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-21251

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the success of the All-Energy Exhibition and Conference in (a) 2014 and (b) previous years.

Question reference: S4W-21254

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions (a) it and (b) Scottish Enterprise has had with the organisers of the All-Energy Exhibition and Conference regarding their plans for future years.

Question reference: S4O-03353

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scottish farm produce is sold elsewhere in the UK.

Question reference: S4W-21145

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many injuries have been sustained by (a) staff and (b) prisoners at Low Moss prison since it was opened.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“The following table provides the total number of recorded injuries on staff and prisoners since HM Prison Low Moss became operational on 12 March 2012 to 19 May 2014.

	Totals
Staff	89
Prisoners	143
Total	232

Ninety-one of these injuries were a result of accidents.”

Question reference: S4W-21148

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to the management of incidents of disorder in the design of (a) Low Moss and (b) Grampian prison and what conclusions were reached.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“The evolution of design and general operational principles for HM Prisons Low Moss and Grampian was led by a dedicated group, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) New Prisons Team. This group of highly experienced prison managers worked with SPS colleagues in the Estates team and specialist architects to develop custodial environments which are safe for both prisoners and staff in normal operation; and which facilitate appropriate incident management during times of unrest.

The prisons are built to design standards that both meet statutory regulations and support the delivery of operational requirements, including the maintenance of custody and order.

Evolving design ideas were tested with field based colleagues and discussed with trades union representatives. Specialists with policy/training responsibility for incident management were also closely consulted and prior to the opening of both prisons, significant incident management training including simulated incidents took place.

It is a common feature of all prisons that they maintain a local response capability of staff trained to deal with disorder over a range of scenarios and have plans, regularly reviewed, to deal with such eventualities. These take into account individual prison geography.”

Question reference: S4W-21147

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many injuries have been sustained by (a) staff and (b) prisoners at Grampian prison since it was opened.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“The following table provides the total number of recorded injuries on staff and prisoners since HM Prison and Young Offenders Institute Grampian became operational on 3 March 2014 to 19 May 2014.

	Totals
Staff	7
Prisoners	13
Total	20

Eight of these injuries were a result of accidents.”

Question reference: S4W-21146

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents have been recorded at (a) Low Moss and (b) Grampian prison since it was opened.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“Incidents within Scottish prisons are assessed into three categories:

Category 1: Incidents that are minor in nature and managed within normal arrangements.

Category 2: Incidents that present more complex challenges and require distinct management and decision-making arrangements to be put in place, but still at local level.

Category 3: Most serious, complex and high incidents that require national management and oversight and potentially, the deployment of resources from other parts of the organisation and/or support that requires national co-ordination.

HM Prison Low Moss opened in March 2012 (2011-12). There were seven category 1 incidents during its first full year of operation in 2012-13, followed by one category 2 incident in 2013-14. There are no incidents to report in 2014-15 at HM Prison Low Moss.

HM Prison and Young Offenders Institute Grampian opened in March 2014. Since opening, there have been two category 1 incidents, three category 2 incidents and one category 3 incident.”

Question reference: S4O-03306

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers in Grampian have resigned since the creation of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-03178

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how its cities strategy will support public bodies in the Aberdeen city region that find it hard to recruit and retain staff because of the high cost of living relative to the rest of the country.

Question reference: S4W-20410

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-20069 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 March 2014, how many regionally deployed police officers in North Region are based in (a) Aberdeen City and (b) Aberdeenshire and Moray.