that have been completed during this period.

Table B provides the same analysis but is specific to deceased whose deaths were reported to COPFS, during the same period, who died in prison custody, where FAIs into these deaths have had their evidence concluded.

It is important to note that there are investigations ongoing in relation to deaths of persons reported during this same period, where FAIs have yet to be concluded. Therefore the figures below, particularly in respect of the latter years, will vary in time as further FAIs are concluded.

Table A:

The table referred to in the question (Table A1) comes from the Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2016-17 National Statistics, rather than the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland report.

When police receive reports of historical crime, these are recorded in line with the legislation that pertained at the time of the incident. The heading ‘illegal homosexual acts’ is used to record a range of historical crimes (for example sodomy or indecent assault) which had they been committed from the 1 December 2010, would have instead been recorded as rape or sexual assault. This was the date the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 was enacted, which does not distinguish offences on the basis of the victim or perpetrator’s gender.

Prior to the 1 April 2018, it is possible the heading ‘illegal homosexual acts’ may also have included any historical report of consensual sexual activity between adult males, which would be legal today. However, as demonstrated below, this is likely to have happened to a negligible extent, if at all. From the 1 April 2018 onwards, the guidance used by Police Scotland to record ‘illegal homosexual acts’ now notes that any reports of historic sexual acts between consenting same sex partners, which would if occurring today in the same circumstances no longer be a crime, will not be recorded as crimes regardless of the legislation in place at the material time. This amendment was made by the Scottish Crime Recording Board.

The data the Scottish Government receives from Police Scotland is a general count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority. We do not receive further details on the characteristics of these crimes and so are unable to provide a further breakdown of the 111 incidents recorded in 2016-17. However, in September 2017, the Scottish Government published a report presenting information about the characteristics of crimes recorded by the police for the ‘Other sexual crimes’ category. This project was based on a review of almost 1,200 randomly selected police crime records from 2016-17, including 35 out of the 111 ‘illegal homosexual acts’ referred to in the question. All of the 35 cases reviewed happened prior to 1 December 2010, and related to non-consensual sexual activity with a male victim. None of the cases randomly sampled related to consensual sexual activity.

I understand Mr McArthur’s question to refer to 54 cases involving deaths in prison custody which are referred to on the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) website. The SPS website does not record information about the progress of an inquiry, for example whether it has commenced or has been scheduled by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS).

Of the 54 cases referred to, a FAI has in fact been concluded in 8 cases and in 6 of those 8 the Sheriff’s determination has been issued. In 14 cases, FAI proceedings have commenced and preliminary hearings have been heard. In 3 of those 14 cases, a FAI has been scheduled. Investigations are ongoing in respect of the 32 remaining cases, with an application for a FAI anticipated to be made to the respective Sheriff Clerks in respect of 13 of those 32 cases by the end of August 2018.

In each of the 54 cases a medical certificate of cause of death has been issued by a medical professional, normally by a pathologist, following a post mortem examination instructed by the Procurator Fiscal. This information has been communicated to the nearest relatives in accordance with the Family Liaison Charter which I laid before the Scottish Parliament in September 2016. In addition, in relation to all FAIs nearest relatives are kept advised of significant developments as the investigation proceeds towards an FAI.

The progress of a death investigation depends on a variety of factors. While most death investigations conclude once a cause of death is known, other cases require further investigation, which may include complex technical and medical issues requiring the instruction of experts. Equally, where a FAI is to be held, the speed with which it proceeds to the conclusion of evidence, and, thereafter, to issue of the sheriff’s determination depends on a variety of factors, including the scale and complexity of the inquiry and the other demands on court and judicial time.

The annual average population in custody in 2017-18 was 7,464.

Further details, including breakdowns by establishment and custody type will be provided in SPS’s annual report in July.

More detailed weekly data can also be found at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Information/SPSPopulation.aspx

We meet regularly with Scotland’s grid operators and other stakeholders and partners (such as Citizens Advice Scotland, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise) to discuss network issues, including distribution network charging. This engagement also includes matters such as Ofgem's Targeted Charging Review of Residual Charges, which will have an influence on the distribution of network costs across Great Britain.

As detailed in my answer to question S5W-13174, the Scottish Government works to promote a fair network charging regime for all Scottish energy consumers. We recognise that national network pricing would redistribute costs between Scottish consumers rather than reduce them. The Scottish Government is working to deliver measures to reduce overall energy costs for all Scottish consumers by improving energy efficiency, for example, and we encourage consumers to switch supplier when they would make savings from doing so. A Scottish Government Energy Summit held in January challenged the major energy suppliers to do more to help people who are struggling to pay their energy bills and we are working with energy suppliers to identify measures to support vulnerable customers and tackle the wider issue of fuel poverty.

Scotland’s Choice made 23 separate recommendations, almost all of which have been incorporated into current Government policy. The Scottish Government’s Justice Vision and Priorities reflects the principles of Scotland’s Choice that the use of prison should be reserved for those whose offences are so serious that no other punishment will do and that our prisons should promote rehabilitation and reintegration. Our wider Community Justice policy priorities are also informed by this report, in particular around the increased use of diversion and community sentences as a way to support reductions in reoffending.

In terms of recommendations which have not been taken forward:

• The Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 was not implemented and therefore the recommendation relating to that legislation is no longer relevant.
• The Scottish Government has retained the practice of Home Detention Curfew (HDC) as an established mechanism for preparing individuals for release. There are no plans to revoke HDC.
• The Scottish Government has not set a specific target for the prison population nor do we intend to. Nevertheless, we are committed to reducing the use of imprisonment and there are a wide range of actions we are taking that will do this including the increased use of diversion, bail, and community sentences.