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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: S5W-21399

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the Scottish Police Authority and (b) Police Scotland regarding (i) pay for and (ii) the retention of police staff.

Regular Scottish Government discussions with Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland have noted that they expect to receive a pay claim from Trade Unions in due course. Recent discussions have focused on the Staff Pay Reward and Modernisation project (SPRM), an extensive programme of work to harmonise police staff pay, terms, and conditions. The recruitment and the retention of police staff is a matter for Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-21383

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20018 by Clare Haughey on 28 November 2018, when the proportional allocation of mental health professionals will be made public.

Based on the information received from the Integration Authorities in respect of the first quarterly update on Action 15, 106 additional mental health workers have been recruited as of 1 January 2019.

The settings these workers are based in are as follows: A&E (27), Custody Suites (1), GP Settings (46), prisons (1), Other Settings - e.g Peer/Support workers via the third sector, (29) and through the enhanced national mental health pathway pilot, (2).

The second quarterly update will be available in May 2019.

Question reference: S5O-02935

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the principle of fair funding for internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland.

Question reference: S5W-21397

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many police staff have been employed by Police Scotland each year, broken down by division and unit.

Information on the number of support staff employed by Police Scotland is not held centrally. Police Scotland have recently started to publish the number of support staff working across each of the 13 local policing divisions as part of the Police Officer Numbers Quarterly Fact Sheets. http://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/police-scotland/212598

The member may wish to write to Police Scotland directly to request further information.

Question reference: S5W-21398

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the document, Thematic Review of Police Scotland’s approach to the development and operational delivery of the Annual Police Plan (2018-19), regarding the impact of reductions to police staffing levels.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s report Thematic Review of Police Scotland’s approach to the development and operational delivery of the Annual Police Plan (2018-19) makes recommendations for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland relating to setting priorities, planning, and the delivery processes for policing in Scotland. We expect both organisations to take appropriate measures based on these findings.

HMICS will publicly report on progress, and I also regularly meet with Gill Imery, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland to discuss the work of HMICS.

Question reference: S5W-21128

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which prisons have operational multi-disciplinary mental health teams, and how many members they have, broken down by their (a) role and (b) job title.

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

Each prison in Scotland, including the 2 privately run prisons, has a multi-disciplinary mental health team (MDMHT) in place.

The MDMHT team across the SPS estate is made up of a number of staff ranging from 8 to 12, but is primarily made up of the following:-

SPS representative – Senior Manager (chair)

NHS representative – Clinical Psychiatrist

NHS representative – Clinical Manager

NHS representative – GP or Doctor

NHS representative – Mental Health or Addiction Nurses

NHS representative – Clinical Psychologist (where relevant)

SPS representative – Forensic Psychologist

SPS representative – Residential Manager

SPS representative – Residential Officer

Social Work representative – Prison Based Social Work

The MDMHT will primarily be led by SPS, whilst the clinical responsibility for delivery remains with the NHS. However in the case of HMP Open Estate Castle Huntly, HMP Perth and HMP Dumfries, the groups are chaired by NHS.

Question reference: S5T-01479

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported allegations of mismanagement and a cover-up at the former Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Question reference: S5W-20983

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NFU Scotland regarding the potential for developing anaerobic digestion projects.

As part of our Agri-Renewable Strategy, the Scottish Government has engaged in the Renewables Development Initiative led by National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS). This was a three year programme aiming to provide practical knowledge to land managers and farmers interested in pursuing on farm renewable technologies through a series of on farm demonstration events. This programme ended in 2017.

As part of our ongoing process to develop the Bioenergy Action Plan, the NFUS were invited to a stakeholder event in December 2018 but were unable to attend. We recognise NFU as a key stakeholder in the development of the Action Plan and are eager to continue engagement with them in the coming months.

Question reference: S5O-02844

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will conclude procurement of the R100 programme, and whether it expects to meet the target of 100% superfast broadband coverage by 2021.

Question reference: S5W-20884

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20604 by Humza Yousaf on 8 January 2019, and in light of its answer to question S4W-28511, for what reason the data is no longer available.

The information requested in S5W-20604 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

As stated in the answer to S5W-20604, the operational databases utilised by the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service are not designed to capture the length of time individuals spend on remand. This is because the databases are live, updating on a daily basis to capture movements (e.g. to/from remand) within the prison population and case progression.

The Scottish Government holds detailed historical prison population data up to 2014. This dataset was compiled using daily extracts from the live Scottish Prison Service operational database. Due to technological difficulties arising when the Scottish Government server was upgraded in 2014, it is no longer possible to support what was a complex and resource intensive data cleaning and compilation process. Since 2014, the Scottish Prison Service have continued to extract this data, but it is not currently held in an analysable format.

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.