Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-19910

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the latest known levels of police, public order and safety spending per person in Scotland, and on how this compares to the levels in (a) England and (b) Wales.

The 2022 Country and Regional Analysis (produced by HM Treasury) includes analysis of expenditure on public services in Scotland and comparisons with other parts of the UK as a whole. In 2021-22 public order and safety spending in Scotland was £3.3bn. On a per capita basis spending in Scotland was 13% higher than in England and 7% higher than in Wales:

Public Order & Safety Expenditure (per capita)

	2021-22 (£)
Scotland	607
England	537
Wales	566

Source: Country and regional analysis: 2022: Country and regional analysis: 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

Question reference: S6W-18632

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland.

The Scottish Government has today published its Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland which can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805255802 .The Violence Prevention Framework is one of the actions to help deliver the aims of the Vision for Justice in Scotland, published in 2022.

Supported by evidence on the context and drivers of violence, and interventions to prevent and reduce violence, the Framework includes priority aims and actions we will collectively take forward with partner organisations. The Framework aims to reduce the number of victims of violence and to target support and interventions for those most at risk of violence to stop the repeated cycle of harm to individuals, families and communities.

Question reference: S6O-02224

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to ensure the involvement of Scotland's financial sector in efforts to tackle the climate emergency.

Question reference: S6O-02144

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in the use of diversion from prosecution in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-02027

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2023

To ask the First Minister, in light of his recent visit to the Port of Aberdeen, what engagement he has had with the business community since taking office.

Question reference: S6O-02064

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates that the increase in inflation to 10.4% will have on the delivery of the priority outcomes set out in the Covid Recovery Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-15258

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 22 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the work of the Independent Advisory Group on New and Emerging Technologies in Policing.

The final report of the independent group chaired by Professor Elizabeth Aston, was published today https://www.gov.scot/ISBN/978-1-80525-352-5 .

The final report has been published alongside five associated reports that helped contribute to the Group’s work. The final report confirms that Scotland is in a strong position to seize the opportunity to become world leading in adopting a rights-based, ethical, evidence-based, consultative approach to innovation and adoption of emerging technologies in policing.

The Scottish Government’s response to the report has also been published today www.gov.scot/publications/emerging-technologies-in-policing-report-scottish-government-response

The Scottish Government stands ready to work with policing stakeholders on how they plan to follow up the recommendations made by the Group. This will enable the Scottish Government to continue to work with policing bodies to ensure that new technology will be used in ways which help in the detection and prosecution of crime, as well as protecting our communities first and foremost.

Question reference: S6O-01830

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with stakeholders regarding retraining and upskilling the north east energy sector workforce.

Question reference: S6W-13179

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 13 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing.

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s fourth thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also has a tracker showing what progress has been made.

This shows that 55 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 16 non-legislative recommendations still in progress and one to be kept under review.

Through their leadership and commitment, policing partners have delivered major business transformation and service redesign to improve how complaints are handled, bringing greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to systems, policies and processes.

Building on this and as announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will introduce a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary year to further strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805252610

Question reference: S6O-01703

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has recently had with the Scottish Resilience Partnership in preparation for the winter.