The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

Transport Scotland operates two electric vehicles (a Renault Fluence and a Nissan Leaf) which represent 50% of its own fleet. The vehicles are available to all officials when carrying out their duties.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing reoffending in Scotland which has significant costs to individuals, families and our communities. Delivery of this commitment includes a focus on reducing the use of imprisonment, in particular short-term imprisonment, in favour of robust community sentences. The delivery of Community Payback Orders (CPOs), as the main community sentence in Scotland, are a critical element of this vision.

Feedback received from both beneficiaries of unpaid work projects and the individuals on CPOs makes clear that these orders are delivering positive outcomes and are helping people to move away from offending behaviour. The evidence supports this; individuals released from a custodial sentence of 6 months or less are reconvicted more than twice as often as those given a CPO and reconviction rates in Scotland are at a 17 year low. We are working with local authority Criminal Justice Social Work departments to continue to raise the profile of these orders and the benefits they are bringing to local communities. To support this, we have protected the funding for community justice services in the draft 2017-18 Scottish Budget.

For those individuals for whom a prison sentence is necessary, there is a clear emphasis on supporting their rehabilitation and reintegration as a way of preventing further offending. The Scottish Prison Service delivers a range of rehabilitation programmes which includes access to learning, skills and employability support.

We also recognise that it is vital that support is in place to enable individuals to reintegrate successfully into their communities when they leave prison. The Ministerial Group on Offender Reintegration has helped inform a range of ongoing cross-cutting work to improve access to key services and we are working with a range of partners across the public and third sector to deliver on the Group’s recommendations. This has an initial focus on developing better co-ordination of housing and health provision for people leaving custody, and to help improve their prospects for employment.

The Scottish Government expects that places of detention will ensure that mental health care and treatment is delivered in a person-centred manner to meet each individual’s needs. Scotland has a robust model of inspection and participation in international measures which contribute to an assurance that human rights are realised and that adequate services are provided.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, along with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, as well as other organisations, are members of the UK National Preventive Mechanism, which ensures that the UK fulfils its obligations under UN treaties to monitor places where people are detained, prevent ill-treatment, and ensure detention is consistent with international standards.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland carries out local visits to places of detention and mental health services across Scotland. The Commission looks at facilities to check that the care and treatment provided meets the needs and respects the rights of the individuals using these services. The Commission also undertakes thematic reviews jointly with partners such as the Care Inspectorate to ensure a joined up approach to checking that the care provided in different settings is appropriate.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05525 on 9 January 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.

Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP) is a co-produced initiative which pursues the shared vision of a Scotland where everyone is able to live with human dignity. SNAP was launched jointly in 2013 by the Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC), the then Deputy First Minister and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Scottish Government contributes to the work of SNAP in a variety of ways and values the potential which it offers for enhanced collaboration between SNAP partners, including the SHRC, public sector institutions, the private sector, the third sector, and contributors from across the whole of Scottish civil society. The Scottish Government commented on proposals for the future of SNAP which were prepared by the SHRC and presented to a meeting of SNAP partners held on 31 October 2016. The Scottish Government has also offered to assist the SHRC in taking an Improvement approach to SNAP, with a view to supporting practical delivery and enabling progress to be measured.

The Scottish Government is directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament for the action it takes to give effect to human rights obligations in Scotland. It also participates actively in international human rights monitoring mechanisms run by both the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Examinations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) were held during 2016. Scotland’s record will be further examined at the United Nations in 2017 under the Universal Periodic Review. An examination under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is expected later in the year. State party reports under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) will also be submitted in 2017.

Recent Scottish Government-led activity designed to achieve the further and better implementation of human rights in Scotland has included: a Disability Delivery Plan linked to the UNCRPD; a Race Equality Framework which reflects CERD obligations; implementation of Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, in keeping with both CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention; use of Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment to support implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC); a Fairer Scotland Action Plan which addresses a wide range of economic and social rights; action to embed dignity and respect at the heart of social security provision in Scotland; and the robust defence of civil and political rights in the face of UK Government threats to the Human Rights Act. The Scottish Government is also committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is working to integrate both human rights and the SDGs into Scotland’s National Performance Framework.

The Scottish Government participates actively in international human rights monitoring mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and welcomes the engagement of both national human rights institutions and civil society organisations.

The Scottish Human Rights Commission plays a formal part in these mechanisms and the Scottish Government’s position on the matters raised in the context of the UPR will be made public in due course. The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to hold an interactive dialogue in Geneva in 2017.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with stakeholders from across the whole of Scottish civil society. Those discussions address the full spectrum of international human rights obligations – civil, political, economic, social and cultural – as well as specific obligations set out in treaties concerning, for example, the rights of disabled people, the rights of children, the elimination of racial discrimination, the elimination of discrimination against women, the prevention of torture and inhuman treatment, the rights of national minorities, and obligations in relation to regional and minority languages. Recent meetings with stakeholders have included a roundtable event to support civil society engagement with the Universal Periodic Review process, under which Scotland’s record will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2017.

The effectiveness of human rights legislation in Scotland is assessed in a variety of ways, including in reports submitted to the United Nations and the Council of Europe and through the work of UN Special Rapporteurs and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. The Scottish Government is committed to integrating both human rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the National Performance Framework. The Scottish Parliament itself plays a central role in monitoring and evaluating compliance with relevant obligations. Scotland’s courts act as the ultimate forum in which the effectiveness of human rights legislation can be definitively tested.