2. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which referred to the need to improve conditions across the prison estate and improve access to appropriate healthcare for those in detention. (S6O-03225)

Safe treatment and care, including access to healthcare, of everyone who is in custody, are important priorities for the Government and the Scottish Prison Service. We have developed a framework for a nationally consistent service model for healthcare delivery in prisons, and we are working with the national health service and the SPS on implementing it.

We are also investing in modernising the prison estate in order to better meet the needs of staff and prisoners, with £167 million in capital funding to be invested in 2024-25 to allow the SPS to progress construction of HMP Highland and HMP Glasgow. We are increasing the SPS’s resource budget by 10 per cent to £436.6 million in an extremely challenging fiscal environment.

The SHRC’s report highlights many areas of concern across the prison system. Despite relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions, it is clear that some prisoners do not get appropriate access to outdoor exercise, and that inappropriate use of segregation remains a concern, without improvements in practices having been secured. Those things are of concern regarding the overall health of prisoners, but can also mean that prisoners’ mental health, specifically, cannot be safely managed while they are in custody. Can the Cabinet secretary provide reassurance that those and other issues relating to conditions in detention will be addressed? Will timescales and updates be reported to Parliament?

Indeed, I will. The Government recognises the importance of access to programmes and activities that are aimed at supporting rehabilitation, recovery and mental health. Separation and reintegration units are used only when necessary and a comprehensive review of their use is being finalised by the Scottish Prison Service.

Outdoor exercise and access to healthcare, however, remain entitlements for everyone who is in the care of the SPS. Staff work hard to meet those entitlements, irrespective of a person’s location within the prison estate. We have worked with the Scottish Prison Service and the NHS to respond to the recent “HM Chief Inspector’s Strategic Plan 2022-25” following “A Thematic Review of Segregation in Scottish Prisons”, from 2023. We will work to make improvements and to better support care of individuals who are located in separation and reintegration units.