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: S5O-03053

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-21865

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the second supplementary to question S5T-01518 by Ash Denham on 26 February 2019 (Official Report, c. 8), in light of the minister's comment that "I agree that a review [of fatal accident inquiries] is required", whether it will confirm the scope, purpose and timeline of any such review.

As previously stated, the commitment given was that the issue of legal aid for families involved in fatal accident inquiries will be considered as part of wider planned reforms to legal aid legislation arising from the Independent Review of Legal Aid.

Such consideration will include the current statutory tests of probable cause, reasonableness and financial eligibility.

A comprehensive independent review of the legislation on fatal accident inquiries was undertaken by Lord Cullen, the former Lord President, and reported in November 2009. The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 was passed unanimously by Parliament. The main provisions were implemented in June 2017, less than 2 years ago.

In August 2016, the independent Inspector of Prosecution published a thematic inspection of fatal accident inquiries. The Inspector has confirmed that she will undertake and publish during the first half of 2019 a follow-up on her review of fatal accident inquiries. It will be for the Lord Advocate to consider that report when it is published.

Question reference: S5W-21785

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its employees by (a) nationality, (b) age and (c) gender.

A breakdown of employee age and gender is regularly provided in our workforce information publication which is available here https://www.gov.scot/publications/workforce-information/ .

We are unable to provide a breakdown of employee nationality as this information is not held. While nationality is collected to satisfy Civil Service nationality rules regarding eligibility for employment https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

it is subsequently destroyed in line with Data Protection Legislation as it is no longer required.

Question reference: S5W-21588

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what biometric details will be held by it following the introduction of the two-factor authentication fingerprint system.

No biometric details are held by the Parliament in relation to the introduction of the two-factor authentication system.

The two-factor authentication system works by scanning a person’s finger measuring and collecting unique reference points. This data is extracted, transferred and stored on to the photographic ID card. The information is securely encrypted and details are not held by the Parliament or any other body. It is not possible to recreate a fingerprint using the information held on the card. As a result, if the card is lost or misplaced, the personal data cannot be recovered, and the cardholder will have to re-enrol before being provided with a replacement card.

Question reference: S5W-21589

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has spent on organising the Festival of Politics in each of the last three years, also broken down by what financial assistance it has received from the Scottish Government.

The Festival of Politics is in its 15th year and continues to be one of the Scottish Parliament’s major public engagement events with over 5,000 people attending last year’s Festival.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body allocates an annual budget to support the development and delivery of the Festival of Politics. This covers Festival development; advertising; promotion; programme design and production; panellist travel, accommodation and expenses; audio-visual costs; Festival Assistants; and the free Festival Café Bar programme of music, exhibitions, dance and comedy. The overall costs are offset by ticket sales, sponsorship and gifts in-kind.

The costs vary slightly year-to-year depending on the numbers of days the Festival runs; the number of events staged; the number of participating panellists; and the number of tickets sold. The direct costs to the SPCB after ticket sales and other revenue have been taken into account for the last three years were as follows: 2016 (£54k); 2017 (£49k); and 2018 (£60k).

The Festival receives no financial assistance from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5F-03140

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the First Minister whether the merger of Police Scotland and the British Transport Police has been permanently abandoned.

Question reference: S5T-01518

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing legal aid to victims' families for fatal accident inquiries.

Question reference: S5O-02909

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding any expected increase in demand for social work services over the next 12 months.

Question reference: S5W-21341

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) Police Scotland has applied for or enquired about contingency funding for the police to deal with the possible consequences of Brexit.

Any costs related to EU exit should not have a detrimental impact on Scotland’s public finances and should be met in full by the UK Government. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 February 2019 outlining that any additional costs for policing in Scotland associated with Brexit – in relation to additional police officers and any further resources that may be required - should fall to the UK Government.

Question reference: S5W-21347

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding its continued participation with the UK Counter Terrorism Police Network, and what consideration Police Scotland has given to withdrawing from this structure.