 The next side of business is consideration of business motion 1-3603, in the name of Dolfos Patrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau setting out a revision to the business programme for this week. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Dolfos Patrick to move motion number 1-3603. No member has asked to speak against the motion, therefore I now put the question to the chamber, the question is that motion number 1-3603, in the name of Dolfos Patrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. The next side of business is consideration of business motion 1-3601, in the name of Dolfos Patrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau setting out a timetable for the stage 3 consideration of the prisoner's control for release. Scotland Bill, any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Dolfos Patrick to move motion number 1-3601. No member has asked to speak against the motion, therefore I now put the question to the chamber, the question is that motion number 1-3601, in the name of Dolfos Patrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. The next side of business is topical questions. Question 1, Alison McInnes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government whether the new women's prison will comply with the recommendations of the Commission on Women Offenders. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Matheson. Plans for the future custodial estate for women, which I announced yesterday, will deliver a bold, new approach to how women in custody are looked after in Scotland, and that they are consistent with the recommendations of the Commission on Women Offenders. The Commission on Women Offenders recommended that content veil should be replaced by a small specialist prison, that there should be a holistic approach to the management of women in custody to help address their underlying needs, that most women should be held in local prisons as close to their communities as possible, and that women should be encouraged to take responsibility for themselves and learn basic life skills to equip themselves for life beyond custody. We will build a new small national prison and five community-based custodial units, which will provide an estate where the level of security is proportionate to the level of risk posed by a woman, and that will allow women in custody to be located as close as possible to their communities. All of the custodial facilities will be managed by the Scottish Prison Service in partnership with multidisciplinary teams to create a trauma-informed and recovery-focused ethos that responds to the specific needs of women and encourages them to take responsibility for rebuilding their lives. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response, can I say? I really very much welcome his thoughtful intervention on this matter. There is no doubt that yesterday's announcement is a real improvement on what had been planned previously. The cabinet secretary will remember that one of the recommendations of the commission on women offenders was that there should be a separate unit for young women. Can you confirm if there will be a specialist youth unit? Can you also comment on what the Scottish Government plans to do in tandem with the new institutions to help those young women caught in the criminal justice system? The cabinet secretary has raised an interesting point, because in considering all of the matter, we established an independent advisory group who were there to assist us in considering what those different options should be in moving towards a new model of how we deliver custodial facilities for women in Scotland. Alongside that, we drew upon expertise both from Scotland and internationally on how we should approach the matter. One of the things that came through very strongly is that the young women should not be separated into an individual unit. Instead, they should be part of the adult custodial facilities in general. That was a strong view that was put across to the Scottish Government on the matter. There was clear divergence of view with what was in the commission's report and that of the experts and the advisory group, which involved a range of different stakeholders on the approach that we should take. As a result, we are taking an approach that is based on the advisory group and the wider stakeholders in Scotland, and experts have put to us on the approach that we should take. That is not to say that the ethos and the way in which those younger women will be dealt with in those establishments will not be different from that of those adult prisoners. However, we have listened to the views on the matter and there was a divergence of view on it. Given the strength of feeling from those both internationally and domestically who have considered the issue, we have taken an approach that would see the younger women being part of the integrated approach for dealing with women offenders in Scotland. The commission highlighted the importance of family support to female offenders, particularly when they are mothers. Can you confirm whether there will be a separate mother and baby unit and if there will be family friendly visitor centres with outdoor play facilities? It would be fair to say that the Scottish Prison Service has made significant progress in recent years in providing family visiting provision, particularly for those women who have young children in the international group who are here, helping to support the work that we are looking at in the prison estate when they visited Compton Vale and made particular reference to that facility that we now have at Compton Vale. What will happen with the new model that we are taking forward is that when a woman is actually placed into the custodial estate, it will undergo a multidisciplinary assessment to identify what is the best place for them to be placed in order to meet their needs. For example, if there are specific childcare issues and family issues that would lead that multidisciplinary assessment to determine that they are better placed in a community-based facility closer to their home environment, then that decision will be made at that particular point. We want to take a much more holistic approach to how we deal with women when they present to our custodial estate in order to make sure that they are placed in an environment that is most appropriate to meet their needs, including their family needs. The community-based units will be units that will be around for 20 women at a given time, and part of that will be about helping to maintain and support those family links, including where they have children in order to help to sustain them. The other thing is that it is important to recognise community facilities. Those will be community facilities where it will be for the women to continue to do things such as the domestic responsibilities, cooking for themselves and cleaning for themselves, rather than being taken over for them once they come into the custodial estate. The reason for that will be part of the ethos in those establishments, alongside maintaining community links and being involved in different community programmes. However, the reason that we are taking that approach is because it evidence shows that that is the most effective way in which to re-establish women back into the community when they leave the custodial estate and to equip them with the skills that they can sustain in preventing them from committing offences in the future. We are taking a holistic approach to that, and it will be one that looks very much at how we can make sure that we are meeting the needs not only of the women but of their family, where there is an important need to make sure that they are maintained and supported. Christina McKelvie Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I join the 218 Centre for Surruptiments International, the Howard League, Sacro, Tornham Point, families outside many, many women's groups and, of course, the redoubtable Dr Marshall Scott from Women for Indie in welcoming this very, very welcome measure indeed. The cabinet secretary mentioned about dealing with underlying needs in a multidisciplinary approach. I am sure that he will understand that a lot of the women in the prison estate have suffered from mental health issues and addictions. Will the cabinet secretary give us some specific examples of the type of support that would be on offer to allow those women to change their behaviours so that they can break away from their offending cycle? The cabinet secretary has mentioned, Presiding Officer, that we listened to a lot of different views before we came to a final decision on the future shape of our female custodial estate, a number of the organisations that the member made reference to have fed into that process and been engaged in advising the Government on that matter. If I can maybe just give an illustration to the member on how we would envisage the community custodial units operating and we are developing that model with the Scottish Prison Service and also third sector organisations in working that up, it will be a multidisciplinary team that will be based within these particular units. Although they will come under the strategic management of the SPS, they will have a range of different organisations in their working and partnership with the SPS in order to meet the needs of those women who are within those establishments. For example, that might be a case where a turning point can provide particular support and assistance to women within those establishments. It might be a mental health organisation, but what we will also have there is our community mental health delivery programmes in working and partnership with those community units. What we want to achieve is a link between the custodial units and the community so that when an individual woman moves back into the community, it is not a case of rewriting the services and re-establishing the services, it is a continuation of those who are engaged in working with the women while they are in the custodial estate and when they move back into the community. If that is about dealing with mental health issues, addiction issues, those individuals who are going to be working within the community are the same individuals and support groups that should be working with them within the custodial estate as well. I have heard time and time again too often that the whole debate about dealing with issues around justice was polarised on the basis of whether you are either being soft on crime or you are being tough on crime. What I think that we need to do is to be smart on this issue, and that is about making sure that we do not fall into the false dichotomy of being soft or tough, but where the evidence shows us is the best way in which to move forward in this area. The evidence shows that if you want to tackle female offending effectively, you need to deal with the underlying causes that drive that offending behaviour. The new model that I set out yesterday will assist us to take that forward in a much more comprehensive and a much more effective way. In that way, I believe that we can take a much more progressive approach to how we deal with female offenders in Scotland. Annabel Goldie. In the light of the cabinet secretary's announcement, what reassurance can he give to both members of this Parliament and to the public that there will be sufficient capacity to housewomen offenders for whom a custodial sentence is necessary and justified? What I outlined yesterday was, and much of the focus was on, is the issue about the future shape of the female custodial estate. What I also outlined is our determination to make sure that we take forward a range of different measures that can help to act as diversions and community disposals that are much more effective in dealing with offending behaviour. What will now be put in place as we move towards 2020 is a decommissioning plan, which will be about looking at, as we develop the new estate, how we then decommission the existing estate that we have for female offenders. However, as Eilish Angeline's report correctly highlighted, we need to take that forward in such a way that we are careful to make sure that we have sufficient capacity to meet the needs of any women who are referred to the custodial estate. We believe that the right balance between the custodial estate that we will eventually shape through what I have announced yesterday alongside those alternatives and those diversionary programmes will help to reduce the demand for custodial places within Scotland. As we take that forward, we will then look at the decommissioning of the existing facilities that we have. We need to make sure that we do that in a balanced way and we do it in a proportionate way. We will be doing that over the coming years. I am confident that we can get that balance right because it is very clear given that we have got the second highest female prison population of any northern European country that we have not got that balance right now. We need to take forward bold measures that will assist us in getting that balance right. What I outlined yesterday, I believe, will assist us in getting to that point. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Water regarding the pollution issues reported across North Lanarkshire. Scottish Water and Scottish Government were in regular contact throughout the incident with our drinking water quality team, resilience team and the water industry team all involved. Communication continues as we seek to establish the root cause of the incident and the drinking water quality regulator will be undertaking a full investigation, as with all water quality incidents. Minister for his response, as a minister is aware, 6,000 properties across Newark Hill, New Stevenson, the L Park, Chapelhall and Curfin were affected last Thursday, with Chapelhall not getting the all-clear until Friday. Could the minister outline when we expect the report on how the incident was caused and give us an indication of how detailed that report will be? I have a time scale to hand for Mr Wilson, but I am happy to establish when that report will be concluded and convey that back to the member and any other member that is interested. The drinking water quality regulator will investigate and conclude that report. Of course, there will be an expectation that any necessary action recommendations will be undertaken, but I assure the member that work continues to be intensive in trying to establish the cause of the contamination and all necessary action. There are also all relevant powers ready to be used should they be required. I assure the member that quick action was taken and a full report will be produced. I will return in terms of the time scale for that report, but it is very important that we establish the cause so that we can act on the lessons learned. Mr Wilson. I would like to put in record my appreciation for the reaction by staff and others getting water supplies to the communities concerned. Given the level of disruption and inconvenience that is caused to the local population, especially those who are particularly vulnerable and with young children, what provisions are Scottish water taking to ensure that such an incident does not happen again and how do they build confidence within the population of this area to ensure that they get that full confidence back in terms of the water supplies? Water quality is, of course, of the highest importance and, as soon as there was any concern that all the relevant actions were taken, I can inform the chamber that I was in Scottish waters national control centre just this morning and, of course, I asked questions about this particular incident. Were there any evidence of contamination or a breach, then it is acted upon very quickly and it was in this case. Of course, we can take further actions once we know and we have learned what caused the contamination and that is why an intensive investigation is under way to establish the cause and, from that, we will be informed of what further actions are necessary and, of course, we will take any action that is required. However, there was a quick response to the local communities by Scottish water, including raising information, raising awareness and communicating with people, and I have a very specific approach to the more vulnerable in our community as well. However, the key issue now is to identify the cause to minimise the risk that it happens again. Thank you. The next item of business is a statement by Fergus Ewing on the future of onshore wind as part of Scotland's balanced energy mix.