Explanatory Notes

Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025

2025 asp 1

22 January 2025

Interpretation

6.In these Notes, the following abbreviations are used—

“1993 Act” means the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993,
“1995 Act” means the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,
“automatic early release” means a prisoner being released automatically upon a certain point being reached, without there being a decision-making mechanism; this contrasts with release on licence authorised by the Parole Board for Scotland, which is not something to which there is an entitlement in the same way,
“long-term prisoner” means a person serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 4 years or more (see section 27(1) of the 1993 Act),
“prisoner” is used to include persons on whom detention in a young offenders institution has been imposed (and this result is achieved in the 1993 Act as a result of section 6 of that Act),
“release on licence” means release from prison subject to specified licence conditions, and with the risk of the person being recalled to prison if the terms of the licence(1) are breached,
“short-term prisoner” means a person serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than 4 years (see section 27(1) of the 1993 Act).

7.The Act’s freestanding text (that is, any provision which is not a textual amendment of another piece of legislation) is to be interpreted in accordance with the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

8.Text that an Act inserts into other enactments is to be interpreted in accordance with the interpretation legislation that applies to that enactment. As such, text inserted by the Act into the 1993 Act or the 1995 Act is to be interpreted in accordance with the Interpretation Act 1978.

For details of common licence terms, see Frequently Asked Questions - Parole Board for Scotland. Back [1]