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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.

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Question reference: S5O-03149

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that freight capacity on Northern Isles ferry routes meets future demand.

Question reference: S5W-22457

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-18658 and S5W-18659 by Kevin Stewart on 7 September 2018, how much has been spent to date; how many homes (a) have been and (b) are being built, and how much of the fund it estimates will be spent by March 2021.

£485,000 has been spent to date from the Islands Housing Fund. A total of four homes have been completed, with project approvals for a further eleven homes. Several Island Housing projects are completing their feasibility work and working towards full applications. It is therefore difficult to estimate the spend to March 2021 until projects submit full applications, however the £5 million allocated towards the Islands Housing Fund remains in place.

Question reference: S5W-22351

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what interim measures it is considering to address any environmental governance gap arising from the loss of functions currently carried out by EU agencies, the European Commission and European Court of Justice in the event of a no deal Brexit, and whether it will seek stakeholder input on their development.

Question reference: S5W-22354

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that it will act in full accordance with section 26A (Environmental matters; duty to consult) of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill, and when it will lay a report before the Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-22350

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether its plan to introduce a legal duty on ministers regarding EU environmental principles, as set out in the consultation on environmental principles and governance, will require legislation.

Question reference: S5W-22353

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland's environment is not negatively affected as a result of any UK-wide governance gap created by Brexit.

Question reference: S5W-22352

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its proposals for interim measures for environmental governance in the event of a no deal Brexit.

Question reference: S5W-22183

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 29 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21864 by Ash Denham on 14 March 2019, what discussions it has had with the Inspector of Prosecution regarding the follow-up review; when it was informed that she would be undertaking the review; what information it has regarding the proposed contents of the review, and whether this will include analysis of (a) the protracted timescales, (b) structural barriers and (c) public confidence in the process.

The Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) is the independent inspectorate for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which is the sole prosecuting authority in Scotland and is also responsible for investigating sudden deaths. Under the terms of the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007, in exercising her inspection functions, the Chief Inspector acts independently of any other person.

The Inspectorate of Prosecution confirmed that a follow-up report on fatal accident inquiries (FAIs) would be included in their future work programme in their Annual Report which was laid before Parliament in December 2018:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/inspectorate-prosecution-scotland-annual-report-2017-18/pages/4/

The Scottish Government has made additional funding available to COPFS which has used some of this resource to allow the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit to try to reduce the time required to complete death investigations. In her Annual Report, the Chief Inspector of Prosecution indicated that she had deferred the follow-up report on FAIs to allow the additional resource to become established and make an impact.

The content of the follow-up report is entirely a matter for the Chief Inspector who has, however, noted in the Annual Report that a robust follow-up process is a critical part of an effective inspection regime.

Question reference: S5W-22317

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Law Commission paper, Report on Moveable Transactions; what plans it has to launch a consultation based on the findings, and what assessment it has made of the impact that restrictions in the law regarding these transactions have had on businesses.

As indicated to the Scottish Law Commission, the Scottish Government is continuing to consider whether and when there would be a suitable opportunity to take forward the recommendations contained in the Commission’s report on Moveable Transactions. The Government currently faces the challenge of developing and delivering its legislative programmes for the rest of this session within the context of significant pressures and uncertainty created by Brexit.

As part of their work on this project, the Scottish Law Commission completed a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment in which they set out the impact that restrictions in the law regarding these transactions have had on businesses: https://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/files/7415/1359/9231/Business_and_Regulatory_Impact_
Assessment_-_Report_on_Moveable_Transactions_Report_No_249.pdf .

Officials have also meet with the Commission’s advisory group set up for this project and have heard at first hand the issues arising with working under the current law.

Question reference: S5W-21968

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21539 by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019, whether the data provided on the prison population, disaggregated by ethnicity, can be broken down further, by (a) age and (b) location.