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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: S5O-03775

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Destination Orkney and Orkney Islands Council about the future needs of the tourism sector.

Question reference: S5W-26049

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how frequently it believes that inmates of Scottish prisons spend “22 to 23 hours per day in their cells”, as reported by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

This quote from the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) report was made specifically in relation to HMP Barlinnie, not the wider SPS estate.

On Friday 1 November 2019 HMP Barlinnie was operating at 144% capacity. HMP Barlinnie has been routinely operating significantly above its intended capacity for some time and this has had a notable impact upon the operation of the prison.

Where any prison routinely operates above capacity then this inevitably impacts upon the ability to provide an enhanced regime across. HMP Barlinnie’s building design also inhibits open association and in order to ensure the safety of people in our care, out of cell activity requires `more structured delivery than at other prisons.

The CPT report highlighted that in the other prisons they visited, including HMP Edinburgh and HMP & YOI Grampian, people held on remand were provided the opportunity for out of cell activity which exceeded two hours per day.

In 2018/19 SPS facilitated a total of 6,258,125 Purposeful Activity (PA) Hours. This equates to, on average, 20 hours per week of PA, undertaken by each convicted person outside of their cell.

Question reference: S5W-26135

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether its development of an interactive data hub to measure the fairness of delivery pricing in rural areas is expected to commence before 2020 and, if not, by what date it will do so.

Fairer Deliveries For All: An Action Plan sets out eight clear actions designed to tackle longstanding issues surrounding parcel deliveries, with particular regard to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

As part of the Action Plan, the Scottish Government committed to publishing an annual review setting out progress made on each of the actions. It was anticipated that this review would be published in November 2019. However, the Scottish Government has taken the decision to postpone this publication and associated announcements until early 2020 on account of next month’s General Election, and the restrictions that apply to it during the pre-election period. A full update will therefore be published early next year.

Question reference: S5W-26138

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made since January 2019 regarding postcode accuracy for parcel deliveries in rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-26136

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date its fair delivery charges map for parcels will be launched.

Question reference: S5W-26137

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support its Statement of Principles for Parcel Deliveries by retailers.

Question reference: S5W-26057

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest time spent on remand by individuals was in in each year since 2014-15.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at present. As stated in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data captured by the operational database (as well as the range of historical data held) and making more data and information accessible to users. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-26054

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the finding by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) that there has been a considerable deterioration in the number of psychiatric sessions available to people in Scottish prisons since 2012, how many sessions there have been in each year since 2012-13.

Question reference: S5W-26055

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which prisons have officials qualified to administer first aid overnight.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

Emergency Response Training is compulsory for all SPS operational staff. This training provides staff with the skill to perform immediate care, until the arrival of medical help, to aid any person, or persons, who become injured or suddenly ill. All prisons are operationally staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Question reference: S5W-25792

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the take-up rate has been slow, how it will encourage and support people in installing low-carbon heating systems to help meet its target of 11% of non-electrical heat demand coming from renewable sources by 2020.

Scotland continues to attract more than its pro-rata share under the GB-wide Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) with around 19% of both domestic and non-domestic accredited installations being in Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently provides two loan schemes for self-funders and small to medium size enterprises (SME’s). The Home Energy Scotland Loan scheme provides individuals with interest-free loans up to the value of £38,500 (with up to £17,500 available for renewables) via the Energy Saving Trust for energy efficiency and renewable measures. The Resource Efficient Scotland SME Loans Scheme provides unsecured, interest free loans of up to £100,000 to SMEs to finance the installation of energy efficiency measures, and loans at a 5% interest rate for the installation of renewable energy technologies where the applicant is planning to claim the Renewable Heat Incentive. Since inception, the SME loan scheme has paid over £29 million in loans, funding more than 1000 projects. The uptake of renewable technologies also allows the applicants to apply for UK Government RHI subsidy which is administered via Ofgem.

The Scottish Government funds the Home Energy Scotland advice service which provides expert, bespoke advice and support to consumers on the uptake of renewables and energy efficient measures. Advice is also available to the non-domestic sector through Resource Efficient Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also provided around £40 million in funding through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme and the District Heating Loan Fund for low carbon heat projects.

We have recently launched the £30 million Scottish Low Carbon Heat Funding Invitation for local and industrial heat projects; committed to working with the construction sector so that new homes consented from 2024 use renewable or low carbon heat; and will bring forward a Heat Networks Bill supporting the growth of heat networks in Scotland.

Next Summer we will publish a new heat decarbonisation policy statement outlining how we can better reduce the emissions associated with heating homes and buildings.