The Scottish Government continue to task Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to search the second hand tonnage market for appropriate vessels to support and enhance connections on Scotland’s ferries network.

CMAL have investigated some 70 vessels since 1 December 2021 of which only 1 has been deemed suitable for purchase. The vessel (MV Loch Frisa) was bought, upgraded and entered service on the Craignure-Oban service in June 2022.

The Skye Triangle Infrastructure Programme is estimated to cost around £108million in total for the three port projects: Tarbert (Harris) £23million, Lochmaddy (North Uist) £21million and Uig (Skye) £64million as budgeted following completion of the tender processes. This compares with a total budget of £95million at the time of publishing the Infrastructure Investment Plan in February 2021. The works are aimed at replacing life expired infrastructure, improving resilience and increasing the range of vessels that can use the ports.

Each of the projects are currently in the construction phase and we estimate total project spend to date to be in the region of £34million. It is the responsibility of the statutory harbour authorities undertaking the works to monitor costs and spend for each of the port projects namely; Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) for Tarbert, Comhairle nan Eiliean Siar (CNES) for Lochmaddy, and The Highland Council (THC) for Uig.

The assessments undertaken to inform ferries investments focus on direct infrastructure impacts such as route capacity and connectivity. The benefit realisation process for each project will seek to identify and maximise the positive impact of our investments. As an example of this, the recent introduction of the MV Loch Frisa was enabled by modifications works, instructed by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), undertaken at the Dales facility in Leith, and CalMac Ferries Ltd have now completed the recruitment of 38 crew for the vessel to provide the year round commutable service for Mull.

Officials met Unite the Union representatives on 13th July 2022 regarding the pay dispute with Marine Scotland seafarers and subsequently met Union representatives along with Nautilus International representatives on 19th July 2022 for pay negotiations.

The Scottish Government publishes monthly and annual information on time held on remand in the Justice Analytical Services Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Report [1] and the annual official Scottish Prison Population Statistics [2]. Official statistics for 2020-21 were published on 23 June 2022, and the June 2022 monthly figures were published on 30 June 2022.

The latest monthly report shows that on the 1st June 2022, 661 (30.4%) of the 2,176 individuals on remand had held a remand status for over 140 days. It must be noted that the remand population includes individuals whose trial has commenced but not concluded, as well as those awaiting commencement of a trial. As a result, the figures referenced above reflect only that an individual has held the same status for an extended period, but do not reflect the relationship between these times on remand and the ongoing court procedure(s) to which they relate.

The annual official statistics are a compilation of data collected over the full financial year from the Scottish Prison Service prisoner records system. To produce the annual statistics, the data needs to be processed into a longitudinal analytical dataset. This process has not yet commenced for 2021-22, so the Scottish Government does not currently hold the data requested.

[1] Justice Analytical Services Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Report, https://www.gov.scot/collections/crime-and-justice-statistics/ #justiceanalyticalservicessafercommunitiesandjusticestatisticsmonthlyreport

[2] Justice Analytical Services Scottish Prison Population statistics

https://www.gov.scot/collections/scottish-prison-population-statistics/

Access requests to commence fieldwork for the research were sent to the Lord President and Sheriffs Principal in March 2020. However, due to the rapid escalation of the pandemic and national lockdown, the judiciary collectively asked for the research to be paused. At the same time, the Scottish Government suspended all face-to-face social research to ensure public health measures were observed. For these reasons, the proposed fieldwork was paused. Fieldwork resumed in 2021, with the judiciary and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service participating remotely.

An interim findings report is due to be published on Wednesday 27 July 2022, with follow on fieldwork (including other key stakeholders) commencing in summer 2022.

Following the 2019 consultation on the future use of the Scottish Ministers’ power under section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to extend coverage of the Act, the Scottish Government is currently considering all the issues highlighted in the responses. One area of particular consideration is social care services provided on behalf of Scottish public authorities. No decisions have yet been taken. Before making any order under section 5 the Scottish Ministers have a statutory obligation to consult those to whom the order relates, and there would also be wider public consultation on any proposed order.

The Scottish Government publish official statistics on the prison population on an annual basis. The most recent annual statistics were published on the 23 June 2022 covering the financial year 2020-21 [1]. The official statistics provide information on the average daily remand population, and the number of individuals held on remand over the course of the financial year. A summary of time held by legal status (untried, convicted awaiting sentence, and sentenced) is also provided.

The annual statistics are a compilation of data collected over the full financial year from the Scottish Prison Service prisoner records system. To produce the statistics, the data needs to be processed into a longitudinal analytical dataset. This process has not yet commenced for 2021-22, so the Scottish Government does not currently hold the data requested.

[1] Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2020-21

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-prison-population-statistics-2020-21/ .

The Scottish Government has no plans to widen the statutory remit of the Care Inspectorate to include working with other public bodies to take assets into public ownership. However, we intend to strengthen the Care Inspectorate’s enforcement powers. This will include the introduction of enhanced fitness of provider requirements and financial sustainability monitoring to act as an early warning system for the deterioration of service quality or failure. These will enable the regulator to more quickly take action on poor performing services, and drive up the consistency and quality of care expected across all social care services in Scotland.

The National Care Service will allow us to improve standards across the whole of the social care sector. The current model of securing care services will be replaced by a model of ethical commissioning and ethical procurement.

As part of this the entire adult social care workforce experience fair work, introducing national pay bargaining to deliver more equitable terms and conditions. The National Care Service will design its services locally to ensure individual needs and local circumstances are taken into account. This will include continuing to work with specialist charity and third sector providers of care services.