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-03484

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02503 by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2016, how the use of spit hoods by the police is (a) monitored and (b) evaluated.

Question reference: S5W-03482

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02503 by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2016, how many times spit hoods have been used by the police in each of the last three years, and how many complaints there have been about their use.

Question reference: S5W-03488

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02503 by Michael Matheson on 22 September 2016, how many (a) deaths and (b) injuries have been attributed to the use of spit hoods by the police, and what other data on their use is collected by (i) Police Scotland and (ii) the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Operational policing is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) advises that it has no management information on the use of spit hoods use as they are not a ‘weapon’ as defined by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Investigations Procedure, Serious Incidents and Specified Weapons) Regulations 2013. PIRC has never investigated a death or serious injury attributable to the use of a spit hood.

Question reference: S5W-03425

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many domestic abuse cases have been heard by each (a) domestic abuse and (b) other court in each of the last five years, and how many convictions there were.

The Scottish Government does not hold specific information about the number of domestic abuse cases heard in each domestic abuse court.

Statistics on the number of people proceeded against and the numbers convicted, in all types of courts in Scotland, with a domestic abuse aggravator recorded are presented in the following table.

Total persons proceeded against and convicted for offences¹ with a Domestic Abuse aggravator recorded

Year	Total proceedings	Convicted
2010-11	10,046	8,565
2011-12	10,502	8,873
2012-13	10,909	9,291
2013-14	13,593	11,074
2014-15	15,619	12,432

1 - Where main charge in a case

Source: Criminal proceedings database

Question reference: S5W-03631

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) revenue and (b) capital budget has been for (i) Police Scotland, (ii) the Scottish Police Authority and (iii) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last three years.

Details are as follows:

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Police Central Government	96.1	17.9	114.0	101.3	0.0	101.3	88.1	10.0	98.1
Scottish Police Authority (Includes Police Scotland)	1068.1	18.3	1086.4	1057.4	25.2	1082.6	1035.8	28.1	1063.9
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service	277.8	15.3	293.1	310.2	0.0	310.2	283.9	25.3	309.2

*Source: Draft Budgets

Question reference: S5W-03632

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) revenue and (b) capital budget has been for (i) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, (ii) the Scottish Prison Service and (iii) legal aid in each of the last five years.

Details are as follows:

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	105.5	2.7	108.2	104.5	3.6	108.1	104.5	3.6	108.1
Scottish Prison Service	318.0	47.5	365.5	325.1	75.5	400.6	342.0	22.5	364.5
Legal Aid	153.9	0.2	154.1	155.7	0.1	155.8	149.2	0.1	149.3

2014-15

2015-16

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	105.1	3.6	108.7	108.5	3.6	112.1
Scottish Prison Service	368.9	13.4	382.3	356.2	40.0	396.2
Legal Aid	142.3	0.5	142.8	146.7	0.1	146.8

*Source: Draft Budgets

Question reference: S5W-03420

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many criminal trials have been adjourned broken because of (a) a crown motion, (b) a defence motion, (c) a failure to appear by an accused, (d) a failure to appear by a witness, (e) a lack of court time and (f) another reason at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03423

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many days each court has sat in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03424

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many indictments have been registered at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03422

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many jury trials were called but adjourned because of a lack of court time at each court in each of the last five years.