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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: S5W-15871

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of possession, without intent to supply, of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) cannabis, (d) amphetamines, (e) ecstasy and (f) other drugs in each year since 2011-12 received (i) a custodial sentence, (ii) a community payback order, including a requirement to carry out a drug treatment programme, (iii) a drug treatment and testing order, (iv) a fine and (v) any other disposal.

The available information is provided in the following table, which has been produced from the Scottish Government’s criminal proceedings database .

People convicted for possession of drugs 1 , by drug type and main penalty, 2011-12 to 2016-17

		2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Total convictions		4,609	4,157	4,585	4,971	5,094	4,394
Heroin	Total	1,135	939	850	988	1,143	1,147
	Custody 2	99	77	86	86	119	126
	Community payback order	56	95	103	149	139	175
	DTTO	39	23	37	28	31	19
	Fine	582	468	406	483	536	528
	Other 3	359	276	218	242	318	299
Cocaine	Total	1,005	1,030	1,116	1,241	1,178	888
	Custody 2	12	13	14	21	20	27
	Community payback order	50	72	94	97	105	95
	DTTO	1	-	-	5	1	3
	Fine	840	844	914	1,008	935	643
	Other 3	102	101	94	110	117	120
Cannabis	Total	1,129	993	1,449	1,515	1,618	1,483
	Custody 2	25	37	38	30	37	37
	Community payback order	59	79	116	137	127	147
	DTTO	5	2	4	6	1	2
	Fine	794	640	953	934	971	843
	Other 3	246	235	338	408	482	454
Amphetamines	Total	111	73	75	83	80	63
	Custody 2	8	3	1	1	4	3
	Community payback order	5	8	9	15	10	7
	DTTO	1	3	-	2	1	1
	Fine	74	39	54	55	49	37
	Other 3	23	20	11	10	16	15
Ecstasy	Total	157	157	204	213	231	179
	Custody 2	1	-	2	-	1	2
	Community payback order	5	7	6	10	12	12
	DTTO	-	1	-	-	-	-
	Fine	135	133	156	185	181	126
	Other 3	16	16	40	18	37	39
Other	Total	1,072	965	891	931	844	634
	Custody 2	79	58	49	46	51	34
	Community payback order	67	102	96	107	91	83
	DTTO	17	17	10	7	7	6
	Fine	622	533	502	515	448	318
	Other 3	287	255	234	256	247	193

1. Where main charge.

2. Includes prison, YOI, supervised release order, extended sentence, order for
‎ life-long restriction.

3. Includes restriction of liberty order, community service order, probation and other community sentences, supervised attendance order, admonition, court cautions, dog dipsosals, absolute discharge, no order made, remit to children's hearing, insanity, hospital, guardianship order.

The criminal proceedings database does not include information on whether community payback orders include a drug treatment requirement. However, a data linkage exercise with criminal justice social work statistics indicated that, between 2013-14 and 2016-17, around 3% of community payback orders for those convicted of possession of drugs included such a requirement. In addition, local authorities have reported that issues such as addiction are often treated under the supervision requirement of a CPO.

Question reference: S5O-02082

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on there being a distinct rural dimension to fuel poverty, and whether it plans to take forward all of the recommendations of the Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force.

Question reference: S5W-15974

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15787 by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 April 2018, whether it will publish the correspondence between it and the UK Government regarding coordinating plans for a deposit-return scheme.

Question reference: S5W-15714

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report of the Independent Advisory Group on the Use of Biometric Data in Scotland, what its position is on introducing (a) a new legislative framework for biometrics, (b) a code of practice covering the acquisition, retention, use and disposal of DNA, fingerprints, facial and other photographic images and all existing, emerging and future biometrics and (c) an independent biometrics commissioner, and whether it plans to introduce these before the end of the parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government response, which sets out next steps for taking forward each of the recommendations, is available at http://www.gov.scot/About/Review/biometric-data/sgresponse .

We will now work closely with Police Scotland and other stakeholders to develop detailed proposals and, subject to further consultation, would seek to introduce primary legislation later in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-15787

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to coordinating its plans for a deposit-return scheme with that announced by the UK Government.

Question reference: S5W-15648

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 16 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government who is on its expert panel to consider how to reduce single-use plastics; when the panel will report; which stakeholders the panel has engaged with, and what funding it has been given.

Question reference: S5W-15413

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with representatives of the tourism sector in (a) Orkney and (b) Shetland regarding any impact of the uncertainty regarding the date for introducing Road Equivalent Tariff on ferry routes serving the Northern Isles.

Transport Scotland officials regularly engage with a variety of stakeholders through a number of established engagement groups, which include representation from VisitScotland and the tourism sector. The impact of the introduction of RET has been discussed at these recent meetings.

I am aware that there is keen interest in the Northern Isles for further news on this issue. Details on the fares reduction and the specific timing of introduction will be made available as soon as is practicable.

Question reference: S5W-15412

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is committed to making Road Equivalent Tariff available on ferry routes serving Orkney and Shetland from the start of the summer 2018 timetable.

Question reference: S5W-14994

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14439 by Michael Matheson on 27 February 2018, whether it will place a copy of PIRC's written submissions and the Scottish Government's responses in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-14604

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions a request has been made by each prison in the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) estate seeking (a) authorisation and (b) an extension of an order to remove a prisoner from association with other inmates in accordance with section 95 of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 in each of the last three years, also broken down by gender; how many requests were (i) declined, and for what reason and (ii) authorised by (A) ministers, and (B) SPS officials, broken down by position.

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

The initial decision to remove a person from association in accordance with Rule 95(1) of the Prison and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011, is applied locally by Governors or SPS Controllers at private prisons and does not require any further authorisation. There is however no data collected centrally on this process and the information requested in the question cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

The following table provides a breakdown, by year, of all approved Rule 95 extensions:

Year (April-March)	Rule 95 Extensions
2015-16	955
2016-17	933
2017-18 (April -Jan)	876

The following table provides a breakdown of the reasons provided for refusals to extend Rule 95 applications by gender.

Reason For Refusal To Extend Rule 95 Application	April 2015- March 2016	April 2016- March 2017	April 2017- January 2018
Insufficient information contained in application	13 x Males	7 x Males	8 x Males 1 x Female
Insufficient intelligence provided to support the application	9 x Males	4 x Males	3 x Males
Application submitted after the expiry period	9 x Males 1 x Females	15 x Males	8 x Males
Errors on paperwork	8 x Males 1 x Female	7 x Males	5 x Males
Incorrect classification/ no longer required	2 x Males	3 x Males	4 x Males
Total	41 x Males 2 x Females	36 x Males	28 x Males 1 x Female

It is the responsibility of an identified senior SPS operational manager to approve or decline Rule 95(11) and (12) extension applications on behalf of Scottish Ministers. As an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, SPS exercises these statutory functions on behalf of Scottish Ministers.