- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) reliability of broadband in the west of Scotland.
Answer
The £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme delivered over 101,300 fibre connections in the West Scotland region with over 96,600 of those capable of delivering speeds of 24 Megabits per second (Mbps) and above. The Reaching 100% (R100) programme will build upon this work by ensuring all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband – including those in the constituencies of Clydebank and Milngavie, Cunninghame North, Cunninghame South, Dumbarton, Eastwood, Greenock and Inverclyde, Paisley, Renfrewshire North and West, Renfrewshire South, and Strathkelvin and Bearsden. The £600 million R100 contracts will deliver a substantial number of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections, and the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) will also ensure that anyone who wants a superfast connection of 30Mbps and above by the end of 2021 can have one.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Denham on 11 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether its review of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 will include a review of the effectiveness of breed-specific legislation.
Answer
Further to the work of the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee in the previous session of Parliament, the Scottish Government has begun the process of reviewing the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”). Earlier this year we published a consultation on dog control measures, with a specific focus on the criminal offence of a dog being allowed to be dangerously out of control contained in the 1991 Act. The views offered in response to the consultation have been analysed and will help to inform and formulate policy as to what specific legislative changes and non-legislative action should be progressed by the Scottish Government through further consultation. This work will include consideration of how banned breeds legislation operates.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement in its Programme for Government, whether it will provide further details of its planned legislation to "change the way imprisonment is used".
Answer
As noted in the Programme for Government, we intend to consult shortly on proposed reforms to the law relating to bail and release from custody. Public protection and victims’ safety are at the heart of our proposals for reform, which focus on reduce reoffending and associated victimisation.
In relation to bail, we will be consulting on proposals to refocus how remand is used, especially for those who pose little or no risk to public safety. With regards to release from custody, we intend to consult on reforms to support release arrangements, with a focus on enabling reintegration into the community.
The responses to this consultation will inform a year 1 bill.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Denham on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) determination committee meetings there have been in each of the last three years.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The information that has been requested is not held by the Scottish Government.
Mr McArthur may be interested to know that a consultation seeking views on options for changes to the way legal services are regulated and how the legal complaints system operates is currently open and is running from 1 October to 24 December 2021. The consultation is available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action has been taken by the Scottish Prison Service in light of reports of mobile phones that were given to prisoners being hacked and used for criminal activity.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
A solution was identified with the provider in relation to illicit SIM cards being used in prison issued mobile phones and it is currently being implemented across the prison estate. This solution enables the SPS to blacklist handsets on various network providers rendering the handsets unusable with a non-prison issued SIM. The security measures in place will continue to be monitored by the SPS.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Denham on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what levies have been imposed by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) on law firms involved with the completion of the determination committee process in each of the last three years.
Answer
This is a matter for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The information that has been requested is not held by the Scottish Government.
Mr McArthur may be interested to know that a consultation seeking views on options for changes to the way legal services are regulated and how the legal complaints system operates is currently open and is running from 1 October to 24 December 2021. The consultation is available at: https://consult.gov.scot/justice/legal-services-regulation-reform-in-scotland .
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to the consultation on its draft Licensing Order and Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for short-term lets.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03003 on 1 October 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland, what steps it is taking to pay specific and ongoing attention to issues relating to ethnic and religious health inequalities, employment experiences and poverty.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to tackling racial inequalities. Our recently-published Immediate Priorities Plan (IPP) sets out how we will work across government and beyond to tackle deep rooted inequalities, and implements the recommendations of the Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity. The IPP captures work ongoing across government, including our Fair Work First approach; the development of a race equality toolkit for employers; a Workplace Equality Fund to support minority ethnic people into employment; an ethnicity pay strategy; and a £20 increase to the Scottish Child Payment. We recognise the need for our work to tackle poverty to reach minority ethnic families in particular. That is why they are one of six priority groups we want to focus on in our national mission to eradicate child poverty in Scotland. Health inequalities are being tackled through a concurrent focus on improving Covid-19 health outcomes and targeting diseases, such as diabetes, which are overrepresented in certain minority ethnic communities.
- Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland, what steps it is taking to address the reported shortfall in data about Islamophobia in Scotland.
Answer
We recognise that there is very limited data on Islamophobia in Scotland and that this is essential to effectively tackle Islamophobia in Scotland.
In respect of anti-Muslim hate crime, in February 2020, the Scottish Government published a research report ‘A Study of the Characteristics of Police Recorded Hate Crime in Scotland’. This is the first time that such information has been publicised, and includes information on the type of prejudice shown. In around one-quarter (26%) of religiously-aggravated hate crimes recorded in 2018-19, the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the Muslim community.
Another study into the characteristics of hate crimes recorded in 2020-21 is ongoing and is currently planned to be published in 2022. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 includes provision to require disaggregated data on hate crime to be published annually and we are currently developing our approach in partnership with justice agencies. This will provide key information about the nature of hate crime in Scotland, including information about those involved. Such data will be essential to effectively tackle hate crime in Scotland and to inform future interventions in this area.
- Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland, whether it will adopt a formal definition of Islamophobia to promote understanding, encourage reporting, and indicate a commitment to addressing Islamophobia.
Answer
Our Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan includes a number of actions around raising awareness of hate crime and to encourage reporting. For information, a full list of action commitments in this area can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/1336/5 . We will publish a report on progress made in delivering those actions during the coming months.
Implementation of the Hate Crime Act provides a good opportunity for the Scottish Government, justice partners and stakeholders to take stock of and refresh our approach to tackling hate crime and we are committed to developing a new hate crime strategy later this year. The new strategy will support implementation of the Hate Crime Act, as well as further work to consider the need for the Scottish Government to define Islamophobia, including consideration of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group’s definition.