9. Throughcare reports

(Table 1)

Key statistics for 2025-26:

• There were 1,315 home leave reports produced, the 4th lowest level in ten years.
• In 2025-26, there were 2,209 TARL (including addendums) reports, and 789 home background reports.

Part of statutory throughcare involves preparing reports. Throughcare reports is an umbrella term used solely for statistical purposes to cover, some of the reports submitted to Parole Board for Scotland and Scottish Prison Service (SPS):

• Home leave reports, which inform temporary release from prison on home leave
• Throughcare Assessment for Release on Licence (TARL) report
• Home background reports, assess the suitability of an address for individuals released from custody or on home leave

Throughcare Assessment for Release on Licence (TARL) reports are integrated social work reports for long-term prisoners being considered for release on licence. They bring together prison and community based assessments to support Parole Board decisions and release planning.

TARL reports were introduced officially in late 2022. Since this time the parole/non-parole report that were previously published included TARL reports in these figures. In 2024-25, around 70% of parole/non-parole reports were TARL reports. The collection was reviewed to better reflect current practice for reports supporting release from prison. In 2025-26, TARL and home background reports were collected separately for the first time.

Local authorities were only advised during 2025 of the changes to the 2025-26 collection. As with any new data collection, it is expected that the quality of the statistics will take time to standardise and may be less robust than data collected over a longer period. As a result, the first-year statistics for TARL and home background reports should be treated with caution, and no trend data is currently available (see Annex A)

In 2025-26 , there were 2,209 TARL (including addendums) reports, of these 98% were for males.

There were 789 home background reports in 2025-26. In the first year of the collection, we are aware that some local authorities have recorded supplementary requests in this figure, which we are unable to quantify.

In 2024-25, there were 2,626 parole/non-parole reports, around 70% of which were TARL reports. These figures are not directly comparable with the 2025-26 data, as it is not known whether the remaining 30% were all home background reports

In 2025-26, there were 2,209 TARL reports, including addendums, and 789 home background reports. Combined, this gives a total of 2,998 reports submitted to the Parole Board and/or the Scottish Prison Service. This suggests an increase in the number of reports, although caution is needed because of the changes in how the data was collected.

In 2025-26, 1,315 home leave reports were produced, this was 5% lower than in 2024-25. Of these reports, 93% were for males.

Chart 7: Home leave reports have generally remained lower than in the pre-pandemic years.

Number of home leave reports submitted 2016-17 to 2025-26, Scotland