Prisoners on remand in Scotland that lived in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for:

“1. The total number of prisoners who were held on remand across prisons in Scotland that lived in a Scottish local authority prior to entering prison.
2. Can you provide this information for the following periods: 2018
3. How many prisoners who were held on remand in 2018 were registered with no fixed abode that lived in a Scottish local authority prior to entering prison?
4. Can you provide a breakdown of this information for each prison across Scotland.”

Response

Questions 1. and 2.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. You may wish to contact the Scottish Prison Service at Scottish Prison Service Headquarters, Communications Branch, Room G20, Calton House, 5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh, EH12 9HW who may be able to help you further.

Some of the information you have requested is available on the Scottish Prison Service website(http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Information/SPSPopulation.aspx). The Scottish Prison Service provide weekly time series information on the prison population as a whole. They do not publish information on whether prisoners lived in a Scottish local authority prior to entering prison. From the weekly time series, the average remand population (comprising ‘untried’ and ‘convicted awaiting sentence’ prisoners) for 2018 can be calculated. Using the weekly figures provided, the average remand population in 2018 was 1,461.

The average provided in this response is not a count of individuals nor of receptions. Rather it is an indication of the size of the remand population at any given point in time during 2018.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 

Questions 3. and 4.

Once again, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.You may wish to contact the Scottish Prison Service using the details provided above.

The Scottish Prison Service do provide reports to the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities on the prison population and admissions. The reports present the average number of prisoners held on remand who were of no fixed abode prior to entering prison. These figures are not attached to local authority areas. The reports indicate that in 2018 the average remand population with no fixed abode prior to entering prison was 114. The data should be considered as indicative and not as a substitute for individual level information. The information is not broken down by prison establishment.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.