 The next item of business is an urgent question, and I call Jamie Greene. Can I ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to reduce deaths in custody in light of new statistics showing that a record number of people have died in prisons in the past three years? First and foremost, my thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one in prison custody. The safety and wellbeing of people who are in prison is a priority, and we recognise that we need to do more to support positive health outcomes for vulnerable people in prisons. The prison health and social care needs assessment that we published in September and the work undertaken in response to the independent deaths in custody review are key steps in our commitment to achieving that aim. All front-line staff are trained in the Scottish Prison Services Prevention of Suicide Strategy, which provides a person-centred care pathway for prisoners who are at risk of suicide and promotes a supportive environment in which people can ask for help. Individuals are screened on their arrival at prison. When needed, the SPS and the National Health Service work together to support vulnerable individuals and review them regularly. We are also working with partners and brief families to implement the recommendations from the death in prison custody review. Jamie Greene I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. We too pass our thoughts and condolences to all families affected by this. All 121 of them since 2020. Those figures are significantly worse in Scotland than they are in other parts of the UK. In Scotland, 15 per cent of prison inmates have long-term mental health problems. 30 per cent of them have alcohol use disorder, and 17 per cent have a history of self-harm. Despite all those challenges, there continues to be huge variation in the provision of mental health nurses within the prison estate. For example, in HMP Barlinnie, there is just one nurse per 282 inmates. I raised this disturbing trend explicitly with the First Minister in October of this year. With those deaths in custody at this tragic new high, can I ask what further progress has been made on the First Minister's own pledge to improve conditions and reduce those needless and avoidable deaths? First of all, I acknowledge the point that Jamie Greene makes about the difference in Scotland to the rest of the UK. It is a relevant factor to look at. It is more complex than is sometimes suggested, but we would point to the fact that, whether it is through Covid deaths or the impact of Covid itself on the mental health of prisoners, there are particular things that have made this period more difficult. However, that is also true in England and Wales. I acknowledge the fact that there is a difference here, which we have to interrogate. For that reason, we have to take some time to look at all the elements of the report. For example, if you look at the way that the Ministry of Justice reports that their deaths are significantly different, such as collating suicides in deaths, for example, including drug overdoses in the category of self-inflicted deaths in 2021, 86 deaths or self-inflicted in England and Wales, which is an increase of 28 per cent from the previous year. However, we want to get to the bottom of the fact that, in Scotland, under the latest figures that go back now to 2018 from the Council of Europe, we are up at 47.6 deaths for 10,000, whereas in England and Wales it is 39.5. It is a legitimate difference. We are engaging with NHS, SPS and prison care networks to embed the medication-assisted treatment standards and prison settings. There is additional support being provided for the provision of health services, although that is an on-going issue. Of course, there has also been an impact through what we have heard in the previous set of questions on staff difficulties, locating new staff for the health service. That also has an impact on prison as well. I am happy to keep Jamie Greene updated as we go forward. I thank the cabinet secretary for that further response. This clearly is not a race to the bottom on statistics. There is a tragic rise in those statistics. Behind every statistic, as we all know, is a life in a life lost. It is not just suicides that are on the rise in prisons but drug deaths as well, cabinet secretary. Thanks to pressure from prison officers and those benches, drug-soaked mail has now been photocopied before presented to prisoners. Clearly, those statistics demonstrate that dangerous illicit drugs are still making their way into our prisons. The cabinet secretary recently told the Justice Committee that we should not accept the presence of drugs in our prison as inevitable. I agree entirely with that sentiment, so I will ask the cabinet secretary if he will back my call today to make all Scottish prisons drug-free by 2025. We think that it is doable. If you do back those calls, how will it be done? If you do not back those calls, why not? Rather than backing calls, I think that I would like to take the responsible step of looking at what the provisions and the measures are that are suggested within that call before taking our judgment on that. I am happy to have that discussion. In addition to the fact that we have initiated the photocopying of previously infused drug-infused items, which has had a very beneficial impact, not just in terms of individual prisoners' health but also in terms of breaking the hold of serious organised crime to some extent, we have new equipment, for example at Barlinny, which seeks to do a whole body scan to ensure that there are no drugs coming in that way. What we have found to be perfectly frank is an increase, a consequential increase in over-the-wall attempts to get drugs into prison, which is no different from a further jurisdiction. That is a continuing campaign. I think that we have had significant progress in reducing the way into prisons for drugs. I do agree on that further. I am happy to look at any concrete proposals that the member wants to put forward. The report by Glasgow University said that a person in prison in 2022 would be twice as likely to die in jail as someone in 2008, which is a quite shocking statistic. As Jamie Greene has said, 28 deaths by suicide are significantly higher than in England, which the cabinet secretary has acknowledged. As the cabinet secretary, what the Scottish Government will do to identify why that is the case? Will the cabinet secretary examine whether the restrictions in prisons less times themselves, for example, and any other restrictions are leading to this loss of hope, particularly when you look at the suicide deaths? Will the cabinet secretary give me an assurance that he continues to talk to the trade unions who provide an invaluable insight into the availability of drugs and the running of prisons generally so that we can get this right? I am happy to confirm that you continue to talk to the trade unions. That is perhaps dominated of late by, of course, the pay negotiations that are going on, but the various visits that I have had to a number of prisons find the fact that, just as Pauline McNeill says, the best people to understand the problem and provide solutions are those that are working on the front-line relation to do this. She is also right to say that the restrictions that were necessary during the Covid pandemic will, of course, have an effect on the mental health of prisoners who understand that, which is why we agreed to the recommendation from the prison inspectorate to say that we should get rid of those as far as possible, at the same time as the general population we are having these restrictions lifted. I would also say recently in relation to mobile phones that the purpose of this is to make sure that prisoners can be in contact with family and in particular children, which I think have been a beneficial impact. However, there is no question that we have to continue to examine this, working with partners like the trade unions to get the best possible understanding so that we can find the right way forward. In addition to the action already outlined by the cabinet secretary, what additional steps are being taken to improve prisoner welfare and wellbeing so as to tackle the tragic issue of prison suicides? The prison service is developing its health and wellbeing strategy, which focuses on suicide prevention and self-harm. The prevention of suicide and prison strategy aims to care for those at risk of suicide by providing a person-centred care pathway based on an individual's needs, its strengths and its assets, and by promoting a supportive environment where people in SPS custody can ask for help. I will witness this at closer range in terms especially of those who are just admitted to prison for the first time and the traumatic impact that can have on people and the way that front-line SPS staff are trained to deal with that, not least in relation to prevention of suicide. Individuals are screened on their arrival at prison when they need the SPS and the National Health Service, as I have said, to work together to support vulnerable individuals and review them regularly. We will continue to make sure that we refine that. We want to take a bit more time to look at the report, which has a lot to say about the talk-to-me strategy that is used in prisons. Rather than giving a snap judgment on the report, I would take some time to read it and be happy to converse with a member in due course on the provisions in the report. I wonder whether the cabinet secretary could confirm whether he is looking at tightening up the deadlines for commencing reviews into death in custody, but also improving access to legal aid for families who are navigating the very challenging process at the most difficult of times. I am not sure that I caught all of that, but part of the question is about the timetables in relation to FAIs. Of course, the FAI system that we have is independently run by the Crown Office, as the member knows. In 2016, the Parliament voted unanimously for the way that system was to be changed. There have been substantial additional resources given to the Crown Office to address us and there have been substantial successes. However, one way in which we can address that is through the death and custody review, which might mean rather than duplicating some of those processes. It might be possible that there is no evidence of criminality to get to a faster conclusion. Part of that review, to the point that was made by Liam McArthur in relation to families, is much more consistent in forming of the families at the right time, which was not done in the past. That has been taken forward as part of the review. We have had very good engagement from families who have been affected by the fact that that was not done in the right way in the past. For example, in the recent three to four months, every single death and custody, as I understand it, has been followed up by a phone call from the governor or an officer within the prison to the family or to the next-of-king to make sure that they are advised as soon as possible. Thank you, cabinet secretary. That concludes the urgent question. There will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business.