Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-40862

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will classify non-consensual image sending by under-16s as a serious sexual offence.

Question reference: S6W-40860

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish detailed statistics regarding youth perpetrated sexual offences, including non-contact crimes such as unsolicited sexual image sending.

Question reference: S6W-40854

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Question reference: S6W-39469

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 11 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reallocate any Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities funding, in light of the closure of the charity, Saheliya.

The Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Third Sector Fund has provided core funding to 115 organisations since 2016 to deliver support that tackles inequalities, child and family poverty, improve learning and build skills. Funding to the 115 organisations was awarded following a competitive exercise that was open to all third sector organisations who met the fund’s qualifying criteria. CYPFEI & ALEC funded organisations contribute to our policy priorities to Keep the Promise, tackle child poverty, provide family support, implement Children’s Rights, and promote positive mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Saheylia were awarded £14.7k through CYPFEI & ALEC and they had received their first quarter fund payment for 2025-26 prior to their unfortunate closure. The remaining funding allocated to Saheylia will not be transferred to another organisation, as the reallocation of the remaining funds would require the completion of a competitive exercise, open to all third sector organisations who meet the qualifying criteria for CYPFEI & ALEC funding.

Question reference: S6W-39277

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the sale of counterfeit goods.

The regulation of consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government which includes the work of Trading Standards Scotland.

The Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group (SAITG), which was formally re-launched on 3 March 2025, aims to disrupt counterfeiting and Intellectual Property crime in Scotland. The group brings together law enforcement, government and businesses and focuses on developing best practice and enhancing collective strategies. The work of the group forms a coordinated response to protect Scottish products, businesses and consumers from the threat of counterfeit goods.

The group also supports the aims of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to discourage individuals from using the products of serious organised crime.

Question reference: S6W-39274

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses were closed down as a result of selling counterfeit goods in the financial year 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-39275

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value was of counterfeit goods seized in the financial year 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-39273

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses were fined for selling counterfeit goods in the financial year 2024-25.

A search has been performed of the COPFS database for charges received by COPFS under a) the Trade Marks Act 1994, and b) a key word search for counterfeit or fake goods on charges under the Scottish Government Classification of "Fraud”.

During the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 there were no charges where a Fiscal Fine was offered by COPFS and accepted in relation to either individuals or companies.

The information is provided under the caveat that COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

The numbers were arrived at following an interrogation of relevant charges however a manual review was not conducted to confirm accuracy.

Question reference: S6W-39276

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2025
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for selling counterfeit goods in the financial year 2024-25.

A search has been performed of the COPFS database for charges received by COPFS under a) the Trade Marks Act 1994, and b) a key word search for counterfeit or fake goods on charges under the Scottish Government Classification of "Fraud”.

During the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 there was a total of 27 charges marked for court action relating to individuals. Of these 27 charges, four resulted in a conviction with 19 charges ongoing. No further action was taken in two charges and a further two charges resulted in the individual not being convicted.

Information is also provided for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2024 and all information is broken down as follows:

Outcome	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Convicted	50	4	7	2	4
Not Convicted	57	6	6	3	2
Ongoing	6	0	22	31	19
No Further Action	1	9	1	9	2
Total	114	19	36	45	27

The information is provided under the caveat that COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

The numbers were arrived at following an interrogation of relevant charges however a manual review was not conducted to confirm accuracy.

Question reference: S6W-38154

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce any measures to ensure that female prisoners are not subjected to any unwanted sexual advances from biological males housed in the same facility.

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

The SPS Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody makes it clear that if a transgender woman presents a risk of harm against women and girls, that they will be accommodated in a male establishment.

Any suspected breaches of discipline such as inappropriate behaviours, will be managed in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Prison and Young Offenders Rules (Scotland) 2011. Breaches of discipline include, but are not limited to:

4 – uses threatening words or behaviour

5 – commits any indecent or obscene act

13 – disobeys or fails to comply with any rule, direction or regulation applying to a prisoner

31 – attempts to commit, incites another prisoner to commit, or assists another prisoner to commit or attempt to commit, any of the foregoing breaches.

Restrictions may then be applied to individuals such as removal from association or activities in order to provide a safe and secure environment for everyone living in prisons.

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