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-29214

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether responsibility for paying the fee for the registration of a microchipped dog that is to be rehomed from April 2016 will lie with the former owner, the new owner or the organisation rehoming the dog.

The person responsible for microchipping/registering a dog given up for rehoming, or updating contact details relating to it, will depend on the age of the dog at the time of transfer.

Under the Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016, from 6 April 2016 the keeper of a dog that is older than eight weeks will be responsible for ensuring that it is microchipped and that accurate keeper details are registered and maintained on a database. Transferring an un-microchipped dog over eight weeks of age will be an offence. The new keeper, including rehoming charities, is responsible for updating any change in keeper details.

Question reference: S4O-05488

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will fully fund Dumfries and Galloway Council for the capital and revenue costs of the increase in early learning and childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours.

Question reference: S4W-29243

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received the Barnett consequentials arising from the flood relief funding announced by the UK Government for damage caused by Storm (a) Desmond, (b) Eva and (c) Frank and, if so, how much it has received and when.

The Scottish Government received confirmation of Barnett resource consequentials of £3.94 million in respect of the flood relief funding for damage caused by Storm Desmond on 9 December 2015. Notification of consequentials arising from storms Eva and Frank was received from HM Treasury on 18 January 2016 indicating that the Scottish Government will receive £14.578 million of resource in 2015-16.

Question reference: S4O-05283

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-04914

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy has had with Dumfries and Galloway Council regarding its budget for 2016-17.

Question reference: S4W-28459

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has (a) introduced a scheme requiring all central heating boilers to be upgraded to a particular standard by 2016 and (b) authorised a commercial company or companies to contact consumers by phone regarding such a scheme.

The Scottish Government has neither introduced legislation requiring householders to replace or upgrade their central heating boiler, nor authorised any commercial company to contact consumers about such a scheme.

A press release was issued on Friday 20 November 2015 to reassure the public that there are no such requirements in place. The article made it quite clear that these calls are not being made by or on behalf of the Scottish Government and that we condemn nuisance callers for misleading consumers in this way.

Question reference: S4W-28468

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to support the regeneration of the Theatre Royal in Dumfries and what plans it has to provide future support.

Question reference: S4O-04900

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the South-West of Scotland Transport Partnership and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-28399

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what statistics it compiles regarding the incidence of hate crimes.

The Scottish Government currently produces official statistics on the number of racist incidents recorded by the police in Scotland, including information on any crimes associated with those incidents. The 2013-14 bulletin was published on 24 November 2015. These can be accessed at the link below:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRacistIncidents

We are currently considering whether to replace the racist incidents publication with a new and broader product on police recorded hate crime (which would include a race element). We will work with Police Scotland as it develops its hate crime data and will inform users as this work develops.

The Scottish Government also runs the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), which asks victims of crime for their perception on the motivation behind the incident. The latest results from the 2012-13 SCJS estimate that 7% of crime may have been motivated by either the victims ethnicity, religion, sectarianism, gender, disability, sexual orientation or age. The survey’s results can be accessed below:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/03/9823

Whilst not directly covering hate crime, the Scottish Household Survey (also run by the Scottish Government) includes information on the proportion of adults who have experienced discrimination or harassment. This can be accessed at the link below:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/08/3720/4

The Scottish Government also produces official statistics on the number of offences with an aggravator recorded, which includes hate crime information by race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity. The latest figures were published as an additional dataset to the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2013-14 statistical bulletin and can be accessed here:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/Datasets/DatasetsCrimProc/offagg1314

In addition to the above, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) publishes official statistics on the number of hate crime charges reported to the COPFS in Scotland. This includes hate crime information by race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity. These can be accessed at the link below:

http://www.crownoffice.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity

Since 2010-11 the Scottish Government has also provided detailed further analysis of the COPFS data on religiously aggravated offending (section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003) and, since 2011-12, the hate-crime related charges reported under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. The most recent reports are here:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/9065 and

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/7911.

Question reference: S4W-28400

Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its most recent estimate is of the cost of hate crime to the economy.