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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: S6W-16364

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last evaluated the work of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, and what the results of its last evaluation were.

The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been central to making Scotland a safer place since this government took office, with recorded non-sexual violent crime reducing by 25% since 2006-07. The work of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit is overseen by a governance board and is delivered through various programmes which are evaluated and measured for effectiveness. While progress has been made to reduce violence across Scotland, we recognise we must continue to do more.

Question reference: S6W-16365

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation aimed at reducing violent crime, in light of the recent increase in non-sexual crimes of violence, as reported in the Recorded crime in Scotland: year ending December 2022 statistics.

We are clear that any level of violence is unacceptable but believe that we already have legislation in place to tackle violent crime. By any measure, the overall trend has improved but there are still areas of concern. In 2023-24, in addition to the police budget, we will also be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and reduce its harms.

Question reference: S6W-16367

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set a target for reducing violent crime.

We are clear that any level or form of violence is unacceptable. In 2023-24, in addition to the budget for policing, we will be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and as and when it does occur, to reduce its harm.

Question reference: S6W-16094

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 18 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), in relation to the notice for a contractor to provide taxi services (Public Contracts Scotland reference FEB471362), how many (a) applications have been received, (b) applicants completed the required Declaration of Non-Involvement in Serious Organised Crime and (c) applicants were rejected as a result of, or following, advice provided to the SPCB by Police Scotland.

The SPCB’s procurement function operates in accordance with its published Procurement Strategy and established industry practice including guidance published by the Scottish Government. There are robust processes in place to deliver sustainable contracts that provide best value for money and resilient supply chain governance.

To support this strategy, and in line with procurement regulations, as a matter of policy the SPCB does not publish specific information regarding contracts or tenders which might prejudice fair competition, which would prejudice the commercial interests of any person or organisation or otherwise be contrary to the public interest.

I am therefore limited in the detail I can provide in response to your questions. I can confirm that two quotations were submitted for the contract advertised as FEB471362.

The SPCB has made the decision to award the contract to provide taxi services to City Cabs (Edinburgh) Limited in line with the advertised requirements.

Question reference: S6O-02126

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed the guideline, Sentencing young people, issued by the Scottish Sentencing Council.

Question reference: S6W-16372

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest estimate is of the number of serious organised crime gangs operating in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-14812

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many transgender women are currently held within the female estate of the Scottish Prison Service; what crime, or crimes, each individual was convicted of and, in the case of any prisoners being held on remand, what crime they are accused of.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

On 10 March 2023, there were 7 transgender women located within the female estate in the care of the SPS. Out of those 7; 4 individuals were sentenced, and 3 were held on remand.

The 4 sentenced individuals all had an index offence in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group. The remanded individuals are alleged to have committed index offences in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group and the Crimes against society group.

Question reference: S6O-02006

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that over 600,000 people are on a hospital waiting list.

Question reference: S6W-14201

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to report on the (a) prevalence and (b) nature of spiking, and whether it will create a specific criminal offence of spiking.

The act of spiking is utterly abhorrent and we remain absolutely committed to working with partners to tackle all forms of violence against women.

The Scottish Government has taken a proactive approach to understand the prevalence and address concerns about the incidence of reported spiking in Scotland.

Since November 2021, several roundtable meetings have taken place to bring together partners from across the justice system including policing, victims organisations and prosecution in addition to representatives from colleges and universities, community safety and night-time economy sector. These meetings have been designed to discuss the range of initiatives and information available on spiking. Information is available on the safer.scot website, to inform and support the public around the subject of spiking. This is being updated on a quarterly basis.

Analysis of spiking incidents by Police Scotland is undertaken on a weekly basis to ensure national oversight is maintained and understanding evolves. The Scottish Government is kept informed about any changes in the prevalence of spiking. The number of reported incidents related to spiking are published annually within the National Statistics bulletin on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland.

Spiking can be prosecuted under the common law offence of drugging, which is a broad offence covering all types of drink spiking. Another common law offence which may be relevant depending on the individual facts and circumstances of each case is assault. There is also a more specific statutory offence contained in section 11 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 called administering a substance for sexual purposes. This provides it is an offence for a person to intentionally administer a substance, or cause a substance to be taken by another person, without the other person knowing, and without any reasonable belief that the other person knows, for a sexual purpose. A sexual purpose is for the purpose of stupefying or overpowering someone, so as to enable any person to engage in a sexual activity which involves the person who administered the substance.

We have no plans at this time to create a specific criminal offence of spiking however we keep all laws under review.

Question reference: S6W-14205

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to prevent spiking incidents at festivals and other outdoor events and gatherings.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners including representatives from the major events sector to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking, which they are adopting.

With concerts, festivals and other events resuming following the pandemic, Police Scotland have been working with partners to identify appropriate vehicles for the delivery of the key messaging. For example, as an interim measure and in advance of the Harry Styles concert at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow on 11 June 2022, an overview of ByStander theory was provided to the event organiser for inclusion in Steward’s briefings, in lieu of being able to facilitate a full ByStander awareness session. Feedback from this approach was very positive and Police Scotland rolled this out nationally for Event Policing Leads in advance of a number of events scheduled over the summer 2022 period.

We have also worked with members of the roundtable to bring together the range of initiatives and key messaging on safer.scot to reassure the public that there is a coordinated response to the dangers of spiking, in whatever form it might take.