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-17473

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland, whether it will commit to meeting the long-term liabilities of a segregated pension scheme.

Question reference: S5W-17470

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland, what its position is on whether any proposed benefits of integration will outweigh the anticipated costs and risks, and how it will ensure that any analysis of these will be independent, transparent and evidence-based.

The benefits of the merger of the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland are set out in the Policy Memorandum which supported the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2017. As the re-planning of the Programme, and the integration Programme itself, progress, costs and risks will be kept under regular review by the Joint Programme Board overseeing the integration. The Programme will be subject to an independent deliverability assessment in September.

Question reference: S5W-17465

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16958 by Humza Yousaf on 13 June 2018, what its position is on the robustness of the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill Financial Memorandum, which states that the transitional costs would be "minor" and were "expected to be small".

Question reference: S5W-17543

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the updated rules for Scottish Police Authority board meetings and the extension of circumstances in which meetings may be held in private.

This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority. However, the Scottish Government welcomes any improvements aimed at strengthening the Scottish Police Authority's corporate governance procedures and revisions to its Standing Orders are part of that. The Standing Orders, approved by the Authority’s Board on 28 June 2018, provide greater transparency as to why an agenda item may be taken as an item of private business.

Question reference: S5W-17395

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures in the report, Criminal Proceeding in Scotland, 2016-17, which record a 96.2% reduction in the number of police formal adult warnings since 2009-10.

The Formal Adult Warnings system was replaced with the Recorded Police Warnings scheme in January 2016. Recorded Police Warnings provide a proportionate, formal way of dealing with low level offences which commonly do not result in court action and will still appear on records for two years.

The types of crime covered by the scheme are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of his independent role as head of the system of prosecution.

Question reference: S5W-17392

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16736 by Michael Matheson on 4 June 2018, in light of the workbook referred to in the response providing the information on an individual court basis only, whether it will confirm (a) how many and (b) what percentage of (i) sheriff and (ii) justice of the peace court cases nationally were dealt with from caution and charge to verdict within the 26-week target in each year since 2007.

The number and percentage of cases dealt with within 26 weeks of caution and charge to verdict nationally in each year since 2007-08 is shown in the following table:

	Sheriff Courts		JP Courts
	Num cases in 26 weeks	% cases in 26 weeks	Num cases in 26 weeks	% cases in 26 weeks
2007-08	50728	66.3	23389	71.4
2008-09	51131	72.8	27635	76.5
2009-10	47210	75.5	31031	77.8
2010-11	41745	72.7	30183	74.1
2011-12	40810	71.8	25992	76.1
2012-13	37765	71.0	24683	77.8
2013-14	38111	70.4	27693	73.2
2014-15	35901	65.1	26121	61.6
2015-16	38782	64.8	22148	58.5
2016-17	39822	65.7	21943	62.9
2017-18	36149	67.7	18970	65.0

Source: Criminal Justice Board Management Information System

Question reference: S5W-17394

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures in the report, Criminal Proceeding in Scotland, 2016-17, which record a 74.9% reduction in the number of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices since 2009-10.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises how this can blight people’s lives. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities.

It is likely that the reduced use of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices (FPN) is the result of an overall fall in levels of antisocial behaviour committed in Scotland – as demonstrated by our population surveys and similar to the significant reduction in levels of recorded crime (down 43% since 2006-07) – and the introduction of the Recorded Police Warning scheme, which commenced in January 2016 which provide an additional tool to police when dealing with antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities to use their expertise and knowledge to inform, refresh and update all of the guidance documents on tackling antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S5W-15143

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) has been and (b) will be paid to the outgoing finance director of NHS Tayside as a result of the termination of his employment, broken down by (i) pension, (ii) ex gratia, (iii) notice, (iv) holiday and (v) any other payments.

Question reference: S5W-15139

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether any form of settlement agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar post-employment contract has been put in place for the outgoing finance director of NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-17393

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures in the report, Criminal Proceeding in Scotland, 2016-17, which record an 87.9% reduction in the number of police restorative justice warnings since 2009-10.

Police Scotland have a number of disposals available to them for dealing with young people involved in offending behaviour. The use of restorative justice warnings are just one of those available. Other disposals include early and effective intervention, formal warnings, recorded police warnings and referral to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. The decision on which disposal to use is a matter for police officials.

The use of restorative justice warnings has decreased since 2009-10, however, the use of other disposals has increased during this time. The Youth Justice Strategy Preventing Offending: Getting it right for Children and Young People published by the Scottish Government in 2015 continues to promote a preventative agenda of keeping young people out of formal systems and using early and effective interventions where possible.