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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-21262

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many accused have been offered alternatives to prosecution for assault in each of the last five years.

The following table sets out the number of accused receiving a direct measure as a first substantive marking compared to the total number of accused receiving a first substantive marking (all types including: court, direct measure, no action, no decision) in cases including an assault charge (within the Scottish Government Classification of “Common Assault”):

Year	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Direct Measure	3,178	2,717	2,528	2,159	2,500
Total	25,926	25,052	23,409	22,896	23,059

Direct measures include a range of alternatives to prosecution, namely: fiscal fines, compensation orders, combined fiscal fine and compensation orders, fiscal work orders, diversion from prosecution, referral to the Children’s Reporter and warning letters.

Question reference: S6W-21264

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many fiscal fines have been issued to individuals who have committed an offence in Ayr in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-21263

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service chose to take no action in (a) Ayr and (b) Kilmarnock in each of the last five years.

Prosecutors do not always choose to mark a case for no action, they may require to do so if there is not sufficient admissible evidence available in law to justify prosecutorial action or where the statutory time limits have been exceeded.

The following table sets out the total number of criminal cases in which no action was taken by the prosecutor at a) Ayr and b) Kilmarnock in each of the last 5 years.

Year	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Ayr PF Office	396	414	372	312	267
Kilmarnock PF Office	733	714	731	629	493

Question reference: S6O-02532

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that body-worn cameras will be delivered to over 14,000 police officers, in light of its 2023-24 Programme for Government commitment to support Police Scotland to achieve this.

Question reference: S6W-20616

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 31 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19825 by Natalie Don on 27 July 2023, when it anticipates it will be able to provide clarity regarding the sum outstanding on the anticipated £500 million in the fund, and how it anticipates the remaining allocation will be spent.

The Scottish Government remains resolute in its commitment to Keep the Promise and the implementation plan published last year sets out our actions and commitments to help care experienced children, young people and their families. The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) is a key element of these commitments.

We recently published the WFWF Year 1 evaluation interim report, which we are using to inform decisions on the best use of the outstanding WFWF. Our plans for the remaining allocation will be provided in due course.

Question reference: S6W-20511

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the policy grounds were for deciding that those over the age of 61 do not qualify for a student loan in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-20351

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 29 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is carrying out to protect private water supplies in rural Scotland from any damage caused by forest felling when developing new wind farms.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing existing private water supply legislation, which will align private water supply policy with the EU’s recast Drinking Water Directive and further measures required to adapt to climate change impacts. This includes provisions relating to access to water and taking a risk-based approach from catchment to tap. A public consultation on potential policy proposals covering the water sector including PWS, is planned for the Autumn.

I refer to the answer for S6W-20472 on 29 August 2023 and add that, in addition to reviewing existing legislation on private water supplies, the Scottish Government is working closely with Scottish Forestry to update the existing guidance note ‘ Protecting private water supplies during forestry activities ’. This guidance builds upon The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) .

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

Question reference: S6W-20592

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to local authorities from the Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund.

Question reference: S6W-20510

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to widen student loan eligibility for those over the age of 61.

A policy decision has been made to link the student loan age cap in Scotland to the UK state pension age, ensuring a 5 year gap between the two. This was implemented to allow students sufficient time to complete their studies, enter repayment and pay back some/all of their student loan. The current age cap of 61 reflects the UK state pension age of 66 and will increase in line with any future changes.

Question reference: S6W-19824

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 27 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is meeting all of its aims, and whether any further assessment has been made of its impact on supporting families across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has recently published an interim evaluation report of the first year of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding: Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF): year 1 - process evaluation - interim report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . It explores the work of Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) and early evidence of implementation in respect of the funding administration, design and set-up of funded activities (from September 2022 to February 2023). Overall, CSPPs have told us that WFWF is beneficial and supportive for increasing holistic whole family support and scaling current models.

A full evaluation report of Year 1 will be available in early 2024. This will be based on evidence from annual Children’s Services Plan reports, and will explore children, young people and families’ experiences of family support services that have received WFWF, and the extent to which the short-term outcomes of the funding have been achieved.