- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how often the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has consulted with victims and families before proceeding with cases involving fatalities in each of the last three years.
Answer
COPFS communicates with bereaved relatives in every case before proceeding with cases involving fatalities and continues to do so during those court proceedings. The Family Liaison Charter sets out the Crown’s obligations in relation to liaising with and providing information to bereaved relatives. These obligations apply equally to deaths arising in any area of Scotland.
The various specialist death investigation teams within COPFS consider deaths from all over the country, therefore communication with families in respect of fatalities occurring in Aberdeen, may be undertaken by staff situated in offices other than Aberdeen.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of cases have been referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) by Police Scotland in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table shows the percentage of criminal cases reported to COPFS by Police Scotland.
Criminal cases reported to COPFS | | | | | |
- grouped by financial year reported | | | | | |
| | Financial year reported | |
Of all criminal cases received:- | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
percentage reported by Police Scotland | 92% | 97% | 95% | 94% | 93% |
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what datasets are being developed to improve flood resilience decision making.
Answer
The National Flood Resilience Strategy demonstrates our commitment to improving flood resilience through the use of data. It sets out that we will work with partners to review how we can improve the presentation and use of data to drive flood resilient activity. We will also look how to best use data to raise community awareness of current and future flood exposure to inform decision making and support communities on their climate adaptation journeys and explore how developing new datasets may help improve decision making.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many freedom of information requests it has refused in each of the last five years, broken down by the basis for refusal.
Answer
The following table sets out the number of requests where there has been no disclosure of any information (fully exempted):
Year | Full exemption of info |
2020 | 884 |
2021 | 1108 |
2022 | 1047 |
2023 | 1010 |
2024 | 1052 |
The exemptions applied are noted below, per year. Many responses can have more than one exemption applied. The information provided details the lead exemption as indicated by our case handlers on our case handling system.
| 2020 (Nos) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
EIR exceptions | | | | | |
10(4)(a) The number of requests for which all of the information was not held | 81 | 80 | 65 | 124 | 130 |
10(4)(b) The number of requests refused because they were manifestly unreasonable (other than on grounds of cost) | 3 | 5 | 15 | 23 | 27 |
10(4)(c) Requests which are too general | | | | | |
10(4)(d) Material in the course of completion | 5 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 3 |
10(4)(e) Internal communications | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
10(5)(a) Substantial prejudice to international relations | | 1 | | 1 | |
10(5)(b) Substantial prejudice to course of justice | 1 | | | 2 | |
10(5)(c) Substantial prejudice to intellectual properties | | | 1 | | |
10(5)(d) Substantial prejudice to confidentiality of proceedings | | | 1 | | |
10(5)(e) Substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial or industrial information | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
10(5)(f) Substantial prejudice to the interests of a third party | | 1 | | 1 | |
10(5)(g) Substantial prejudice to the protection of the environment | | 3 | | | 1 |
10(8) Neither confirm nor deny whether environmental info held | | 1 | | | |
11(1) Personal data of the applicant | | | | 1 | 1 |
11(2) Third party personal data | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
11(6) Neither confirm nor deny whether personal data held | | | | | |
| 2020 (Nos) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
FOI exemptions | | | | | |
12(1) Complying will exceed the upper cost limit | 124 | 104 | 173 | 145 | 179 |
14 Repeated/vexatious | 41 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 |
17 Information not held | 453 | 588 | 523 | 481 | 489 |
18 Neither confirm nor deny the information exists | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
25(1) Otherwise accessible | 65 | 198 | 130 | 73 | 100 |
25(3) Publication scheme | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 |
26(a) Disclosure prohibited: enactment | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
26(c) Disclosure prohibited: contempt of court | 1 | 1 | | | 1 |
27(1) Future publication: 12 weeks | 47 | 25 | 22 | 26 | 15 |
27(2) Future publication: programme of research | | | | 2 | |
28 Substantial prejudice to UK relations | 8 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
29(1)(a) Formulation/development of government policy | 7 | 8 | 19 | 5 | 5 |
29(1)(b) Ministerial communications | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |
29 (1)(c) Advice by Law Officers | | 1 | | 4 | |
29(1)(d) Operation of Ministerial private office | 2 | | | 3 | 1 |
30(b)(i) Substantial inhibition to free and frank provision of advice | 5 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 11 |
30(b)(ii) Substantial inhibition to free and frank exchange of views | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
30(c) Substantial prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs | 2 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 5 |
31(1) National security | | | | 1 | |
32(1)(a) Substantial prejudice to international relations | | | 1 | | |
32(1)(b) Confidential information obtained from abroad | | | | | |
33 (1)(a) Trade Secret | | 1 | | | |
33(1)(b) Substantial prejudice to commercial interests | 5 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 5 |
33(2)(b) Substantial prejudice to the UK administration | | | | | |
| 2020 (Nos) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
FOI exemptions | | | | | |
34(1) Information held for the purposes of a criminal investigation | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
34(2)(b) Information held regarding cause of death | | | | 1 | |
35(1)(a) Substantial prejudice to prevention or detection of crime | | | 2 | | 1 |
35(1)(g) Substantial prejudice to the exercise by a public authority for any of its functions (as listed in s35(2)) | | | | 1 | |
36(1) Confidentiality of communications | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
36(2) Actionable breach of confidence | | | 3 | | |
37(1)(a) Court records | | | | | 1 |
37(1)(b) Court records: inquiry or arbitration | 1 | | | 3 | 2 |
38(1)(a) Personal data of the applicant | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
38(1)(b) Third party personal data | 9 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 7 |
38(1)(c) Personal census information | | | | | |
39(1) Endangerment to health or safety | | 3 | | | |
41(a)(b) Communications with the Royal Family and Honours | | | 1 | 1 | |
For the purposes of responding to this written PQ we have interpreted that the term ‘FOI request’ refers to requests responded to under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOI(S)A) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRS).
We have also interpreted the question to mean those requests that were valid and refused in their entirety on exemption grounds. This means where no information was released to the requestor because an exemption or multiple exemptions were applied. Please note that we have not included requests that were invalid e.g. no name provided or those currently in progress and being answered.
When SG refuses a request it is because exemptions or exceptions apply to the information being requested. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOI(S)A) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRS) allow responses to be fully exempted, where all information being requested has been withheld from disclosure, or partially exempted where some information has been released and some information withheld where an exemption has been applied.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of criminal cases in each of last five years have resulted in a plea agreement prior to trial.
Answer
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. This question as currently framed cannot be readily answered by COPFS.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how real-time data is used to support emergency response and recovery during flood events.
Answer
SEPA, as Scotland’s hydrometric and flood warning authority, and a civil contingency category one responder, provides a range of real time data including Floodline flood alerts and warnings; rainfall data at over 250 locations and water level data at over 400 locations in Scotland. Through an on-going technology improvement programme, SEPA has increased the timeliness of rainfall and water level real time data.
SEPA continues to develop its data and explore how its use may be expanded including sharing data through Application Programming Interfaces for organisations to ingest into their own websites or systems; prioritising data by internet searches during major flood incidents; and exploring how to better integrate flood warning and water levels information and to simplify real time access to the information.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of cases handled by the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) resulted in a conviction in each of the last five years.
Answer
In the last 5 years, almost 100,000 charges have been reported to the Aberdeen Office of COPFS.
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. Any data sought in the requested period would encompass convictions for cases reported out with that period. As such, any figures would not accurately reflect numbers of convictions in respect of the cases reported in that period.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of cases handled by the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in the last year involved alleged offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Answer
The following table shows percentage of cases reported to the Aberdeen Procurator Fiscal’s Office containing one or more charge under - Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Criminal cases reported to COPFS Aberdeen Procurator Fiscal office during the financial year 2023-24 |
| | |
| 2023-24 | |
Percentage of cases reported which contained one or more charge under - Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 | 7% | |
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to improve flood risk communication and awareness through enhanced data visualisation tools.
Answer
SEPA is responsible for producing national flood risk maps and operating Scotland’s flood warning system. Both actions are important to communicate flood risk and rely heavily on the use of data and presenting it for greatest impact; both in terms of knowing which places are at risk of flooding and what is the immediate risk during unsettled weather. SEPA keep these processes under review through engagement with stakeholders and customers and are committed to continuous improvement. Recent improvements include work on the Scottish Flood Forecast to deliver a mobile-friendly overview of the flood risk for the next 3 days, an upgraded Floodline messaging system, and improved and more accessible real time water levels webpage.
Improving flood resilience through use of data is a key strand of work from the Flood Resilience Strategy.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what resources are being allocated to SEPA’s flood forecasting and warning services.
Answer
The draft Scottish budget indicates a £52.6m grant in aid allocation to SEPA for 2025-26 and SEPA may determine how to allocate those resources, setting this out in an Annual Operating Plan each year.
The recent budget includes an additional £15m to support the improvement of flood resilience across Scotland.