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Scotland is not alone in facing challenges as a result of a rise in the prison population. There is no single reason for the increase and there is no single solution.

The Scottish Government has therefore taken a range of actions to address this, including changing the point of release for some short-term prisoners and bringing forward regulations to widen the use of home detention curfew, which enables selected individuals to be released to serve the last part of their sentence under curfew and clear licence conditions. Additional funding of £25m over two years has been provided to increase the capacity of community justice services across Scotland to support a sustained increase, where appropriate, in the use of alternatives to custody. This brings the total funding for community justice to £159m in 2025-26. We have also established an independent Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission to review how custody and community-based interventions are used, with a focus on reducing crime, supporting rehabilitation, and ensuring a sustainable prison population. Final recommendations will be delivered by the end of 2025 and will inform longer term action in this area.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on neurodevelopmental assessment waiting times.

We are clear that support should be put in place to meet a child’s requirements when they need it, rather than be dependent on formal diagnosis. A diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental condition is not required before additional support is provided in school.

Education authorities have duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. Under the Act an additional support need can arise for any reason and a diagnosis is not required before support is put in place.

My officials have engaged with all health boards to understand what provision they have in place to deliver adult neurodevelopmental assessments. In relation to NHS Ayrshire and Arran, we are exploring how to address current issues that may be limiting access to assessments for all adults who may seek them. Our understanding is that neurodivergent adults in Ayrshire and Arran can be referred for neurodevelopmental assessments where they have been diagnosed with a co-occurring mental health condition.

The Scottish Government funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Ayrshire and Arran to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We continue to scope the work required to improve Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways nationally, understanding that a stepped care model is needed to reduce waiting times for adult neurodevelopmental assessments and ensure a consistent approach across Scotland.

Scottish Government officials engage regularly with the three approved tenancy deposit schemes on a range of policy and operational matters, including formal engagement as part of monitoring each scheme for compliance with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2011.

Officials from the Scottish Government's animal welfare team meet regularly with local authorities to discuss the implementation and enforcement of the 2021 animal licensing regulations.

The Scottish Government has no plans at present to undertake a review of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) (Regulations) 2021. Section 28 of the equivalent regulations in England place a duty on the Secretary of State to periodically review the provisions of the 2018 regulations. No such duty exists under the 2021 regulations.

The Scottish Government introduced the Leases (Automatic Continuation etc.) (Scotland) Bill which will clarify and modernise the legal rights of commercial tenants to terminate their lease. The Bill will benefit commercial tenants, such as small businesses, who do not have the means to employ legal representation and the Government is committed to preparing and publishing guidance about the reforms to further support small business tenants. Further details and progress of the Bill is available Leases (Automatic Continuation etc.) (Scotland) Bill | Scottish Parliament Website.

Whilst the Independent Review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) made 22 main recommendations, some of these recommendations included further separate recommendations, for example, recommendation 8 involved nine separate recommendations.

In our response to the review we set out our position on each of the review’s recommendations:

• Agree in principle: 14 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• Agree: 18 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• To note: three recommendations

In our response to the review, the Scottish Government committed to a programme of work that would bring about transformational change to the VNS. We are delivering that programme of work through legislative and non legislative routes.

We have prioritised those recommendations which required changes to primary legislation through the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill (VWJR Bill) as outlined in our letter to the Criminal Justice Committee on 4 March 2025. The Stage 2 amendments were passed by that Committee and we will lodge the amendments at Stage 3 of the Bill. Together these amendments relate to 11 of the recommendations of the review. We will only be able to take forward these recommendations if the VWJR Bill is passed by Parliament.

The independent review of the VNS ran from spring 2022 to spring 2023. Its report which can be found at: , made 22 main recommendations for change, some of which contained multiple individual recommendations. The Scottish Government published its response to the review in October 2024, in which it accepted, or accepted in principle, the majority of these recommendations.

The complex multi-agency nature of the VNS was recognised in the approach that Scottish Government adopted in responding to the review. We therefore worked with the partners who administer the scheme: the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (which identifies relevant victims and send registration packs to them), the Scottish Prison Service (which registers victims and provides information), the Parole Board for Scotland (which considers victim representations), and victim support organisations, to properly inform our response found here: , to each recommendation.

We continue to take this partnership approach as we progress reform of the VNS, ensuring delivery of a more person-centred and trauma-informed VNS.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39643 on 15 August 2025. In relation to the number of recommendations and those that we have taken forward through legislation. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

We highlighted in our response to the Review that along with the legislation the other priority for Scottish Government was the setting up of the Victim Contact Team (VCT) which was the key innovation from the review.

Not all the recommendations were for Scottish Government to take forward, but we are working closely with criminal justice partners and stakeholders to take forward the reform of the victim notification scheme and establish the VCT. This is so we can take a holistic view of the changes and put the victim at the heart of them.

As outlined in the review response we will produce an annual report to review progress of these key reforms, later this year.