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-21585

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when Police Scotland will publish its research into the amount of time that police officers spend at A&E departments.

Question reference: S5W-21586

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will bring forward measures to improve the input that victims and their families have into the temporary release process.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the information and support available to victims and families when prisoners are released. We recognise that the release process can be unfamiliar and distressing for family members.

That is why we have established a Victims Taskforce to identify ways to improve support, advice and information available for victims of crime and their families as they interact with the Scottish criminal justice system. This programme of work will be informed directly by victims themselves. The Taskforce will have an oversight role to the suite of Programme for Government commitments related to victims, which includes ensuring that victims and their families have better information and greater support ahead of prison release arrangements.

Question reference: S5W-21734

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many former police stations and premises Police Scotland has (a) put up for sale and (b) sold, and whether it will provide a list of these.

Question reference: S5W-21584

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the change to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's funding was in real terms between 2018-19 to 2019-20.

In 2018-19 the Scottish Government provided the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) with a total fiscal budget i.e. resource and capital of £296.9 million which included additional spending capacity of £15.5 million. This comprised of £5.5 million extra direct funding and ensuring SFRS was able to benefit in full from being able to recover £10 million in VAT from March 2018.

In 2019-20 SFRS has been allocated a fiscal budget of £302.4 million which includes an additional £5.5 million in support of its transformation programme.

Question reference: S5W-21624

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the criteria are for the Scottish Ministers to release a prisoner on compassionate grounds.

Question reference: S5O-02883

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the NRAC funding formula for NHS boards.

Question reference: S5O-02807

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a higher level of fixed penalty notices for more serious antisocial behaviour.

All the evidence on antisocial behaviour points towards a long-term, sustained reduction in Scotland. For example the nationally representative Scottish Crime and Justice Survey shows that the percentage of adults who think people behave in an antisocial manner in their local area has fallen from 46% in 2008/9 to 29% in 2016/17.

We remain committed to ensuring police and local authorities have the powers and resources to further reduce antisocial behaviour, including investing in prevention and early intervention. Fixed penalty notices are an important tool, forming part of a wide range of powers which enable the police and local authorities to exercise judgement when tackling antisocial behaviour. In our on-going discussions with Police Scotland and local authorities we will explore the benefits of amending fixed penalty notices.

Question reference: S5W-20898

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20569 by Humza Yousaf on 9 January 2019, whether it will confirm if any testing is now carried out in the prison estate for new psychoactive substances, in light of it setting out the then position in response to question S5W-05991 on 24 January 2017.

Question reference: S5W-20899

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20570 by Humza Yousaf on 9 January 2019, whether it will list the strategic, tactical and technological responses that the Scottish Prison Services uses to reduce drug use in prisons.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond.

SPS has established a Strategic Risk and Threat Group (SRTG) which is responsible for providing an overview of any emerging threats and for the deployment of resources and tactical options. The SRTG is responsible for the management of a national tasking log which supports planned programmes of large scale tactical searching across the estate. There is also an established Technical Support Unit which provides technical support and specialised equipment to support national search operations.

Tactical measures are supported by various technologies, including X-ray machines, body scanners and other equipment which will assist in detecting substances which may have been concealed. SPS also has a number of drug detection dogs to support the recovery of unauthorised substances. We also work closely with Police Scotland and others in intelligence lead activity to support our tactical tasking.

It would be inappropriate to place into the public domain specific detailed information on all the specific strategic, tactical and technological responses that are utilised to reduce drug use in Scottish prisons.

Question reference: S5W-20462

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it became aware of the reported error in the settlement business case for the departing chief executive of NHS Tayside.

On 6 December 2018 Audit Scotland Published its 2017-18 audit of NHS Tayside. In the context of that audit process, the Scottish Government became aware that errors has been made in the process of confirming the terms of settlement for the departing chief executive of NHS Tayside. These concern, respectively, the process undertaken for confirming a change to the former chief executive's notice period (from 3 months to 6 months), and an overpayment made to the Scottish Public Pensions Agency following the miscalculation of the former chief executive's notice period as superannuable. The Scottish Government has been assured by the board that in both instances, these errors have been retrospectively rectified.

The audit report confirms that the approach to negotiate a settlement in this case was reasonable. As with all employment matters, it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail of individual cases.