 That's not too bad. The first item of business is a statement by Hamza Yousaf on the Scottish Government's response to the expert review of mental health services for young people entering and encusted at the age of European youth offenders' appallment. The cabinet secretary will take quick questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. It's a call on Hamza Yousaf. Cabinet secretary, please. Thank you, Mr President. Last November I asked her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons for Scotland to carry unig ddaeth hefyd yn cysylltu gyda lawer darlau tragiol i gael iawnm hyfrifyddiadau ac William Lindsay-Brown ar Bridgehill ddechrau. Rwy'n ddigwydd gael i'r cyfrifyddiadau i gyfryd yr oedd yn fawr i amserol i'r erioedau, ac i'r allai gael eu hunan ymddigol i'r hieddemadau a ανthoedd i'r mynd i gael iawnm hyfrifyddiadau ymddigor ac i'r llyfriddodau i'r llyfriddiadau i'r cyfrifyddiadau rhoi i'r llyfriddiadau, ac i'r llyfriddodau i'r llyfriddiadau of their talent and potential contribution. The purpose of this review is to consider the arrangements for young people with mental health and wellbeing needs entering and in custody. A fatal accident inquiry is mandatory whenever someone has died in legal custody and the cases of Katie Allen and William Lindsay Brown, the Crown Office, is undertaking independent investigations in advance of mandatory fatal accident inquiries. It was therefore not the purpose of the review to investigate the specific circumstances surrounding either of those deaths. The Inspector of Prosecutions in Scotland is currently undertaking a follow-up review of the thematic report on FAIs that was published in August 2016. At Lord Advocate's request, this follow-up review will consider the scope and merits of prioritising the death investigation process when a young person dies in custody. The follow-up report is due to be submitted to Lord Advocate this summer. Separately, Scottish Prison Service is considering what more can be done to improve the transparency of information about apparent suicides in Scotland's prisons, pending formal determination by an FAI. Clearly, however, our priority must be to aim to prevent as far as possible the circumstances that can give rise to the risk of suicide in prison. I am very grateful for Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons and to Dr Helen Smith, who has worked with her to oversee the review for the comprehensive and robust work that she carried out. Both the mental health review and the routine inspection report of Polmont recognise the good work at Polmont and highlight the hard work, compassion and dedication of front-line prison and healthcare staff. I am very grateful to the management and staff at Polmont for the open and constructive way in which they have engaged with the review and also informed us recommendations. The review by the chief inspector and Dr Helen Smith is comprehensive and is wide-ranging. The review makes some important and challenging findings, highlighting the heightened vulnerability of young people and remand, and those in early days of custody, the damaging impact of social isolation, the vital importance of good information sharing between agencies and many more issues. I put in record my own appreciation for the staff at Polmont, the overwhelming majority of whom I know care very much about the young people that they work with. There are positives in both the inspection and the expert review, however, Presiding Officer, as you would expect, I intend to focus my remarks in the substance on the areas of challenge and improvement. An action group, including relevant officials from across Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and the NHS, has been convened to oversee progress across the numerous review recommendations. Some of the recommendations will be taken forward under existing Scottish Government strategies. When I met the parents of Katie Allen in November last year, I stated my commitment to respond to the concerns raised by the tragic death of both Katie and William. On Monday, I wrote to both families to offer to meet with them. I very much hoped to have that opportunity to discuss the findings of the review with them and very much look forward to value their input as we take forward our own response. It is clear from the review that necessary actions extend beyond Polmont. In terms of turning to some of the substantial recommendations from the expert review, no one going through the justice system should be harmed by the failure of agencies to fully share information with one another when data protection legislation allows it. The Health and Justice Collaboration Improvement Board, which draws together senior leaders from health and social care, justice and local government, is exploring how public bodies can make sure that decisions are as fully informed as possible. That board is mapping the flows of information in the health and justice system. Ministers will work with partner agencies to build on that work in order to consider and take forward actions in response to the recommendations, including what immediate actions we can take to improve information sharing between the different agencies, supporting the care of young people entering and in Polmont. The Scottish Prison Service has confirmed that it will develop a new health and wellbeing strategy. That will include a bespoke mental health strategy for young people. The review found that the talk to me, the SPS suicide prevention strategy, is to quote robust and generally followed well at Polmont. That strategy, which is relevant when the risk of suicide is deemed to be immediate, is overseen by the national suicide prevention risk management group, which includes representatives from expert partners, including Samaritans, breathing space and families outside. The review makes a number of recommendations relevant to the talk to me strategy, and the Scottish Prison Service will work with that group to consider those and ensure that their approach to suicide prevention for young people is effective, including the approach for people coming off of talk to me. The national group is also developing a self-harm policy. I will oversee work to consider lessons from the use of safer spaces in different settings, including secure care, which may allow safer environments to be more supportive and less sterile. Work to address the recommendations that relate to staffing and training and support for staff at Polmont are well under way. In terms of mental health staffing in prisons, we have committed through Action 15 in our mental health strategy to increase access to the overall mental health workforce by 800 additional staff. That will be supported by investment rising to £35 million by 2021-22. This month, the minister for mental health has written to all chief officers of integrated joint boards and chief executives of the NHS boards to highlight the importance of recruiting additional mental health workers in prisons under that commitment and asking them to ask them of details of how they will plan recruitment for that financial year. The review report highlights that those who are young and in the early stages of custody are especially vulnerable to suicide. Everyone entering prison is assessed for the risk of suicide. Inspectors were impressed by many aspects of the interactive induction at Polmont, highlighting the compassion of staff undertaking mission and the role of peer mentors. However, we know that the time that people currently spend on remand is largely unproductive. That review underlines how potentially damaging periods spent on remand can be for individuals. The number of young people aged under 21 years old held on remand in Scotland has fallen by a quarter over the past five years. However, we will continue to work to ensure that alternatives to remand are available for young people and to support those young people held on remand. The issue of body searches as part of the regime within prisons was highlighted by the family of Katie Allen in particular. I can confirm today that, as a priority, SPS will stop the routine body searching of under-18s in custody. The Scottish Prison Service will evaluate the impact of those changes after a year. In line with the development of the new female custodial estate, SPS will adopt a more trauma-informed approach to its searching process for women. Supporting positive family contact throughout someone's time in prison has wide-ranging benefits for that individual and their family. It reduces the risk of re-offending and supports positive relationships, which contribute to good mental health and mitigate vulnerability. With a view to supporting that, I can confirm that I have asked the Scottish Prison Service to explore the options for implementing a pilot of in-cell phones across HM-Y-O-I paulment, with necessary controls, of course, in place. Prisoners in Scotland can access telephones in communal areas at certain times only. In-cell phones have the potential to contribute to prisoners' wellbeing by making family contact significantly easier. They also have the benefit of improving access to national helpline services and that technology can offer the potential to develop telehealth services and support for wellbeing in prisons. We will explore the options that are available as we take forward a pilot, but we will ensure that the prison service retains control over the phone numbers that prisoners can access and the ability to monitor calls. In terms of monitoring our progress, we remain committed to improving outcomes for young people in the community and, of course, in custody. I, along with relevant ministerial colleagues, will hold a round table with key partner agencies before the end of the year to review our progress. It should not take the tragedies such as the death of Katie Allen and William Lindsay for services to improve. I am deeply saddened by what has happened to those two young people and by any life that is lost in our care. We know that young people who commit offences and become involved in the criminal justice system are also often the young people who have experienced multiple trauma and those who are the most vulnerable. It is our duty to ensure that we do everything possible to help them to rehabilitate when necessary and to keep them vitally safe from harm during the time that they are in our care. The expert review is substantial. We will work on the many recommendations that contain them. Our ultimate aim is to oversee the continued fall in the numbers of young people entering our criminal justice system. As a progressive society, it is important that we have transparency, we have a trauma-informed approach, but above all, a compassionate justice system that understands the often complex reasons why people end up in prison and believe in their ability to rehabilitate. I will endeavour to keep Parliament updated on our response to the expert review. Thank you very much. I have about 20 minutes for the cabinet secretary to take questions on his statement. We wish to ask questions to press the request to speak buttons now. There is no time in hand this afternoon, so I am relying on you to be disciplined. We will see how it goes. I, too, would like to offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends affected by the tragic deaths of Katie Allen and William Lindsay last year. Thank you also to the chief inspector of prisons and to Dr Helen Smith for their work in forming the review, as well as to the cabinet secretary for foresight of the statement. Prevention, of course, is key. The SPS has said that it will develop a new mental health strategy for young people. Can I ask the cabinet secretary when we can expect to see that? And can I also ask the cabinet secretary when he will report back to the Parliament on the steps taken to improve communication across the justice system and those to ensure the risks and vulnerabilities of young inmates are given careful consideration, particularly in the initial three months of custody. Those issues have been of specific concern in the report. The cabinet secretary has highlighted the desperate need to recruit more mental health workers in prisons. I am pleased to see that inclusion, but on the basis that, as of the end of April this year, just six additional whole-time equivalents have been recruited. What exact steps will be taken to vastly improve the trajectory? Annie Wells for her questions and the very constructive manner in which she asked them as well. In terms of the timeline, although Annie Wells will forgive me, the Scottish Prison Service is rightly taking a really informed approach by talking to the partners, some of which I mentioned in my remarks, to develop that bespoke mental health strategy for young people. I will ask the chief executive of the prison service to write to Annie Wells directly to give her more detail about the steps that they are taking to develop that mental health strategy, bespoke mental health strategy for young people and some of the timelines that are associated with that. In terms of the issue around remand, in particular, I could not agree more with what we said and I hope that I highlighted that in my remarks. If I can be very honest and frank, of course, and I think that she will understand this, I am sure that she will, that this is not entirely in my gift in terms of who goes to remand or not. The judiciary is rightly independent and we all accept that independence and guard fiercely that independence of the judiciary. What I can do, and what is absolutely in the Government's gift to a large extent, is to work with partners to create robust community alternatives and to work on things like we are doing with the management of offenders bill, which are alternatives to necessarily remand such as bail supervision, electronic monitoring and so on and so forth. We will continue to do that. In terms of what action is being taken, I mentioned in my remarks that the minister for mental health is here, that the minister has written to the health boards to ask them what they will do in this financial year. We are not waiting around for future years and so on and so forth, but it has asked what has been done in this financial year to help to recruit more mental health workers and to our prisons. I am sure that the minister for mental health is here. We will be happy to furnish Annie Wells with any further details that she has required. The recent tragedies of Katie Allen and William Lindsay Brown highlight deeper problems of death and suicides in Custain. I would like to associate with my remarks to the cabinet secretary and Annie Wells. We agree that all steps to protect the welfare and physical health associated with being in custody has to be addressed. Will the cabinet secretary accept all seven recommendations in the report? I am sure that he agrees that we cannot afford to make the same mistakes. However, how will the cabinet secretary ensure that talk to me is not simply a tick box exercise? When will training come in for prison staff who have asked for and need specific training on mental health disorders and dealing with the welfare of young people? An issue highlighted by Katie Allen's family that many people in custody will have mental health problems just because they are in custody and dealing with that is important to train our staff. Finally, in the case of William Lindsay Brown, it highlighted the issue of secure places. The reduction in 2617 from 90 to 84 places does not give the courts the disposals that they might need in certain cases. When will the cabinet secretary act to ensure that appropriate placing of young people where appropriate in secure places and not the prison estate is going to be more widely available? Pauli McNeill, for her questions and some of her remarks, if I can give her some assurance, when it comes to talk to me that is about the immediate potential vulnerability of an individual at that moment in time, what I have confirmed today and I have reiterated that in my response to Annie Wells is that SPS will work on developing a bit-spoke mental health strategy for young people. Similarly, if she was trying to help, I am sure that the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service would be happy to talk Pauli McNeill through how they are going to develop that in an iterative process. I hope to give you reassurance—I think that I mentioned this in my statement—but to give you that additional reassurance, training is well under way. Again, if she wants me to facilitate contact with the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, I am sure that Pauli McNeill will be happy to meet and give detail of how that training is developing and how they are rolling out that training to their staff across the prison estate. Although we are focused rightly and understandably on young people here, particularly in the face of those terrible tragedies, that is an issue that affects the adult population in our prisons as well. It is important that, although I talk about a bespoke mental health strategy for young people, there will be a mental health strategy for those right across the prison estate. I say to Pauli McNeill on wider issues around secure care. The Deputy First Minister is here and he and I work closely on the agenda. There has been action that has been taken since the terrible tragedy of William Lindsay. As of today, there are available secure beds and secure units. As I have said to Pauli McNeill on occasion, I know that she understands that that is an issue with a lot of nuance and complexity. There have been reductions in admissions from Scotland and secure units that have to have a very high level of occupancy in order for them to be able to continue providing those services. Therefore, there are a number of cross-border referrals that come in. There are options for the Scottish Government to consider and potentially purchasing space and so on and so forth, but those have complexities. However, we are working through them and give an absolute assurance that we are working through them. Of course, in writing, I can furnish Pauli McNeill with more detail on that, but let her be reassured that, as things stand today, there is availability of secure beds in our secure estate. I appreciate that this is a very sensitive matter indeed, but that has taken seven minutes and two questions. I have 12 people who want to ask questions, so please succinct questions and succinct answers. I am not missing the point, but I am trying to hone it down. Mr Finlay and Rodeau, you will set an example followed by Liam McArthur. No pressure there, Presiding Officer. Thank you. Condolences and thanks that others have expressed as well. Cabinet Secretary, you talk about a compassionate justice system. Your statement acknowledges that the manage is largely unproductive. We talk about ensuring alternatives. There is mention of safer space in different settings. Is there some real creative thinking put into that so that those safer spaces do not necessarily always mean confinement, please? Yes, I cannot agree more with John Finlay on that. It is a very well-made point. I said in my statement that safer space does not mean sterile space, and that is the thinking that is going on in Scottish Prison Service. Again, if you would like to speak to the Scottish Prison Service, you can give him some assurances on that, but he is absolutely right to raise the point that he does. Liam McArthur, followed by Rona Mackay. Thank you. The tragic death of Katie Allen and William Lindsay ensure that we must learn the lessons. I also pass on thanks to Chief Inspector and Dr Smith for a third report. Much of the Cabinet Secretary's statement is very welcome, including the pilot on in-cell phones. More than two years ago, the Scottish Government promised that prisons would share in the roll-out of 800 new mental health workers. Can the cabinet secretary clarify how many of the 800 will be based in prisons at the end of that process? I have already mentioned in my statement and, of course, questions to Annie Wells that the Minister for Mental Health has written to health boards to ask them about their plans in this financial year. I will ask the Minister for Mental Health to write to Liam McArthur to give detail of the responses that have been received, but there is a priority because we understand the need that is in our prisons, particularly among our young people in the custodial estate. Welcome that the cabinet secretary mentioned that the report highlights compassion and dedication of front-line prison and healthcare staff. I understand that the Scottish Prison Service and NHS partners have already undertaken a range of actions in recent months to improve health and wellbeing support in Polmont. Can the cabinet secretary outline what work is already under way? There is quite a lot of work on the way. Again, if I would like more details, I am sure that the prison service can furnish them with them. For an example, refresher training for the prison service suicide prevention strategy talked to me has been delivered to 95 per cent of available staff. Implementation of intensive training for staff in residential areas at Polmont and mental health first aid for young people has commenced. An additional senior manager was appointed in December 2018 with specific responsibilities for overseeing suicide prevention strategy and suicide awareness. The health board has also been working very closely with Polmont NHS Fourth Valley in giving over resources in relation to senior staff who have been appointed to strengthen leadership and support. Many other things have happened. Again, I do not have time, but Llebron y Macai could get in touch with the Scottish Prison Service. He will be able to give us a lot more detail. Liam Kerr followed by Angus MacDonald. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to come back to the cabinet secretary's remarks earlier on remands. The report notes that young people felt they struggled to access services when they were on remands. What will the cabinet secretary do to ensure that those who are on remands have appropriate access to activities and services? Of course, I continue to try to see a reduction in the number of remands. That is where our focus will be, but he is right to say, well, what would you do for those who are on remands? We will continue to fund and work with the prison service and for sector operators to help to provide services for young people in our care. It is important that we focus on reducing the level of remand in Liam Kerr. I have had many discussions of the fact that we are both in agreement that remand is far too high in Scotland in terms of our proportion of our prison population, and we are almost double that in terms of jurisdictions nearby in England. The focus will be on the alternatives to remand, community justice alternatives, potential bail supervision, electronic monitoring, all those have to have appropriate safeguards, of course. I appreciate that, but the focus has to be on reduction in the number of remands. What the review has done has placed the focus on the support and the intense support that is needed in a young person's first few days in remand, or indeed, be it in custody thereafter. Angus MacDonald, by Monica Lennon. As the cabinet secretary stated, it is clear from the review that the necessary actions require to extend beyond polemant. Can the cabinet secretary outline how progress will be monitored when taking forward the new recommendations at polemant and elsewhere? I hope that, by having some of my ministerial colleagues here to my right and my left, it is a demonstration of the cross-portfolio and cross-governmental importance that we attach to the agenda. I mention in my statement that it is worth reiterating that an action group that will include relevant officials from across the Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and the NHS has been convened already to oversee progress across the review's recommendations, be remain committed absolutely to improving outcomes for young people in custody, and I, alongside my ministerial colleagues, will hold our own table with key partner agencies before the end of the year to review our progress. I also mention that I hope to meet the families and I think that there is a date to meet next week with the family of Katie Allen. I would like them and others who have been affected to help us to shape that response. I think that it is hugely important for us to listen to their concerns and, of course, their real-life experience in terms of polemant and custody and, indeed, the justice system more broadly and to feed in their views on how we shape the response in the future. I am interested to understand why the HMI inspection report did not look into the culture of bullying that was highly disimpleven inspections that date back as far as 2003. The cabinet secretary will be aware that Katie Allen's death certificate regards her cause of death as hanging, but the SPS website registers Katie's death as not determined awaiting FAI. If that has happened in England or Wales under the Ministry of Justice, that might have been recorded as suspected suicide awaiting FAI. It just does not feel quite right to be so. I wonder if the cabinet secretary agrees that we need greater transparency here on how we might achieve that. Can I say on Monica Lennon's first point—I thank her for both her questions—that she is within our rights to write to the inspector, who is independent, to ask her any questions around the inspection report or the expert review. The inspection report of polemant is very thorough. It spoke a lot about the workforce. I am paraphrasing slightly, but I do not think that I am too far off when she described the workforce as being compassionate, committed workforce, and the vast majority of polemant staff, I do not doubt, are just that. She did look in certainly very close scrutiny on the workforce, but if Monica Lennon has any specific questions about that inspection, then she would be right to go to the independent inspector and ask those questions. On the second question that Monica Lennon asks, I am in agreement. I mentioned in my statement that transparency is hugely important. I understand the dilemma that the Scottish Prison Service has when it comes to an FAI, a faithful accident inquiry. I know that they have felt that they have to be extremely careful about what they say publicly or what is put in the public domain before a determination has made an FAI. I am notwithstanding that, where there are other examples, such as in England and Wales, I think that there are things that we can do to improve the communication and transparency in the openness, which is so important for public confidence. That is one area that has been explored and taken forward, as I speak. I think that Margaret Mitchell might have to be the last one, I am afraid, with the length of the answer. I appreciate why, in such circumstances, they are longer. I hope that other members understand that, too. The cabinet secretary mentioned access to in-cell phones for young people, and I look forward to following that up. What additional support is available to the families of young people, particularly those being held on remand at HM Pullment? We will continue to invest in the prison estate and, at the moment, that investment is focused on the female custodial estate, because the new community custody units that we have, for example, are designed very much to provide help with that family support. On Pullment, the pilot of in-cell phones is very exciting. There are, of course, a potential for them in relation to family connections, which is hugely important. What I would also say to Emma Harper is that the prison visitor centres that we help to fund are really, really important. Sometimes they can get negative publicity from particular elements in our media, which I think is unfair, but those prison visitor centres are hugely important in that family contact. Family relationships are hugely important in relation to our young people. Where the prison service has not got that right, I think that there are plenty of recommendations for us to take forward in relation to Pullment specifically. That is why we are piloting the in-cell phones in Pullment first and foremost, as opposed to any other parts of the prison estate. During the short inquiry into secure places and mental health provision, Scotland Justice Committee had the transition between secure places and Pullment can be vital. Some vulnerable people benefit from close personal relationships formed there, only for those to be broken when they are 18 and near the end of their term at the place that they have to transfer to Pullment. Can the cabinet secretary undertake to look at the transition rules and to ensure that they are not so inflexible that we undo months of good work when young people have already undertaken in secure care? Yes, I am happy to explore with my colleague the Deputy First Minister those issues around transition. I think that it is a very important point that Margaret Mitchell raised. Can I also make mention of a point that is very related to that, which the review shone a real light on, which was frankly the disappointing nature of the information sharing between agencies and services. That is very disappointing. I know that there are no issues around information sharing, and we are all aware of those, but the justice and health collaboration board is very much looking at the information flowing between the courts, between social work, between secure care units, between custody, if necessary, and the prison estate. Those are vitally important, and there should be no gaps in that. I can give Margaret Mitchell an assurance that, in terms of transition, we will reflect on what Margaret Mitchell says and look at that, but also the information sharing is one of the key recommendations that are being taken forward. We will look to monitor that by the action group. Thank you. That concludes questions. My apologies to Ruth Maguire, Mary Fee, Fulton McGregor and Daniel Johnson for being unable to call you due to time pressures this afternoon, I am afraid. I am moving straight on to the next item of business, which is portfolio questions, and the first question.