Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed to publishing a national child protection policy, covering all aspects of child protection which will identify all the responsibilities and actions across Government that are aimed at supporting families and protecting children. As part of the national policy we will develop a plan which will be specifically focused on preventing the emotional, physical and sexual abuse of Scotland’s children. Both the national policy and prevention plan will be published as part of the same document.

Individuals and organisations can currently access data held under the current electronic monitoring scheme in accordance with, and subject to the provisions of, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

"A Consultation on Proposals for Legislation" ends on 19 May. This includes specific questions on about information and data sharing and retentions. We cannot pre-empt responses to these.

The Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children, based at the University of Strathclyde, will provide a report to me on the early findings of the programme of action on neglect in the pilot sites, by 31 March 2017. These findings will be placed in the public domain.

The Scottish Government consultation, "Electronic Monitoring in Scotland – A Consultation on Proposals for Legislation" closes on 19 May. A response will be published after that date.

"Electronic Monitoring in Scotland – A Consultation on Proposals for Legislation" is a public consultation and the Scottish Government is keen to hear from all those with an interest in this area.

We are particularly interested in the thoughts of a range of people and organisations working in the justice system, people who have been victims of crime and those with a history of offending.

This Government is committed to action to reduce reoffending and we are taking forward a range of measures to support individuals to break this cycle. These include:

• maintaining record levels of funding of nearly £95 million for Criminal Justice Social Work services to tackle reoffending and the causes of crime;

• investing an additional £4 million in 2016-17 to increase the use of robust community services which evidence shows are more effective at reducing reoffending than short prison sentences, and this funding continues in the budget for this coming financial year; and

• providing £15.5 million over 2012-17 through the Reducing Reoffending Change Fund to support third sector services delivering practical, one to one offender mentoring services to women and prolific young male offenders, a substantial advance in the support previously available across Scotland to those completing short term prison sentences.

From 1 April, our new model for Community Justice will come into effect. Statutory Community Justice Partners will jointly plan and deliver services to prevent further offending and support those who have offended to reintegrate into communities. This approach will strengthen the way services and communities work together to break the cycle of offending, reduce re-offending and ultimately make our communities safer.

The Scottish Government is consulting on legislative proposals for Electronic Monitoring until 19 May 2017.

Alongside this consultation we will be developing the potential costs associated with the introduction of GPS and alcohol monitoring technologies. These potential costs will be reflected in the financial memorandum of any Bill that we introduce.

The Scottish Government has accepted all the recommendations of the Child Protection Systems Review, including the recommendation to establish a National Child Protection Leadership Group. As I stated in my answer to the member in the chamber, given the expectations that I am setting out for others to show leadership in this area I decided that I should demonstrate my own commitment to leadership by chairing the Leadership Group.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-07232 on 15 March 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

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting food and drink producers from across Scotland, including those located across the islands and regions. The industry leadership body, Scotland Food and Drink, has recently facilitated an extensive engagement exercise with businesses across Scotland to help inform the development of a new national food and drink strategy - as part of that, ideas were sought on actions to further promote island and regional produce. The new strategy will be published soon and, when it is, we will set out our plans for further supporting the industry.