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: S4W-24891

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Scottish Borders Council's implementation of self-directed support as, according to its website, support is only available for needs identified as “critical” and “substantial” and resources are not available to meet “moderate” and “low” needs, and whether it considers that this is outwith the spirit of the law.

The Scottish Government expect all local authorities to comply with their duty of care under Section 12A of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. They must be sure that the resources they allocate to a person are sufficient to meet their needs and any provision or assistance should be based on a detailed and outcomes-focussed social care assessment. Local authorities must be fair and transparent in allocation of funds.

The self-directed support statutory guidance provides a steer to local authorities that they should consider their strategy for investing in preventative and universal services – interventions which prevent or delay the need for formal social care and support.

The Scottish Government has provided funding of £720,000 from 2011-12 to 2015-16 to Scottish Borders Council to deliver the self-directed support strategy. Local authorities are expected to:

Invest an appropriate amount of funding in effective preventative and universal services.

Ensure services meet the needs of funded clients and the wider population, thus helping to prevent the escalation of needs.

Question reference: S4W-24890

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that the MOD-operated Castlelaw ranges in the Pentland Hills have been contaminated with heavy metals that could contaminate the Glencorse reservoir and, in light of the potential health risks to the public and animals, what discussions it has had with (a) the MOD, (b) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (c) others.

Following representations to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as to suggestions of contamination issues at the MOD-operated range at Castlelaw, the agency engaged with the operators to understand what issues, if any, existed and any associated environmental implications. Following these discussions, SEPA has advised that they do not consider there to be any risk to the environment.

Question reference: S4W-24649

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the number of serving police officers reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 2013-14, in light of a reported 6.7% of cases leading to proceedings, and what percentage of these proceedings (a) remain current and (b) led to a (i) guilty and (ii) not proven verdict.

The vast majority of police officers act with integrity but on the on the rare occasions when those standards may have fallen below those expected and criminality is inferred it is proper that there are independent and transparent processes in place to consider the evidence.

The information requested relates to data published in the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner’s (PIRC) report entitled Police Complaints: Statistics for Scotland 2013-14. The PIRC report sets out, on page 10, that 225 complaint cases were referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service following an allegation of criminality, with 6.7% of these cases leading to proceedings being taken.

The PIRC data only relates to referrals following complaints made against police officers by members of the public, where there is an allegation of criminality. If there is an inference of criminality, Police Scotland will report the officer to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Proceedings data are not held by either the Scottish Government or the Crown Office in relation to complaints made by the public.

Separately, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has provided data relating to criminal cases where COPFS has received a standard prosecution report (SPR) from the police. Figures show that 135 police officers were the subject of criminal reports to COPFS in 2013-14. Of these, 60 officers were the subject of court proceedings: 30 were convicted, one was found not proven, six were found not guilty and 23 are ongoing. There has not yet been a final decision on whether or not to take court proceedings in respect of a further 39 officers.

Question reference: S4W-24350

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to terminate each private contract for the provision of parking at hospitals.

Question reference: S4O-04092

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for what reason there has been no uplift in capped postage provision since 2009 given the increase of 59% and 77% in stamp costs, and whether it considers that this reduces members’ ability to correspond with their constituents.

Question reference: S4F-02617

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2015

To ask the First Minister, in light of the recent report of three Muslim girls being encouraged to travel to Syria following apparent contact with Aqsa Mahmood, what action the Scottish Government can take to monitor and intercept any communications aimed at encouraging Scottish Muslim girls to travel to Syria.

Question reference: S4W-24348

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of each PPP/PFI contract that was in place in each parliamentary constituency in May 2007, also broken down by information regarding (a) annual interest payments and (b) the (i) duration and (ii) total cost of each project.

Question reference: S4W-24349

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which hospitals charge for parking and for what reason these charges cannot be prohibited.

Question reference: S4F-02480

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on a judicial inquiry being held regarding any part that Scotland might have had in respect of possible UK involvement with rendition flights at Scottish airports.

Question reference: S4W-23405

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many public inquiries there have been from 1999, broken down by (a) completed and (b) ongoing inquiries, showing the (i) cost and (ii) duration of each.

There have been five statutory public inquiries established since 1999, all under the Inquiries Act 2005 and Inquiries (Scotland) Rules 2007. Details of the cost and duration of each inquiry are in the following table, including whether it is completed or ongoing:

Inquiry	Status*	Cost	Duration**
ICL Inquiry	completed	£1.9 million	1 year 5 months
Fingerprint Inquiry	completed	£4.75 million	3 years 9 months
Vale of Level Hospital Inquiry	completed	£10.3 million (as at 1 October 2014) with final costs still to be published	5 years 1 month
Penrose Inquiry	ongoing	£11.3 million (as at June 2014) with a projected cost of £11.7 million (estimate provided by the inquiry team July 2014)	Commenced January 2012
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry	ongoing	Not known	Became a statutory inquiry November 2014

*completed means final report has been issued

**duration from when inquiry set up to report published