I have to put on the record the fact that levels of crime in Scotland are currently at 40-year lows. That is a tribute to the work of police officers who are focusing on tackling crime in localities.

I accept that police numbers have fallen. The last census was at the end of June, when police numbers were sitting at 16,207. That is lower than the Government expected, given that we had provided the police with record funding of £1.55 billion, and I expect those numbers to increase in the next census. It should be of some reassurance to Mr Ross that police numbers are strengthening as a consequence of the significant levels of recruitment that the chief constable and Police Scotland are undertaking at the moment.

There is an inherent contradiction in Mr Ross’s question. His accusation is that crime is not being pursued but that the prisons are full. If the prisons are full, that suggests to me that crime is being pursued and that more individuals are being convicted and imprisoned. [ Interruption .]