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The closing date for applications to the Victim Surcharge Fund from victim support organisations was 12 February 2021. Five applications have been received.

More detailed information, including amounts awarded to successful applicants, will be available once the applications have been assessed and awards have been made. I also refer to the previous answer given to PQ S5W-34365 on 1 February 2021, that stated awards will be made before the end of March 2021.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

SPS staff have previously had access to tests while asymptomatic through their Health Board if it was required.

In addition SPS staff, as members of the public, have been able to access testing when they are symptomatic and as keyworkers, SPS staff have been able to gain priority access to symptomatic testing in times of high demand through the key worker portal.

In response to multi-agency arrangements during outbreaks at HMPs Addiewell, Dumfries and Kilmarnock in February and in HMP Barlinnie in November 2020, mobile testing units were deployed by local health boards for SPS staff and the prison population.

The Scottish Government recognise the important role of legal aid providers in supporting their clients and the justice system in Scotland, and also recognise that some will have encountered financial difficulties as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic.

That is why we are making up to £9 million available up to 31 March 2021 to legal aid businesses and law centres who have had an exceptional reduction in new cases starting because of the restrictions in place. Further information on the fund, including criteria can be found at -

The Scottish Government expects all firms and law centres who may be eligible to apply, will do so. The Fund opened for applications on 10 February and as at 17 February the Scottish Legal Aid Board has received 119 applications.

As grants will be awarded based partly on information which we do not hold, but which will be provided to us by firms and law centres as part of the application process, at this stage, we cannot estimate what an average payment will be.

The Scottish Government has published its which sets out how we will work as fast as supplies allow to vaccinate everyone over the age of 18 and those aged 16 and 17 who are frontline health and social care workers, young carers or have underlying health conditions.

As of 14 February, 122,856 individuals had received their first vaccination in the Grampian area which is 25.33% of the population.

Weekly updates are published by Public Health Scotland providing more detailed breakdowns by groups vaccinated and geography:

The Scottish Government now publishes daily updates of the cumulative number of people receiving their vaccination:

Qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) will be commenced as soon as possible.

Commencement needs to aligned with the production of court rules which are drafted independently of the Scottish Government by the Scottish Civil Justice Council. We are working closely with SCJC to ensure a smooth introduction and simultaneous commencement of the substantive provision in the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 with the relevant rules of court.

It will be for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure operational readiness for the introduction of QOCS and they will be fully sighted on the commencement arrangements

Police Scotland’s Strategic Workforce Plan was presented at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Board meeting on 22 January 2021. This plan has been developed to ensure that the service is best placed to meet changing demands, and enable Police Scotland to identify the officer, staff and skills profile needed to best serve Scotland’s communities.

The recruitment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, who has recently stated that there are currently no plans to reduce police officer numbers. There are currently 17,249 police officers (as at 30 September 2020), significantly above the level inherited in 2007.

As announced in the Scottish Budget on 28 January 2021, the Scottish Government’s total budget for policing in 2021-22 will be over £1.3 billion. The SPA budget will increase by a total of £75.5m, a 6.1% increase compared to 2020-21. This will eliminate the structural deficit in Police Scotland’s budget and deliver a sustainable policing budget position. The allocation of this budget to policing priorities is a matter for the SPA and the Chief Constable.

Section 14 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 requires the Scottish Ministers to place before Parliament a report on various matters relating to the operation of the Act during the first 3 years after commencement. This includes a requirement to provide information about the experience of witnesses, including child witnesses, in court cases prosecuted under section 1 of that Act, or where a 'domestic abuse aggravation' under section 1 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 has been libelled.

Work is underway to develop a research programme to gather information on the experiences of witnesses, including children, at court to satisfy this element of the reporting requirement contained at section 14 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. This research will be undertaken within the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and will therefore seek to account for the practical and ethical issues inherent with this type of research during this difficult period whilst still satisfying the reporting requirement. The research is likely to involve a range of methods in order to meet the research aims.

Scottish Government officials have undertaken an initial information gathering exercise to establish the scope of this work and determine a suitable approach to reviewing publications and other materials provided to victims as they progress through the criminal justice system.

This initial work, which we anticipate will be completed by April 2021, will help inform next steps, which will include engagement with relevant criminal justice stakeholders.

The review referred to is a recommendation from the report ‘Transforming
Services for Victims And Witnesses’, commissioned by the Scottish Government,
COPFS and Victim Support Scotland and published in September 2020 .

The report and the range of recommendations it contains are being considered by the
Scottish Government, the Victims Taskforce and the Victim Centred Approach
Governance Group, and will help inform their work moving forward.

The Victim Surcharge Fund opened for applications by victim support organisations on 14 January 2021. Organisations have until 12 February to apply for funding. We aim to make the first payments from the Fund by the end of March 2021.

In line with our intention, as stated in published guidance, ( ) the Fund opened for applications once sufficient funding had accumulated in it. The Fund will re-open for applications on a regular basis, once sufficient funding has accumulated.

More information on applying to the Fund is available on the Scottish Government website