- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to ensure that the justice system treats children who are criminally exploited as victims rather than offenders, and how justice professionals and their colleagues in child protection teams communicate and share information with each other to ensure that the children involved are identified and supported.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is implementing to improve the (a) reporting and (b) detection of the criminal exploitation of children.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring it has made of the trends, techniques and approaches used by organised criminal gangs to exploit children criminally; what measures are being taken to respond to these and any emerging threats; how it targets the perpetrators, and how effective this has been.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been identified as victims of criminal exploitation in each of the last five years.
Answer
Data on the number of children identified as victims of criminal exploitation is drawn from the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The NRM is the UK-wide framework for identifying potential victims of trafficking and ensuring they receive appropriate support and assistance.
Information from the NRM is released by the Home Office Single Competent Authority quarterly and in an end of year summary. Data relating to the last five years can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 regarding children who have been criminally exploited.
Answer
Information is not held centrally. Criminal Proceedings data does not include details about the victim unless explicitly specified by the legislation. As a result, we are unable to determine the number of prosecutions or convictions under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 that specifically involve children who have been criminally exploited.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives there are to inform (a) children, (b) parents and (c) the public regarding the awareness, signs and risks of the criminal exploitation of children and where to seek help should they have concerns regarding this.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with representatives of (a) the justice, (b) the social work, (c) the education, (d) the health sector and (d) other professional sectors regarding dealing with the criminal exploitation of children, also broken down by what training it provides.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to services and programmes over the last five years aimed at (a) early intervention in response to and (b) the prevention of criminal exploitation of children.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve coordination and information sharing between the justice, social services and education sectors, other statutory agencies and the third sector to address the criminal exploitation of children.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 10 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has conducted into the effectiveness of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 regarding the protection of children who have been criminally exploited (a) by offering them presumption against prosecution and (b) through sanctioning perpetrators.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32496 on 10 January 2025. 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.