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: S6O-01233

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Scotland's Census 2022.

Question reference: S6W-08444

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the reported proposal by Serco to meet the cost of building an extension to HMP Kilmarnock, which would have created an additional 265 prisoner places, was rejected.

Question reference: S6W-08446

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any financial implications, including pension liabilities, of its decision to take HMP Kilmarnock into public ownership.

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) apply when a service is transferred from one employer to another, in this case ‘insourcing’. It provides those who are carrying out work which will be provided by a new employer with protection by transferring them to the employment of the new provider. Staff transferring to SPS employment will be consulted on the changes that will be made when SPS are managing the prison. Exact costs will become clear at the conclusion of the consultation exercise and the running costs are likely to be aligned to an existing public prison of a similar size.

Question reference: S6O-01126

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reasonable period of time for households to install interlinked fire alarms in line with the new legislation has now passed.

Question reference: S6W-08439

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 18 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the relevant minister signed off the decision by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service board to hire the outside agency, Dorothy McKinney Ltd, to investigate complaints made against the Chief Officer.

Question reference: S6W-08438

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 18 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the board of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service brought to the relevant minister's attention details of any complaints made against the Chief Officer.

Question reference: S6O-01097

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding returning rail services to pre-pandemic levels.

Question reference: S6W-08272

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of possessing indecent images of children, broken down by type of disposal, in each of the last 10 full financial years.

The latest available information from the Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database is for 2019-20 and is provided in the following tables.

Information for 2020-21 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2020-21 statistical bulletin later this year.

Number of people convicted for taking, distribution, possession etc. indecent photos of children 1 , by disposal and length of custodial sentence, where main charge, 2010-11 to 2019-20

Main disposal	Total convicted	Custody	Community sentence	Monetary	Other
2010-11	107	49	57	-	1
2011-12	118	45	71	2	-
2012-13	166	72	90	1	3
2013-14	245	93	148	2	2
2014-15	287	74	203	4	6
2015-16	279	60	208	6	5
2016-17	232	72	154	3	3
2017-18	250	85	160	4	1
2018-19	283	96	183	2	2
2019-20	211	54	152	2	3

Length of custodial sentence

	Total custody	Up to 3 months	Over 3 months to 6 months	Over 6 months to 1 year	Over 1 year to 2 years	Over 2 years to less than 4 years	4 years and over
2010-11	49	2	2	12	17	12	4
2011-12	45	-	5	6	13	15	6
2012-13	72	-	6	23	18	10	15
2013-14	93	-	4	27	24	20	18
2014-15	74	1	5	19	21	16	12
2015-16	60	1	6	12	21	14	6
2016-17	72	1	3	19	32	11	6
2017-18	85	-	3	21	42	13	6
2018-19	96	-	3	31	40	20	2
2019-20	54	-	-	12	26	13	3

1. Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 sections 52 and 52A.

Question reference: S6W-08273

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of possessing indecent images of children have been given a custodial sentence, broken down by the length of sentence, in each of the last 10 full financial years.

Question reference: S6W-08157

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any discussions or communication it has had with Police Scotland regarding the force’s obligation to record the sex of suspects in line with the Equality Act 2010 definition of sex.

The Scottish Government expects all relevant organisations to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, including published guidance and codes of practice. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the body responsible for regulating matters related to the Equality Act 2010 and publishing associated guidance. The Scottish Government has not discussed with Police Scotland their obligations in relation to recording the sex of suspects under the 2010 Act; questions relating to obligations of public bodies under the 2010 Act could be raised with the EHRC.

Guidance published in September 2021 by Scotland’s Chief Statistician, makes it clear that the collection of data on sex and gender is a matter for public bodies. As such, the operational recording of information of those involved in crime is a matter for Police Scotland. It is intended that all Public Bodies would use this guidance to help them determine how best to record information they collect for their operational matters. In 2019, Scotland’s Chief Statistician established a working group to consider what guidance should be offered to public bodies on the collection, disaggregation and use of data on sex and gender, of which Police Scotland were a member. The office of the Chief Statistician continues to engage with a range of public bodies, including Police Scotland, to support their application of the guidance. In addition, the Scottish Government have an Equality Data Improvement Programme in place to undertake wider work on data and we will be working with Justice bodies as part of that, to support improvements in the range of the equality information that is published.