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-07718

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), in light of the minister's comment that "new legislation will be brought before this session of Parliament introducing a new definition and criminal offence of abuse and neglect of children", whether the minister will reconsider his response to question S5W-03999 in which said that the Scottish Government has “no plans to bring forward legislation to repeal existing legal defences for parents in relation to physical punishment”.

Question reference: S5W-07714

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), when the national child protection policy will be published and what support it will provide for this.

Question reference: S5W-07710

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), whether the consultation on the proposed legislation for a new definition and criminalisation of abuse and neglect of children will give respondents the opportunity to comment on the appropriateness of removing the defence of justifiable assault.

The Scottish Government understands that John Finnie MSP intends to forward a member's Bill on physical punishment of children. The Scottish Government will consider this Bill once it is available.

The Scottish Government will work with key partners across the children's sector to develop the consultation on proposed amendments to section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 (Cruelty to persons under sixteen).

Question reference: S5W-07712

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), when it expects to introduce the draft legislation on the new definition and criminalisation of abuse and neglect of children.

Question reference: S5W-07690

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it anticipates will be monitored in the expanded electronic monitoring scheme.

There are currently around 1100 people subject to electronic monitoring in Scotland.

If the current scheme is extended as set out in the consultation: "A Consultation on Proposals for Legislation", the uptake and use of the extended scheme will be for the Judiciary, Scottish Prison Service and others to decide on.

Any legislation introduced will be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum, which will include estimates of how many individuals may be subject to electronic monitoring under legislative proposals.

Question reference: S5W-07696

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what international evidence was considered by the consultation, Electronic Monitoring in Scotland; what percentage of the remand population in these examples was subject to such monitoring; how long such monitoring had been used in each country, and what feedback it received regarding the effectiveness of it.

The Scottish Government is committed to looking at how electronic monitoring could be used ahead of sentencing in cases where the crime is unlikely to result in a custodial punishment.

To help inform the electronic monitoring working group thinking around the new uses of electronic monitoring, research was carried out by the Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research (SCCJR) 'Scottish and International Review of the Uses of Electronic Monitoring'. Independently, the SCCJR and the University of Stirling were commissioned to undertake research as part of a wider European Project; 'Creativity and effectiveness in the use of electronic monitoring as an alternative to imprisonment in EU member states'. The resulting report and its recommendations also informed the work of the working group.

This European Project found that electronic monitoring was used in diverse ways within the 5 jurisdictions involved in the project and therefore the detail in terms of use and volume is recorded differently.

Question reference: S5W-07713

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), what financial support it will provide to the child protection improvement programme measures.

Question reference: S5W-07691

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been subject to electronic monitoring in each local authority area in each year since 2013.

The total number of individual instances of electronic monitoring in each Local Authority in each financial year of the current contract, which commenced in April 2013, are set out in the following table. An individual may have been subject to electronic monitoring on more than one occasion. Figures for 2016-2017 cover the period from April 2016 to February 2017.

Local Authority	2013-2014	2014-2015	2016-2016	2016-2017
Aberdeen City	185	134	83	119
Aberdeenshire	46	46	38	54
Angus	52	39	56	38
Argyll & Bute	27	27	26	35
Clackmannanshire	51	46	32	33
Dumfries & Galloway	110	68	62	82
Dundee City	245	247	300	288
East Ayrshire	99	117	151	156
East Dunbartonshire	31	25	27	41
East Lothian	48	45	42	38
East Renfrewshire	18	15	18	13
Edinburgh	210	155	206	274
Falkirk	50	38	31	65
Fife	353	413	339	379
Glasgow	440	490	562	642
Highland	72	94	89	61
Inverclyde	47	60	62	76
Midlothian	31	49	33	33
Moray	18	29	40	57
North Ayrshire	71	117	202	173
North Lanarkshire	263	255	305	277
Orkney Islands	10	3	8	4
Perth & Kinross	68	85	80	69
Renfrewshire	63	90	92	94
Scottish Borders	48	35	35	59
Shetland Islands	15	5	26	13
South Ayrshire	120	155	111	100
South Lanarkshire	223	306	351	343
Stirling	59	48	21	30
West Dunbartonshire	81	59	79	91
West Lothian	133	170	145	116
Western Isles	25	41	23	15
Total	3312	3506	3675	3868

Question reference: S5W-07693

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to carry out a risk assessment on the use of GPS for electronic monitoring.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring electronic monitoring is tailored to reflect the needs, risks and circumstances of the individual. The expansion of electronic monitoring, including use of GPS, will increase the options available to manage and monitor those who offend in the community and to further protect public safety.

GPS technology to monitor those who offend is used in a number of other jurisdictions. The introduction of GPS will depend on the outcome of the consultation and any subsequent parliamentary process.

Question reference: S5W-07715

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years on 2 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), for what reason it is developing separate national child protection policies and plans; what the difference is between these, and whether it will consider publishing both in a single document.

The Scottish Government has committed to publishing a national child protection policy, covering all aspects of child protection which will identify all the responsibilities and actions across Government that are aimed at supporting families and protecting children. As part of the national policy we will develop a plan which will be specifically focused on preventing the emotional, physical and sexual abuse of Scotland’s children. Both the national policy and prevention plan will be published as part of the same document.