"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.

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.

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.

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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-007710 on 16 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 total number of individual instances of electronic monitoring in each Local Authority in each financial year of the current contract, which commenced in April 2013, are set out in the following table. An individual may have been subject to electronic monitoring on more than one occasion. Figures for 2016-2017 cover the period from April 2016 to February 2017.

The Scottish Government understands that John Finnie MSP intends to forward a member's Bill on physical punishment of children. The Scottish Government will consider this Bill once it is available.

The Scottish Government will work with key partners across the children's sector to develop the consultation on proposed amendments to section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 (Cruelty to persons under sixteen).

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring electronic monitoring is tailored to reflect the needs, risks and circumstances of the individual. The expansion of electronic monitoring, including use of GPS, will increase the options available to manage and monitor those who offend in the community and to further protect public safety.

GPS technology to monitor those who offend is used in a number of other jurisdictions. The introduction of GPS will depend on the outcome of the consultation and any subsequent parliamentary process.

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.

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.