Scotland's Redress Scheme: combined annual report 2025

4.24 Scottish Prison Service

As required under Section 99 of the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021, please see below our annual report for the reporting period 7 December 2023 to 6 December 2024, on the wider actions SPS has taken to redress the historical abuse of children.

Acknowledgement of abuse and provision of an apology

On 8 December 2021, the SPS published on its external website a letter acknowledging the harm that children experienced whilst in our custody and apologised for the suffering that each child endured.

As with the previous reporting period, SPS has not received any requests from individual survivors of historic child abuse seeking an apology for any harm they experienced or endured whilst in our custody. Should we receive any future requests, we will engage with the Survivor Relations Team within the Scottish Government to facilitate the redress between the SPS and the survivor.

Whilst we have not received any requests from individual survivors during this reporting period, we have again received correspondence from the Redress Team enquiring if any compensation has been paid out to survivors by SPS. Staff resource has been allocated to this to ensure that these requests are responded to timeously.

Engagement with those responsible for the management of the Redress Scheme

We have continued to provide advice and assistance to those seeking to access their historical records through engagement with those responsible for the Redress Scheme. We have maintained a secure means of communication to verify information and respond in a timely manner to allow the scheme administrators to support survivor’s claims for compensation.

The SPS have been supporting the Policy and Communications team at the Redress, Relations and Response Division to develop guidance for applications in custody. This guidance provides key information to those in the care of SPS on how to apply to the Scotland’s Redress Scheme, including how communications will be received; what may be offered by means of redress; and how this process will work for those currently held in custody. This work is ongoing between SPS and the Redress, Relations and Response Divisions team and is expected to be completed within the next reporting period. In addition to this, awareness sessions will be held with members of SPS staff and Senior SPS Leaders to ensure that they remain aware of the importance of the Redress Scheme and our responsibilities under this.

Subject Access Requests (SAR)

Through SPS’ established SAR process, survivors remain able to obtain access to information held by SPS to support their claims for compensation. They have been able to do this by writing directly to SPS or downloading a SAR from our external website.

Where a person making a SAR has some form of disability and finds it is unreasonably difficult or not possible to make a SAR request in writing, SPS will consider a verbal request.

Assistance in tracing and reuniting families

SPS continues to recognise the importance of family support for those in our custody and provides prisoners with a variety of means to reintroduce and maintain contact with family. This includes through correspondence, physical and virtual visits, by telephone, the email-a-prisoner and prisoner voicemail schemes.

In relation to means of contacting family, SPS completed an estate-wide project of installing in-cell telephony during the previous reporting period. This system allows those in our custody increased access to means of communication with their families and friends who are often their personal support system in the community. This has proven to be successful and has significantly increased individual’s access to telephone communications with their families. As part of the in-cell telephony, there remains multiple pre-programmed numbers for support services on the system that are free for individuals to contact at any time. These include, but are not limited to, the Samaritans, Alcoholics Anonymous and Scotland’s Citizen’s Advice Helpline. The Scottish Redress Scheme is also included in this and is therefore free for anyone in SPS custody to call.

SPS continues to have in place processes to assist families in tracing relatives who may be in our custody. It should again be noted that this was not introduced specifically to support the Redress Scheme but does support this. Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, SPS are prohibited from confirming whether a person is in SPS custody as this information is considered personal data. To assist families who may wish to trace those in our custody, we have arrangements in place which allow families to write to individuals c/o SPS Legal Services who will, if the individual is in our custody, pass the letter on to them. This is done without confirming to the sender whether the individual is in custody in line with Data Protection legislation. This provides those in our custody the ability to reunite with family members they may have lost contact with if they choose.

Funding for emotional, psychological, or practical support

Those in our custody are able to access a variety of emotional, psychological, or practical support that is either funded by SPS or provided by local NHS boards. This includes access to Samaritans services either via the SPS Listener Scheme or via SPS phones (the Samaritans telephone number, as mentioned above, is pre-programmed in all SPS in-cell and communal phones and is free to contact), self-referral processes to NHS Mental Health Services and on-site Chaplaincy support. In addition to this, several other free support services are available via in-cell and communal phones to support those in our custody including Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Woman’s Aid and Child Line.

SPS is not able to fund services that would provide emotional or psychological support services for those not in SPS custody. The SPS is an operational branch of the Scottish Government and is funded directly by Scottish Ministers to provide prison services. The budget allocated to SPS is intended to cover expenditure associated with operating the prison system and the provision of the Court Custody and Prison Escorting Service (CCPES) on behalf of Scottish Courts, Police Scotland and the wider justice system. The SPS budget does not cover the costs of funding the provision of services to individuals in the community.

In terms of practical support, as detailed above in relation to SARs, SPS have processes in place to enable survivors, or those representing them, to obtain access to information held by SPS to support their claims for redress compensation.

Safeguarding policy and procedures

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024 commenced provisions in the Act on 28 August 2024 to change the meaning of “child” for the purposes of commencement of amendments to the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to prohibit the detention of children (anyone under the age of 18) in a young offender institution (YOI), and enable their placement in, for example, secure accommodation. This therefore means that a child cannot be held on remand or sentenced to detention in a YOI and there are now no longer any children held in SPS custody. While it is recognised that anyone under the age of 18 years old are no longer held in SPS custody, policies and procedures remain in place for young people held in custody (aged 18 to 21 years old) or who are visiting the establishment. Below an overview is provided of some of the key policies and strategies that relate to this.

Vision for Young People in Custody

The aim of this policy is to use the time a young person spends in custody to enable them to prepare for a positive future. This means providing the care and experiences which will support the young person’s mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing in addition to a safe and secure environment. The purpose of this is to build the young person’s knowledge, skills, and employability, and therefore promoting their successful reintegration into our communities.

Think Twice – SPS’ Approach to Encouraging Respectful Behaviour in Prison

This strategy focuses on identifying and recognising when bullying occurs with an objective to appropriately address the behaviour of the person bullying whilst also supporting the person experiencing the bullying behaviour. The policy aims to reduce the level of bullying within prisons, ensuring that any incidents of bullying are thoroughly investigated and managed appropriately to prevent future occurrence. The fundamental purpose of this strategy is to create a safe and supportive community within our prisons where people take responsibility for their own actions whilst allowing them to gain an understanding of the impact that their actions could have on other people. This policy is applicable to all individuals held in SPS custody. SPS will be reviewing the Think Twice strategy within the next reporting year.

SPS continues to have the SPS Child Protection Policy in place to safeguard children and young people who visit or contact a prison or people in our custody. This is also applicable for young people in custody.

SPS Child Protection Policy

The objective of this policy is for SPS staff to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from any form of harm and abuse whilst in our custody (young people only), visiting our establishments or contacting a prison or people in our custody. The policy provides guidance to SPS staff on appropriate actions to take if they become concerned about the welfare of a child of young person while undertaking their duties. All SPS staff have a responsibility to act on any concerns they may have, and this policy provides the support to SPS staff on how to exercise this responsibility. SPS staff are provided with guidance in relation to what the signs of potential abuse are; their obligations to protect children and young people from harm and abuse; and details of the correct reporting procedures they should follow when required.

Any other support

Where a survivor who is currently seeking redress sadly passes away, their family may be able to take their claim forward. This would follow the same procedures SPS currently use for any other claims where the original claimant has sadly passed away.

We note this redress report will be reviewed and published as part of a combined report as required by Section 99 of The Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021.

Scottish Prison Service