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: S5W-18661

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures showing that incidents of financial crime have risen by almost one third in the first quarter of 2018 compared to last year, including a rise of 40.7% in Edinburgh, and how it plans to tackle this rise.

Police Scotland have noted that there has been an increase in online fraud and crimes involving contactless payments. While an operational matter for Police Scotland, I understand that they have made clear that they are investing in resources and equipping officers with the necessary skills to help tackle this growing area of criminality, and working more closely with banks to protect those vulnerable to financial crime.

The Scottish Government continues to support Police Scotland in keeping our communities safe from harm and are protecting the police resource budget in real terms in every year of this Parliament - a boost of £100 million by 2021. We support Police Scotland and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC) to work directly with the financial industry to support customer needs and to continually review how to promote secure online banking and effective anti-fraud messaging.

It should be noted that Police Scotland's management information report makes clear these are provisional statistics drawn from a live operational database - they are not validated National Statistics on recorded crime. The Scottish Government will published the validated 2017-18 National Statistics on 25 September 2018. The full year figures for 2018-19 will follow one year later.

Question reference: S5W-18395

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland in response to figures showing that the number of grenades being seized in the UK has risen sharply, with the largest of the hauls in 2018 having taken place in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-18513

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18101 by Michael Matheson on 29 August 2018, whether Transport Scotland independently monitors hosts’ performance in meeting the requirement for charge points to be repaired within 48 hours, or whether performance in this area is based only on feedback from hosts.

Question reference: S5W-18512

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18101 by Michael Matheson on 29 August 2018, what sanctions are in place should a host regularly fail to meet the requirement to repair out-of-service charge points within 48 hours.

Question reference: S5O-02349

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2018
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the conclusions of the independent review, Rethinking Legal Aid.

Question reference: S5W-18102

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional charge points it plans to fund in the Lothian region in the next year as part of the ChargePlace Scotland network.

Question reference: S5W-18212

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures showing that the sign-up rate for The City of Edinburgh Council's £25-a-year garden waste collection service is between 15% and 17% in some parts of the city, and what the implications of these figures are for the environment.

Question reference: S5W-18103

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns of drivers of electric vehicles in Edinburgh that there are not enough charging points in the city.

Question reference: S5W-18211

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that the redevelopment of council-run sports facilities at Meadowbank in Edinburgh may lead to a loss of facilities, rather than an increase, and the impact that this may have on the health of local people.

The Scottish Government is committed to do all we can to encourage more people to lead active lives. Physical activity and sport have a transformative effect on communities, by providing opportunities for people to connect with their neighbourhoods and come together in shared activities which inspire and motivate.

For both performance athletes and community users, Scotland’s sporting facilities are the best they have ever been right across the country. Since 2007, sport scotland has invested £168 million to help local authorities, sports governing bodies, sports clubs and other organisations to deliver new and upgraded sporting facilities.

The new Meadowbank Sports Centre will become one of the top centres for community sport in the country, helping to support accessible participation in sport and physical activity for all ages and abilities for generations to come.

The Scottish Government welcomes City of Edinburgh Council’s on-going commitment to work with local members of the community to address any concerns.

Question reference: S5O-02305

Asked by: Gordon Lindhurst, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what level of engagement there has been on the Barclay implementation consultation on non-domestic rates reform.