Chamber and committees

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

SPS does have accommodation within our estate which has an average of less than 8m² of living space and is occupied by more than one person in our care.

The following list indicates the establishments where the majority of cells that are currently being utilised for double (or more) occupancy have a cell average of under 8m² living space, as at 1 November 2023:

• HMP Barlinnie
• HMP Dumfries
• HMP Edinburgh
• HMP Glenochil
• HMP Grampian
• HMP Low Moss
• HMP Perth
• HMP&HMYOI Polmont

Whilst the Council of Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) minimum standard for personal living space in prison establishments for multiple occupancy cells is 4m² plus fully-partitioned sanitary facility, not complying with this standard does not constitute a breach of the law.

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

The following table shows the number of cells as on 1 November 2023 which accommodate two or more people in our care, and have an average living space of under 8m² (excluding sanitary facilities).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22760 on 14 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. This is a matter for individual health boards who are responsible for providing healthcare in prisons and police custody suites.

The Action 15 commitment was intended to provide additional mental health recruitment to support A&E, police station custody suites, GP practices and prisons. Decisions on where posts were located were for Health Boards, based on their local priorities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22759 on 14 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22759 on 14 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22237 on‎ 10 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The TSE (Scotland) Regulations 2010 and the Retained (EC) 999/2001 Regulations place a number of requirements on Food Business Operators (FBOs), mainly related to animal identification and animal-by-products, particularly the removal of Specified Risk Material (SRM) before official post-mortem inspection and its adequate identification, segregation and disposal. However, when FSS officials identify SRM at post-mortem inspection, the FBO will be given an opportunity to rectify the meat and remove the SRM before it is reinspected, to prevent it being placed into the food chain. These lapses are classed as non-compliances and enforcement action is recorded in all cases.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is the Competent Authority for all Scottish slaughterhouses. Local Authorities do not have any TSE controls remit in these establishments which is why non-compliances are not reported by local authority area.

FSS is able to report on non-compliances since August 2020 during which time we have recorded a total of 6,246 non-compliances across all FSS approved Scottish Meat Establishments, 87 of which refer to breaches of the TSE (Scotland) Regulations 2010 or the equivalent Retained (EC) 999/2001 Regulations.

FSS is unable to extract non-compliances between 2010 and 2020, partially due to retention policies in place (for enforcement data older than 6 years) and partially linked to the way in which we record information prior to 2020 (which was a basic word document). Since 2020 we have changed our system to enable us to have more precise information.

The Scottish Government is committed to decarbonising Scotland’s buildings in line with our climate targets for net zero by 2045. We recognise it may be more challenging for some traditionally built homes and buildings to meet any energy efficiency and heating standard we propose, especially those granted listed status.

This is why officials have met with a variety of organisations with an interest in the retrofit of traditional and protected buildings. These include Historic Environment Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Under One Roof, Federation of Master Builders, and Historic Houses. The workshop on Traditional and Protected buildings, undertaken by the Tenements Short Life Working Group in October 2022 was attended by a range of stakeholders, including Changeworks, Church of Scotland, Local Energy Scotland, MAST Architects, National Trust for Scotland, Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland (RIAS), and South Seeds.

Officials plan to continue engagement with key stakeholders alongside the planned consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill. This engagement will be vital in helping us develop cost-effective and technically feasible solutions to improve the energy efficiency and transition Scotland’s traditional and listed buildings to climate-friendly heating. We are committed to ensuring that we do this while respecting and preserving the special characteristics of our buildings and places and considering the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s people.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) gathers data on the age of the dwelling broken down into six categories, pre-1919, 1919-1945, 1945-1964, 1965-1982, 1982-2002, post-2002. The age bands used reflect different architectural styles, construction techniques and building regulation standards. Therefore, we are unable to provide data specifically on dwellings built prior to 1914 but can provide data on dwellings built prior to 1919. The proportion of the housing stock in each local authority area comprised of pre-1919 buildings is included below. We estimate that around 19% of occupied dwellings were constructed pre-1919.