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: S6W-10631

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes in each local authority area have been built through the (a) Rural Housing and (b) Islands Housing Fund since November 2021.

Question reference: S6W-10717

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the Islands Energy Strategy.

As stated in the answer to S6W-10716 on 20 September 2022, work to develop an Islands Energy Strategy was delayed during the pandemic. In the interim period there have been significant changes to the policy landscape, including commitments to take forward an Energy Strategy Just Transition Plan for Scotland and the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. An Islands Energy Strategy will follow and build on these pieces of work in 2023 allowing alignment with Scotland's national plans. Stakeholder engagement on is ongoing. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-10627

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many offences have been recorded under section (a) 2, (b) 3 and (c) 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in each local authority area in each year since 2019, and how many subsequent (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions there were.

In terms of recorded offences, the data received from Police Scotland for producing the National Statistics on Recorded Crime, is a simple count of the number of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up.

The nature of this data is such that while some crime codes refer to a single act or section of legislation, others include a wider range of legislation. As such we are unable to separately identify crimes and offences recorded under either Section 2 or Section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. We are able to separately identify crimes recorded under Section 3, which relates to careless and inconsiderate driving. This document has been placed with the Scottish Parliament, bib number 63591. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The document provides figures for 2018-19 to 2021-22, along with data for the years of 2013-14 to 2017-18. Those earlier years were requested through a previous PQ S5W-22619 on 2 May 2019 and in preparing updated information for this PQ, statisticians identified a small coding error in the calculations made in 2019.

The error meant a small number of cases included in the earlier answer were for another part of the Road Traffic Act, beyond Section 3. This had a negligible impact on the implied magnitude of offences recorded under Section 3 (accounting for less than 0.5% difference for each year at the Scotland level). However we would like to use this PQ answer to highlight the amendment and issue the revised figures for 2013-14 to 2017-18.

In terms of (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions: These are also included in the aforementioned document (placed with the Scottish Parliament, bib number 63591) – split into each of Sections 2, 3 and 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. For example recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland, while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year, with charges brought and court proceedings concluded in subsequent years. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

Question reference: S6W-10629

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of probationer teachers are set to be allocated to each local authority in 2022-23 as part of the Teacher Induction Scheme.

The allocation process is managed by the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS). Probationer teachers are allocated to each of the 32 local authorities and to Jordanhill based on their preferences and need identified by the authorities.

As of 31 August 2022 the number and percentage of probationer teachers allocated to each local authority is indicated in the following table.

Aberdeen City Council	117	4.02%
Aberdeenshire Council	112	3.85%
Angus Council	29	1.00%
Argyll and Bute Council	17	0.58%
City of Edinburgh Council	208	7.15%
Clackmannanshire Council	25	0.86%
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar	10	0.34%
Dumfries and Galloway Council	68	2.34%
Dundee City Council	93	3.19%
East Ayrshire Council	78	2.68%
East Dunbartonshire Council	113	3.88%
East Lothian Council	74	2.54%
East Renfrewshire Council	133	4.57%
Falkirk Council	123	4.23%
Fife Council	211	7.25%
Glasgow City Council	322	11.06%
Highland Council	67	2.30%
Inverclyde Council	48	1.65%
Midlothian Council	54	1.86%
Moray Council	79	2.71%
North Ayrshire Council	56	1.92%
North Lanarkshire Council	146	5.02%
Orkney Islands Council	7	0.24%
Perth and Kinross Council	45	1.55%
Renfrewshire Council	101	3.47%
Scottish Borders Council	49	1.68%
Shetland Islands Council	9	0.31%
South Ayrshire Council	81	2.78%
South Lanarkshire Council	181	6.22%
Stirling Council	73	2.51%
West Dunbartonshire Council	52	1.79%
West Lothian Council	130	4.47%
Grand Total *	2911	100%

* The total percentage is subject to roundings.

Question reference: S6W-10626

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of motoring offences where being unfit to drive due to alcohol or drugs was the main charge in each year since 2017.

Information is available from the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 statistical publication.

Table 4(b) in the main tables provides information on the number of convictions for 'Driving under influence'; and the additional dataset titled 'Drink and Careless driving' provides further information on the number of convictions for causing death by careless driving when under influence of drink/drugs.

These can be found under the 'Supporting documents' at this link - Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2019-20 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-10904

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a progress update to its cancer strategy for children and young people 2021–2026.

Question reference: S6W-10442

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated estimate on the annual cost of operating the Deposit Return Scheme in a "steady state" as set out in the full business case addendum, which was published on 16 March 2020.

Question reference: S6W-10443

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the full operational costs of Circularity Scotland in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-10213

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report July 2022, which states that "Observers in Scotland noted an increase in the proportion of criminally exploited children who were charged with crimes and underscored that more trafficking victims faced criminal justice processes than traffickers".

Child trafficking and exploitation is abuse. When there is reason to believe that a child may have been trafficked or exploited an immediate child protection response is required and an inter-agency referral discussion (IRD) should be undertaken. In cases where a child or young person has been subject to any form of exploitation or trafficking their safety and protection is paramount. Child trafficking and exploitation victims must be cared for and supported within the context of Scotland’s child protection system and the national Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approach.

In September 2021 Scottish Government published the revised National Guidance for Child Protection which includes detailed advice for all practitioners who support children and families on identifying and supporting victims of human trafficking and exploitation, including criminal and sexual exploitation.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 required the Lord Advocate to issue instructions regarding the prosecution of persons who are, or appear to be, the victims of trafficking, slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour and who have allegedly committed a criminal offence. The instructions set a strong presumption against prosecution of child victims who have committed an offence in the course of, or as a consequence of, being trafficked or exploited.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with operational partners to better understand what child protection procedures are followed in cases of trafficking and exploitation, and ensure that child protection procedures are activated immediately.

Question reference: S6O-01363

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Orkney Islands Council to discuss its budget settlement.

Council	Rural	Islands
Argyll & Bute	0	6
Dumfries & Galloway	4	-
Highland	10	4
Moray	8	-
Scottish Borders	2	-
Western Isles	-	1
Total	24	11