To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a further update on the Scottish Prison Service’s work to address reported noise disturbance at HMP Stirling. (S6O-03428)

As the member will appreciate, that is largely an operational issue for the Scottish Prison Service, but noise complaints continue to be taken very seriously by both me and the SPS. The SPS continues to engage with residents and their elected officials regarding the operational and infrastructural actions that it is taking to reduce the noise coming from parts of the prison. Further substantial measures will require additional investment and time to ensure that they are effective, provide value for money and meet the needs of the women who live at HMP and YOI Stirling, many of whom are vulnerable.

I know that the member is to meet the SPS shortly at HMP and YOI Stirling to discuss his concerns directly.

I appreciate that the matter is primarily for the SPS, but, at a public meeting more than six months ago, the SPS gave assurances that action would be taken and very little has happened. My constituents continually report that there has been little improvement to the disruption that they have suffered for nearly a year now. Indeed, they have been asked to be patient and to consider, as the Cabinet secretary says, the wellbeing of the inmates, but there appears to be no appreciation of the impact of the situation on my constituents’ mental health and wellbeing. Recently, the police have been called and two-year-old children are repeating the profanities that they hear over the fence.

What further action can be taken by the SPS to immediately address the issues that my constituents have raised that will deliver a fast and effective solution to a deeply distressing situation that is impacting so negatively on the local community?

I take very seriously the issues that Mr Brown raises on behalf of his constituents. I have seen some of the correspondence from his constituents and their personal testimony about the distress and disruption that they are experiencing.

I reassure Mr Brown that the Scottish Prison Service continues to work through this somewhat complex matter. Many of the women who are in the care of the Prison Service have significant needs and require intensive engagement to support them through periods of heightened state and crisis. I am informed that enhanced engagement by prison officers has resulted in a drop in the instances of excessive noise emitting from the prison, which shows that the approach is working, at least to some extent.

The SPS is also working to identify additional options that will further mitigate the noise. I assure the member that I will discuss that again with the chief executive when I next meet her.

The present situation needs to be urgently resolved for residents, staff and prisoners as we enter the 11th month of the disturbances. Residents’ children are unable to play in their gardens. Residents are subjected to swearing and abusive behaviour and language and they are suffering from sleep deprivation and stress, which results in residents having no option but to move, at a financial loss. What further pressure can we put on the Scottish Prison Service to end that misery and suffering and resolve the situation by relocating the prisoners to other parts of the prison estate?

I assure Mr Stewart—as I assured Mr Brown—that I take his concerns extremely seriously. I hear the representation that Mr Stewart has made in a very considered manner over many months. We know that the noise comes primarily from the enhanced needs unit and the segregation and reintegration unit. There are three key areas of action for the Scottish Prison Service: operational interventions, which I have mentioned; work to improve the physical estate; and monitoring and communication with those who are affected, which is vital.

However, I will again raise the issue with the Scottish Prison Service and will get back to Mr Stewart and Mr Brown.

I think that the Cabinet secretary knows that the situation is utterly intolerable for people who live near the prison. The SPS has offered mitigations, but they are not working. The whole community—the community inside the prison and the community outside it—deserves a lot better.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that, as Mr Stewart has already said, the only real option that is left on the table is to move the living quarters within HMP Stirling to a different part of the site? I simply cannot see another way to solve the problem. If there is another way of solving it, we need to hear quickly from the SPS what that is, and we need action.

I will not repeat what I have already said to other members in this exchange, but I will say to Mr Ruskell that I will discuss with the SPS what further actions can be timeously implemented to give respite to residents. I take on board his remarks and his considered view that the situation needs to be improved, both for those who live in the care of the Prison Service and for the residents.

Question 2 comes from Willie Coffey, who joins us remotely.