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-26724

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met groups that promote non-secular education and what was discussed.

Scottish Ministers and their officials engage on a regular basis with organisations who promote faith based education or who provide advice and support on religious and moral education.

The most recent meeting was on 19 September 2019. Scottish Government officials met with the Scottish Catholic Education Service to discuss how data for the number of teachers who have diocesan approval is presented.

Question reference: S5W-26721

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to the (a) Community Security Trust and (b) Scottish Council of Jewish Communities in each of the last five years; for what reason, and whether any service level agreements were published.

Details of funding under the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund (PECF) 2017-2020 can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/equality-funding-pecf-2017-2020/ .

In addition to the PECF, the following was also awarded to the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities from the Equalities budget:

In 2016-17 we provided £55,200 to SCOJEC for Empowering, Engaging and Connecting Diverse Communities
In 2015-16 we provided £46,000 to SCOJEC for Empowering and Connecting Communities work

There has been no funding provided to the Community Security Trust from the Equalities budget within the last 5 years.

Question reference: S5W-26723

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 6 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that charities registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) publish details of monies received from outwith the UK.

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on all charities to prepare a statement of account, have this independently examined or audited and provide a copy to the Scottish Charity Regulator. Under the 2005 Act, a person can request a charity to provide a copy of its latest statement of accounts. In addition, OSCR publish the accounts of all Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs) and charities with an income of £25,000 or more.

The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) sets out how the accounts must be prepared. Charities must prepare accounts either on a Receipts and Payments basis or a Fully Accrued basis. Where accounts are prepared on a Fully Accrued basis they must be prepared in accordance with the 'Charities Statement of Recommended Practice'.

The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice is developed by the SORP-making body comprising the Scottish Charity Regulator, The Charity Commission for England and Wales and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. The SORP provides guidance for charities on how to apply the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice is reviewed on a regular basis.

At present charities are not required to separately disclose monies received from out with the UK. The Scottish Government is not aware of any plans for the SORP to be amended in this way.

Question reference: S5W-26636

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scotland's Railway regarding concerns over a so-called job and knock culture developing within Network Rail in Scotland, where staff rush to finish work for financial reasons.

Question reference: S5W-26632

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has challenged Network Rail's introduction of labour-only subcontractors in place of full-time staff in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-26634

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) unions and (b) Scotland's Railway regarding concerns about poor industrial relations within Network Rail in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-26616

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26426 by Humza Yousaf on 2 December 2019, for what reason Police Scotland has responded privately to the Member and treated the question as a Freedom of Information request and not a parliamentary question.

Question reference: S5W-26615

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26426 by Humza Yousaf on 2 December 2019, for what reason it did not follow the instruction at paragraph 75 of its September 2017 paper, Guidance for Scottish Government Officials on Scottish Parliamentary Questions, which sets out how it should respond to questions that relate to operational matters of its agencies, including publishing the response of the head of that agency in its answer, and whether it will now provide the information that was requested regarding question S5W-26105 concerning how many complaints have been made in each of the last five years about people being taken into police custody and not having access to a duty solicitor, also broken down by how many were upheld.

As outlined in the answer to question S5W-26426 on 2 December 2019, the information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. As Police Scotland is not an agency of the Scottish Government, I asked Police Scotland to consider the request and respond directly to the member. I would be happy to meet with the member to discuss any concerns he may have in relation to access to duty solicitors in police custody.

Question reference: S5W-26631

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many times in 2019 it has met Scotland's Railway, and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S5W-26637

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of unfilled vacancies within Network Rail in Scotland.