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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: S6W-38220

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason data is missing from the Mental Health Act Monitoring Report 2023-24 on the number of individuals who were taken to either a healthcare facility or a police station under a place of safety order.

Question reference: S6W-38206

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was paid in her role as chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38209

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to changing the rules on anonymity and reporting in the criminal justice system.

An open and transparent criminal justice system is important to allow for justice to be delivered and seen to be delivered so communities can have confidence in how offending behaviour is being dealt with. However, there can be areas of the operation of the criminal justice system where it is considered appropriate to allow certain individuals to remain anonymous to protect their dignity and privacy while still ensuring justice is able to be delivered.

Provisions to introduce new statutory anonymity protections for sexual offence victims as well as victims of certain other offences are contained in the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill which is currently before Parliament. If approved, the legislation will introduce these new protections to help protect the dignity of victims of these offences.

We held a public consultation on media reporting on child homicide victims between 9 July 2024 and 1 October 2024. We asked for views on a range of possible approaches to reducing the trauma that media reporting can have on bereaved families, and on the wider impacts those approaches might have. This included inviting views on legislating to provide automatic or ‘on application’ anonymity for child victims. The analysis of consultation responses was published on 24 February 2025.

The consultation made clear that there would be serious complexities with legislating to anonymise the victims of child homicide in a way that avoided unintended consequences (like criminalising bereaved family members); that struck a robust balance between privacy rights and freedom of expression; and that could be enforced in practice. However, many of the experiences highlighted in consultation responses vividly illustrate the need for more sensitive reporting on these cases. We are therefore working with stakeholders to explore a range of non-legislative measures including support materials for bereaved families, media guidance and training. Further detail is available on the Scottish Government website.

The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill – which underwent Parliamentary consideration from 2022 to 2024 – contained provisions, on introduction, extending the anonymity for child suspects, accused, victims or witnesses both prior to and subsequent to any criminal court proceedings. This followed public consultation, with the analysis published on 8 September 2022. The provisions were further amended at Stage 2 to extend that, in relation to child victims and witnesses, anonymity could continue after a person turns 18 just as was the case for child suspects/accused. These provisions were amended out at Stage 3. Scottish Ministers gave a full account of the reasoning to the Parliamentary chamber. This is contained in the Official Report of 24 April 2024.

Question reference: S6W-38218

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it plans to do to ensure a reduction in the number of people detained in police stations under a place of safety order.

The proportion of orders where an individual was taken to a police station as a place of safety has differed over the years but has decreased from 6.6% in 2014-15 to 1.8% in 2023-24.

Additionally, following the publication of HMICS’ thematic review of policing mental health in October 2023, the Scottish Government is working with its partners through the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Network to take forward the recommendations of the national review of psychiatric emergency plans (PEPs) to improve the detention process and removing barriers to multi-agency working when responding to a psychiatric emergency. A national PEP template and accompanying guidance are in development to improve national consistency and ensure that local roles, responsibilities and processes are clearly articulated.

The Scottish Government also published its Safe Spaces Scoping Report in October 2024. It explores the feasibility of implementing additional safe spaces for people experiencing crisis and acute emotional distress as an alternative to Emergency Departments and place of safety. Following the publication, we continue to consider with our stakeholders, the next steps.

Question reference: S6W-38223

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many place of safety orders were made in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6W-38207

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost has been of work towards developing misogyny law in the current parliamentary session.

The total cost of work considering and progressing misogyny legislation by the Scottish Government was £143,668.13. This includes:

The fee paid to Baroness Helena Kennedy KC in her role as Chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland;
Costs associated with Working Group;
Publication of the Scottish Government consultation paper on draft legislation to implement the Working Group’s recommendations;
Analysis of the responses received to the consultation; and
Publication of consultation analysis.

This does not include the cost of time spent by Scottish Government civil servants as the work was carried out by staff working on a range of different areas including but not limited to misogyny legislative policy. As such, it is not possible to quantify the cost of staff time involved.

Question reference: S6W-38224

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals were taken to police stations under section 297 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 in 2024-25.

Question reference: S6O-04827

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Orkney Islands Council regarding any support needed to allow development projects to be taken forward to tackle the reported growing demand for housing in the islands.

Question reference: S6W-38113

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) formal vetting procedures and (b) conflict of interest assessments are conducted before appointing staff, particularly former police officers, to survivor-facing roles within the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Question reference: S6W-38114

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific (a) trauma-informed safeguards and (b) survivor protections are in place to prevent re-traumatisation where staff have institutional links to bodies under direct investigation by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Information on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry’s (SCAI) trauma informed approach to taking evidence is available on its’s website - Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry | Investigating the abuse of children in care in Scotland. SCAI have adopted a Trauma-Informed Approach, guided by specialist input and the NHS Education for Scotland's Trauma-Informed Justice and Skills Framework for working with victims and witnesses.