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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-08044

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average length of time that people have been subject to electronic monitoring has been in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

The average length of time spent on Electronic Monitoring for Restriction of Liberty Orders and Home Detention Curfews are set out in the following table.

2014

2015

2016

Local Authority

RLO (Months)

HDC (Days)

RLO (Months)

HDC (Days)

RLO (Months)

HDC (Days)

Aberdeen City

Aberdeenshire

Angus

Argyll & Bute

Clackmannanshire

Dumfries & Galloway

Dundee City

East Ayrshire

East Dunbartonshire

113

East Lothian

East Renfrewshire

101

Edinburgh

Falkirk

106

Fife

Glasgow

115

Highland

Inverclyde

Midlothian

Moray

North Ayrshire

North Lanarkshire

Orkney Islands

Perth & Kinross

Renfrewshire

Scottish Borders

Shetland Islands

South Ayrshire

South Lanarkshire

Stirling

West Dunbartonshire

121

West Lothian

116

Western Isles

Question reference: S5W-08055

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to use GPS technology for electronic monitoring.

Question reference: S5W-08045

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have begun a sentence in each prison in each of the last five years, broken down by month, and (a) how many and (b) what percentage received a mental health assessment within 72 hours of entering.

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

SPS’ Prisoner Records system (PR2) does not report data in a way which would answer the question. The amount of work involved, including both electronic and manual interrogation of data as well as cross referencing would be disproportionate and extremely resource intensive.

All prisoners receive a health assessment by a nurse on admission to custody, with referrals made as appropriate. Responsibility for prisoner healthcare, including mental health, lies with the NHS. If this data is available, it is likely to be held there.

Question reference: S5W-08034

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report from Plantlife, We need to talk about nitrogen, which suggests that, because of air pollution, one third of flowering plants is under threat, and whether it will introduce measures to help build the plants' resilience.

The Scottish Government notes the conclusions of the report and recognises the impact air pollution can have on the natural environment. The sensitivity of individual plant species to nitrogen pollution is variable and the critical loading is not known for all species.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is currently undertaking a project, in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage and others, to gain a better understanding of the contributions from different sources of air pollution to enable us to develop a more strategic approach to minimising the impacts of air pollution on sensitive habitats.

Question reference: S5W-07934

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of unpaid fixed penalties have resulted in a court case, in each year since 2010.

Question reference: S5W-07931

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the rate of fixed-penalty payment has been in each year since 2010.

Question reference: S5W-07930

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-court issued fines have been issued in each year since 2010 by (a) Police Scotland and (b) local authorities, and how many of those have been paid.

Question reference: S5W-07967

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many convicted (a) women and (b) men were (i) drunk and (ii) under the influence of drugs at the time of their offence in each year since 2010.

Question reference: S5W-07932

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) with and (b) without prior convictions in each year since 2010, have been given alternatives to prosecution, broken down by alternative.

Question reference: S5W-07968

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the briefing paper, Why focus on reducing women's imprisonment in Scotland?, by the Prison Reform Trust, which notes that, in 2014-15, 79% of prison sentences imposed on women were for low-level offences, what the rate (a) was in each year between 2010 and 2014 and (b) for men was in each year for these offences since 2010.

As published in the Scottish Government report "International Review of Custodial Models for Women" 79% of prison sentences imposed on women in 2013-14 were for low-level offences. This comprises crimes of dishonesty, common assault, breach of the peace and crimes of public justice (e.g. bail offences). The statistics requested, in line with this definition, are presented in the following table.

Custodial sentences by gender, 2009-10 to 2015-16

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16

All custodial sentences for low level offences¹
Male Person	9,467	9,346	9,634	9,165	8,805	8,935	8,689
Female Person	930	925	1,034	999	956	1,052	941

All custodial sentences
Male Person	14,522	14,018	14,582	13,499	12,959	12,742	12,548
Female Person	1,280	1,302	1,368	1,290	1,213	1,293	1,187

Percentage low level offences
Male Person	65%	67%	66%	68%	68%	70%	69%
Female Person	73%	71%	76%	77%	79%	81%	79%

Source: Criminal Proceedings database

1 - Comprises crimes of dishonesty, common assault, breach of the peace and crimes of public justice (e.g. bail offences)