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The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) on risks and contingency plans for the prison estate, including HMP Barlinnie.

In response to recommendations made by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, SPS took forward HMP Barlinnie Programme of Works which significantly improved facilitates within the prisoner reception and healthcare areas. These works concluded in April 2023.

This was a 2-stage procurement process, and 4 contractors bid at the 1st stage Pre-construction phase of the process. These bidders were Balfour Beatty Group, Graham Construction, Kier Construction and Laing O'Rourke.

The Scottish Government are progressing a range of actions to support a sustainable reduction in the prison population, including:

• The passage of the Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025, which changes the point of release for most prisoners serving short-term sentences of under four years from following 50% of their sentence, to following 40% of their sentence.
• Increasing community justice funding by £14m this year to a total of £148m to further strengthen alternatives to custody.
• Introducing regulations that enable GPS technology to be used to monitor individuals being released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC).
• SPS continue to optimise the appropriate use of HDC which allows certain prisoners who have met the requirements of a risk assessment to spend up to 180 days in the community.
• We intend to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the use of HDC with the intention of increasing the period of time individuals can spend on release under licence conditions.
• We have increased the use of electronically monitored bail which is now available in every local authority and its use is at record levels.
• The establishment of an independent review of sentencing and penal policy which will focus on reducing reoffending and ensuring custody is used at the right time, for the right individuals.

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

The needs and welfare of all those who live and work in our prisons remains a key priority for SPS, as we continue to manage our highly complex population with a person-centred approach.

Supported centrally by SPS Headquarters, establishments have specific arrangements in place to manage their regime during periods of a high prison population. These arrangements include additional staff on shift to support both operations and residential areas and the application of local staff shortage protocols if there are insufficient staff to run a full regime safely.

SPS are unable to publish the full breakdown of costs as disclosure would be commercially prejudicial to the management of the contract, and to the contractor.

SPS can confirm that the contract contains liquidated damages for any delays.

The new national service will ensure that an offer of support is available to all eligible individuals who are serving a short sentence (under 4 years), or being held on a period of remand.

As with the current Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnership services, the new service will be voluntary, and individuals will have a choice about whether they wish to sign up to the service.

Dedicated prison-based workers will provide initial support during the custodial environment and will contribute to effective multi-agency pre-release planning. Prior to liberation, individuals will be introduced to their community worker who will provide support on release.

The following table shows the number of cases closed during the past 5 financial years which were time barred on receipt of report by COPFS. Each case may comprise multiple accused and a variety of charges. To ascertain case type would require a manual check of each report. This information is not readily available.

Criminal cases reported to COPFS

Count is cases closed using the marking - 'No Action: Timebarred On Receipt'

Grouped by financial year case closed

count is by case

Financial year closed

The measures and indicators which will be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and value for money of the new third sector national throughcare service are in the process of being developed. This work is being done in consultation with the partnership of organisations that will deliver the service (consisting of Sacro, Access to Industry, Action for Children, Apex Scotland, Barnardo’s, Circle, Families Outside and Turning Point Scotland) and Community Justice Scotland, who will be responsible for monitoring the new service on behalf of the Scottish Government.

This includes the consideration of what, if any, data will be made publicly available.

At present, the existing Public Social Partnerships Shine and New Routes provide support to around 1750 individuals each year. It is anticipated that the level of funding provided to the new service will allow an additional number of people to be supported, including men leaving a period of remand, who will be eligible for throughcare support for the first time.

The number of people supported will depend on the volume of eligible population of prisoners, and an assessment of individuals’ required level and duration of support.

The following table provides the number of people departing prison one or more times in each financial year from remand, with index sentences of one year or less, and with index sentences from greater than one year to four years or less.