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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-21539

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a demographic breakdown of the current prison population, disaggregated by ethnicity.

Question reference: S5W-21529

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government under what protocol might it invite another police force to carry out an investigation into policing in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-21538

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the "technical issue" that is currently affecting data from 2014-15 on its Crime and Justice – Publications – Prisons webpage.

The Scottish Government holds detailed historical prison population data up to 2014. This dataset was used to produce the annual prison statistics reports published on the Scottish Government website.

As explained in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the dataset was compiled by the Scottish Government 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 the 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. When the shared approach has been agreed with the Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish Government will provide an update for users via the Scottish Government webpages and other appropriate communication channels.

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-21527

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01479 by Humza Yousaf on 5 February 2019 (Official Report, c 7), how many complaints it has received regarding the reported allegations of mismanagement and a cover-up at the former Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Scottish Government has found no record of any historic complaint on this issue, but this would have been a matter for SCDEA at that time, which was accountable to the board of the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA). Complaints against the Police are rightly handled independently of Scottish Ministers.

No complaints have been received by the Scottish Government since the matter was reported in the press. The functions and duties of the SCDEA and the SPSA Board have transferred to the Chief Constable and the SPA, both of which have statutory responsibilities for maintaining complaints systems and their oversight. Were a complaint to be received, the complainant would be advised to direct the complaint to Police Scotland in the first instance.

Question reference: S5W-21528

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01479 by Humza Yousaf on 5 February 2019 (Official Report, c 7), whether it will provide an update on its scrutiny of the reported allegations of mismanagement and a cover-up at the former Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency after the relevant legal decisions have been made.

This is an operational policing matter and it is important to let Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority determine their response before considering any further options around the scrutiny or investigation of these allegations.

The Chief Constable has asked DCC Fiona Taylor to lead a review of the chronology, previous investigations and what steps were taken at the relevant time. He will report her findings to the Scottish Police Authority by the end of March 2019, including a consideration of what further steps, if any, are required.

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.

Ethnicity	Number of prisoners	% of total prison population
African	53	1%
Asian, Asian Scottish Or Asian British	130	2%
Caribbean Or Black	45	1%
Mixed Or Multiple	27	0%
Other Ethnic Group	54	1%
White	7,653	96%
Total	7,962	100%