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We can confirm that children under 12 count towards the maximum of two households permitted to meet indoors in a public place. However they do not count towards the total number people permitted to gather indoors. For example a children’s party with ten children from ten separate households would not be allowable under these restrictions, but six adults and four children from two households could meet.

The guidance is kept under constant review to ensure it is clear and consistent and up to date, and we are grateful for the Member for raising this matter. We acknowledge that further clarity was required on this issue and we have updated the guidance accordingly.

As outlined to Parliament on 25 November, lateral flow devices will be used to offer testing to designated care home visitors on the day of their visit. This will be rolled out to up to 12 early adopter care homes across four Local Authorities by 7 December, and to all care homes from 14 December. Training and support will be provided and where a care home cannot initially use Lateral Flow devices, PCR Tests will be provided to support visiting.

Testing is only one measure of protection against COVID-19, alongside a strong emphasis on robust infection prevention and control measures, including the use of PPE, the extended use of face masks, physical distancing and good hygiene.

As outlined to Parliament on 25 November, lateral flow devices will be used to offer testing to designated care home visitors on the day of their visit. This will be rolled out to up to 12 early adopter care homes across four Local Authorities by 7 December with full roll-out across all care homes completed as soon as possible thereafter, and from 14th December to all care homes with PCR as the interim backup where needed.

Twice weekly testing using lateral flow devices will be rolled out to healthcare professionals who visit care homes from the beginning of December, as part of a wider extension of routine testing including all patient-facing NHS Staff in hospitals, in the Scottish Ambulance Service and in COVID assessment centres. From 11 January this will be extended to non-NHS staff including independent contractors or statutory body staff who attend care homes or provide care at home at least twice per week and have to be within 1 metre of residents, clients or patients.

Testing is only one measure of protection against COVID-19, alongside a strong emphasis on robust infection prevention and control measures, including the use of PPE, the extended use of face masks, physical distancing and good hygiene.

Restitution Orders are a new financial penalty to be made available to courts, for those convicted of assault on police, under section 90(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. The legislation to introduce the Restitution Fund was laid in parliament on 2 December 2020 and is due to come into force on 10 February 2021, if approved by Parliament.

Maximising the availability of naloxone, particularly amongst emergency responders, has been a key aspect of the work of Scottish Government and the Drug Death Taskforce in our effort to tackle drug deaths, as such I welcome that Police Scotland have approved this initiative.

The trial is being led by Police Scotland and it would be for Police Scotland to provide any specific details around safeguards that they plan to put in place. While I acknowledge the Scottish Police Federation’s view, it is important to emphasise that there is an extremely robust evidence base to support the use of naloxone. Naloxone is not a new medication, it has been available and in use for over 50 years and will have been used to save countless lives not just in Scotland, or the UK, but across the globe. At this current time I am not aware of any significant concerns that exist among experts, stakeholders or medical professionals as to its safety. The trial will undoubtedly be closely monitored and appropriately evaluated by Police Scotland.

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

SPS currently publishes a daily update on our website which includes:

• The number of people who are self-isolating in our prisons;
• The number of prisons that this total is held across; and
• The number of people in our care who have tested positive for COVID-19.

SPS also publishes a weekly update of this data. This is published on a Monday, and details the position of the previous Friday. This data is broken down to establishment level. Information on the impact of COVID on staffing levels is also provided as part of this weekly update.

The reason for the difference in the figures is because a large number of people were self-isolating as a precautionary measure at HMP Barlinnie on Friday 13 November came out of isolation over the weekend and therefore the number on Monday 17 November was significantly reduced.

The decision by the SPS to suspend their Throughcare Support Service (TSS) is an operational matter, and rightly a decision for SPS management to make – and not for Scottish Ministers to direct. The response from the Interim Chief Executive of the SPS in the answer to S5W-33096 indicates that the SPS will keep the issue of throughcare support under consideration as part of recovery from COVID, but has not set a timescale.

Whilst the SPS do not have Throughcare Support Officers in place, work to support individuals in preparing for their release does continue, whether that be through Personal Officers, Link Centres, facilitating access by a range of partners, data sharing, and effective release management. SPS have established weekly reports to each local authority in Scotland detailing new entrants and scheduled releases from prison, to help local services plan activities to support to prison leavers.

This Government has maintained substantial annual funding to third sector throughcare services across Scotland, and increased investment in these services to £3.7m in 2020-21, which has supported the expansion of the offer of New Routes throughcare service to eligible male prisoners of all ages. These services are continuing to work in partnership with the SPS to offer prisoners voluntary throughcare support, and are working flexibly to continue to offer support to individuals in the community despite COVID.

Furthermore, prisoners released from long sentences or with specific post-release orders are placed under supervision of Criminal Justice Social Work, and all short sentence prisoners are entitled to request voluntary throughcare support from their local authority up to 12 months after their release.

The COPFS Victims Right to Review Annual Report 2019-20 was published on the COPFS website on 27 November 2020.

The Report can be accessed at the following link:

The Lord Advocate and I met with victim support organisations on 28 th July
2020 to discuss a number of issues, including the Victim Notification Scheme.
A summary of this discussion is captured in a follow-up letter we issued to
victim support organisations on 1 st September 2020 and which has been
published on the Scottish Government's website .

I am committed to bringing all relevant partners together to discuss the Victim
Notification Scheme and determine where improvements could be made.

Scottish Government officials also hosted a session on 7 October 2020 to discuss
lessons learned from the early release of short-term prisoners under The Release
of Prisoners (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. Topics discussed
included information sharing between partners and the Victim Notification Scheme.
The session included representatives from Victim Support Scotland, the Scottish
Prison Service and other third sector and statutory justice partners.

After the necessary secondary legislation was laid in Parliament, the Scottish Government issued a press release on 24 August 2020 stating Part 2 of the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 will come into force on 30 November 2020. This news release publicised new guidance for the disclosure reforms which was published on the same day. Attached is a link to that press release for information.

As I have explained previously in Parliament, commencement of Part 2 of the 2019 Act was always going to take some time due to, for example, significant changes being required to be made to Disclosure Scotland’s IT systems as well as relevant staff having to be trained. In addition, Covid-19 resulted in commencement plans having to be re-arranged due to Disclosure Scotland activating their business continuity plan and prioritising their safeguarding work.

Part 2 of the 2019 Act is being commenced 16 months after Royal Assent was received for the 2019 Act (30 July 2019 to 30 November 2020). Equivalent changes in legislation for England and Wales were commenced 22 months after Royal Assent was received for their legislation.

By commencing Part 2 of the 2019 Act on 30 November 2020, this helps ensure employers, insurance companies and other organisations have enough time to understand the recently published guidance and ask any questions they may have. This timescale also helps ensure affected individuals are also aware of what the changes mean for them.