Members' Virtual Question Time: Fishing Support

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): What support is available for the over-12m white-fish fleet? I note that 9,000 boxes were landed at Peterhead over Monday and Tuesday, and only around 1,300 were landed today. How does the support available to our vital fishing industry in Scotland compare to that available elsewhere?

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism (Fergus Ewing): Mr Stevenson has represented a fishing constituency for rather a long time now.

It is essential to Scotland that we support our fishing communities through this crisis. We have delivered three packages of financial support, totalling £22.5 million. The one that was announced most recently was of £3.5 million for vessels of over 12m. That package of support was developed after detailed dialogue with fishing representatives from, for example, the Clyde, the Western Isles and, of course, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation. It was devised with their support and co-operation and will, I think, provide significant support to vessels.

Vessels have fixed costs, and harbour dues, rental costs for equipment and a whole series of on-costs have to be paid for, at a time when little or no revenue is coming in, as Mr Stevenson pointed out—revenue is certainly much lower.

I cannot speak for what happens down south; that is for my colleagues in the United Kingdom Government to do. However, I am pleased that we have been able to devise packages for vessels of under and over 12m and for hard-pressed processors, particularly in the shellfish and brown trout sectors, which face financial armageddon.

Packages are being administered now by an excellent team in Marine Scotland; I am proud of the work that they and colleagues across the public services in Scotland are doing. We are determined to get that money out as quickly as possible and, with the co-operation of members who represent fishing communities, I think that we can succeed in that task, to help the sector to weather the Covid storm.

Members’ Virtual Question Time: COVID-19 (Prisons)

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): In view of the institutional nature of prisons, what special measures is the Scottish Prison Service taking to protect staff and prisoners from the effects of Covid-19?

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Humza Yousaf): The Scottish Prison Service is taking a range of measures. First, we and the Scottish Prison Service are making sure that there are adequate stocks of personal protective equipment for its staff, and that, following public health guidance, all staff and prisoners are self-isolating if they are symptomatic or, in the case of staff, if somebody in their household is symptomatic.

Difficult decisions have had to be made within our prison establishments, probably the most difficult of which has been to suspend visits. That is challenging for those in our care and for their families, but it is necessary to help us to contain the virus. To help with some of those difficulties and challenges, we will explore technologies that allow family contact.

It is a challenging environment, and I make no apologies for thinking that, to help us reduce the prison population, we should increase the numbers of people who are on home intervention curfew. If we reduce the prison population, we can loosen the prison regime.

The legislation that the Parliament passed on 1 April gives the Government powers for emergency release, which I am actively considering in a positive manner. Reducing the prison population would help us to get down to single cell occupancy, which would help us to contain the spread of the virus within our prisons.