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-17052

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason parts of the Appraisal of Options for the Specification of the 2018 Northern Isles Ferry Services Final Report have been redacted and, in light of this, what its position is on how elected representatives and others will be able to effectively scrutinise and advise on its content.

Question reference: S5W-17015

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the logos of Highlands and Island Enterprise and VisitScotland were used in an advert in the Press and Journal on 1 June 2018, which reportedly supported a commercial venture that is opposed by Scottish Natural Heritage and has been recommended for refusal by Highland Council planning officials, and whether this was sanctioned at ministerial level.

Question reference: S5W-16899

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many scallop dredging vessels operating in Scotland are fitted with vessel monitoring systems.

The Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics which can be found at www.gov.scot/publications provide numbers of Scottish registered fishing vessels, by main fishing method (table 2.6).

All fishing vessels that are 12 metres length overall and above are required by law to have a fully functioning Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) fitted. Of these vessels, 16 are also fitted with Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) systems in terms of the Regulation of Scallop Fishing (Scotland) Order 2017.

Question reference: S5W-16898

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the existing vessel monitoring system is suitable to determine whether fishing vessels are fishing illegally within restricted parts of marine protected areas.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 requires that all fishing vessels that are 12 metres overall length or more are required to have a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) fitted. This allows a vessel to be automatically located and identified by transmitting position data at regular intervals. The existing system in use on Scottish fishing vessels meets these requirements.

However, there is no requirement for a VMS to be fitted to fishing vessels under 12 metres in length and therefore currently no way to automatically determine the location of such a vessel and whether or not it is within a restricted part of a Marine Protected Area.

Question reference: S5W-16897

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many scallop dredging vessels operating in Scotland fish in International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) rectangles that hold marine protected areas.

Scottish registered scallop fishing vessels range in size from 10 metres and under, to over 40 metres.

All fishing vessels that are 12 metres length overall and above are required by law to have a fully functioning Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) fitted which allows the vessel to be automatically located and identified by transmitting position data at regular intervals. Fishing vessels under 12 metres are not required to have such VMS fitted.

It is therefore not possible to identify the total number of scallop dredging vessels operating in a given area at a given time.

Question reference: S5O-02189

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ensures that the anonymity of rape complainers is protected during and subsequent to trial.

Question reference: S5W-16388

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of confirmation in its press release of 29 March 2018, that “over 70% of the £10.8 million funding in 2018-19 will support the bus industry in Glasgow to prepare for” low emission zones, whether the remaining 30% will be used to support the bus industry in the other priority low emission zone (LEZ) cities, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, to prepare for their respective LEZs, and when it plans to allocate this funding.

Question reference: S5W-16610

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02937 by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016, what steps it takes to encourage (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies to take the same action.

Prior to declaring any land surplus to requirements, a process is undertaken by officials to determine, among other considerations, whether any planned transport interventions such as road, rail or cycle schemes could be affected.

Surplus land owned by public bodies which are bound by the provisions of the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM), is subject to a ‘trawl’ process prior to its disposal. At this stage, any such public body may seek to acquire it.

Question reference: S5W-16563

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16013 by Derek Mackay on 9 May 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding what discussions it has had with the Information Commissioner Scotland regarding the so-called harvesting of personal data, and what information it has regarding the number of people in Scotland who might have been affected.

The ICO Scotland Office have confirmed their stated position in response to the recent events involving data analytics and social media, as referenced in our answer on 9 May (S5W-16013). Data Protection is a reserved matter which is regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) across the UK and applies to all UK residents. There is a branch office in Scotland who liaise with organisations based in Scotland, and in relation to any UK residents, rather than exclusively for people who live in Scotland. Any action the UK Information Commissioner's Office are taking in respect of any misuse of personal data would encompass all UK residents, including people who live in Scotland.

The ICO have been very active with and transparent about their actions to investigate the recent events involving data analytics and social media.

The right to privacy is a right which the Scottish Government takes very seriously. We will continue to promote good practice to all public bodies when handling personal information.

Question reference: S5O-02167

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has with trade unions, public bodies, social enterprise and business regarding Scotland's immigration needs.