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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-02027

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 26 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to routinely publishing (a) details of when it has (i) sought and (ii) obtained Queen's consent and (b) associated correspondence in advance of the passage of legislation.

The Scotland Act 1998 requires the Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament to include provision that if a Bill in the Scottish Parliament contains provisions which would, if it were a Bill in the UK Parliament, require the consent of the Queen, Crown consent is required.

Rule 9.11 of the Scottish Parliament’s Standing Orders therefore stipulates that if a Bill requires Crown consent, the Parliament cannot debate whether a Bill should be passed unless Crown consent is signified by a member of the Scottish Government. In most cases, where Crown Consent is required and as has been the case since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Crown consent is sought and obtained by the Government shortly before Stage 3 proceedings. On occasion, it may be obtained prior to Stage 1 when the matter is central to the Bill in question.

Members have – and have always had – the opportunity to raise questions as to whether and why Crown consent is required for a particular Bill during its parliamentary passage. Information about the number of times Crown consent has been sought and obtained, and for which Bills, is already available through the Parliament's Official Reports.

In line with the Scottish Government's commitment to transparency we will explore options to provide Parliament with further information about the application of Crown consent in relation to future Bills.

Question reference: S6W-02030

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 26 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) provide details of what interests would determine whether it seeks Queen's consent under Rule 9.11 of the Standing Orders and (b) publish any guidance on this matter that it has (i) produced and (ii) received from representatives of the Crown.

The Parliament’s Standing Orders are required, in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998, to set out that should provisions within a Bill require the Queen’s consent if the Bill were an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, the Bill requires Crown consent. This means that since the establishment of Scottish Parliament in 1999 the interests that determine this matter in the UK Parliament affect the application of Crown consent in the Scottish Parliament. Guidance prepared by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for the United Kingdom Government – Queen's or Prince's Consent – explains details of these interests and is taken into account by the Scottish Government. This guidance is accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-or-princes-consent

The Scottish Parliament's guidance on Public Bills, available on its website, also outlines the interests that would determine the requirement for Crown Consent, notably at paragraphs 2.51-2.54: https://archive2021.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/GuidanceonPublicBills_S5v2_FINAL.pdf

No guidance has been received from representatives of the Crown on the issue of Crown consent.

Question reference: S6W-02029

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 26 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which pieces of legislation have been amended as a result of exchanges prompted by Rule 9.11 of the Standing Orders in each year since 2007, and, for each of these, whether it will publish (a) the details of any concerns raised by any party representing the Crown and (b) its response.

Question reference: S6W-02028

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 26 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has sought Queen's consent in each year since 2007, broken down by the (a) title of the legislation and (b) date on which consent was (i) sought and (ii) obtained.

Question reference: S6W-00855

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32985 by Joe FitzPatrick on 23 November 2020, whether it will provide an update on the figures to date.

Further to the information highlighted by Mr Fitzpatrick in answer S5W-32985, please see the updated figures below as requested:

Purple and Red Incidents Attended, 01-01-2017-31-05-2021

		2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Purple	Incidents Attended	8,677	9,591	13,547	15,091	6,987
	>8 Minutes	2,544	2,874	4,463	6,278	2,978
	>8 Minutes %	29.3%	30.0%	32.9%	41.6%	42.6%
	>10 Minutes	1,623	1,826	2,903	4,243	1,992
	>10 Minutes %	18.7%	19.0%	21.4%	28.1%	28.5%
	>15 Minutes	542	604	1,028	1,518	790
	>15 Minutes %	6.2%	6.3%	7.6%	10.1%	11.3%
	>20 Minutes	206	230	376	608	314
	>20 Minutes %	2.4%	2.4%	2.8%	4.0%	4.5%
Red	Incidents Attended	55,549	67,535	80,867	70,105	32,923
	>8 Minutes	21,214	28,568	37,101	36,495	17,529
	>8 Minutes %	38.2%	42.3%	45.9%	52.1%	53.2%
	>10 Minutes	13,933	19,238	25,877	26,043	13,042
	>10 Minutes %	25.1%	28.5%	32.0%	37.1%	39.6%
	>15 Minutes	5,293	7,632	10,610	10,989	6,006
	>15 Minutes %	9.5%	11.3%	13.1%	15.7%	18.2%
	>20 Minutes	2,339	3,381	4,783	4,931	2,804
	>20 Minutes %	4.2%	5.0%	5.9%	7.0%	8.5%

Emergency Incidents Attended, 01-12-2020-31-05-2021

		Purple	Red	Amber	Yellow	Green
2020	December	1,414	6,547	16,092	17,877	127
2021	January	1,457	6,390	15,927	18,107	112
2021	February	1,149	5,756	14,644	15,620	191
2021	March	1,307	6,455	16,671	17,134	115
2021	April	1,375	6,564	16,199	18,220	117
2021	May	1,699	7,758	18,580	18,151	184

With regards to publishing demand figures, this is something undertaken by SAS which is produced and made available on their website on a bi-monthly basis.

Question reference: S6W-01008

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 16 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales on 23 April 2021 to overturn the convictions of sub-postmasters and postmistresses convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting on the basis of flawed evidence from the Post Office’s Horizon system, what steps are being taken by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to (a) identify Scottish sub-postmasters and postmistresses and their staff who were potentially wrongly prosecuted for fraud or embezzlement in Scotland on the basis of similarly flawed information supplied by the Post Office and (b) determine whether, in respect of prosecutions in Scotland, the Post Office was misleading during the court processes about the flaws of the Horizon system described by the Court of Appeal, or failed to disclose those flaws.

On 23 April 2021 the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) for England and Wales issued a judgement in Josephine Hamilton & Others v Post Office Limited [2021] EWCA Crim 577 relating to cases referred to it by the Criminal Cases Review Commission for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The case involved a total of 42 applicants who were formerly sub-postmasters or sub-postmistresses for the Post Office Limited who had been convicted of offences including theft, fraud and false accounting.

The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 of the applicants on the basis that evidence from the Horizon computer system, operated by the Post Office Limited, could not be relied upon.

Post Office Limited have identified persons known to have been convicted in Scotland on the basis of evidence that may relate to the Horizon computer system. This information has been provided to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). A number of cases are under review by the SCCRC. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is assisting the SCCRC with its review. Any decision to refer the cases to the High Court is a matter for the SCCRC.

Question reference: S6W-00601

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the levels of fishing for sandeels inside the Turbot Bank nature conservation marine protected area (MPA), in each year since it was designated as a MPA in 2014.

Marine Scotland monitors fishing activity and sandeel abundance off our east coast, including the Turbot Bank nature conservation marine protected area (MPA). The last research survey in December 2020 found high numbers of sandeels within this MPA. Marine Scotland scientists collaborate in sandeel assessments conducted by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). ICES reports annual sandeel landings at the level of ICES statistical rectangles, as for most commercial fish stocks. The ICES rectangles containing the Turbot Bank nature conservation MPA also include other sandeel grounds and so no landings are available for just the MPA. Since 2014, fishing has taken place in the ICES rectangles containing the MPA in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Nevertheless, based on vessel monitoring, there was no evidence of fishing in the MPA until this year when fishing appeared to extend to the eastern edge of this area.

Explanatory note:

Each ICES statistical rectangle is '30 min latitude by 1 degree longitude' in size which is approximately 30 nautical miles by 30 nautical miles

Question reference: S6W-00599

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers fishing for sandeels in Scottish waters to be compatible with the protection of seabird populations, and with achieving Good Environmental Status.

Due to their importance in North Sea food webs, sandeel abundance should be maintained high enough to provide food for predators. The initial assessment of Good Environmental Status for seabirds found evidence of the impacts of sandeel fishing in the 1990s when a fishery took place close to the Scottish east coast. It is for that reason that the Scottish Government has supported measures to protect sandeels in areas important to foraging seabirds including the Northeast UK closed area, which was established in 2000 and excludes sandeel fishing out from our east coast to 1°W. This closed area encompasses much of the foraging range of local sandeel reliant seabirds during their breeding season. The Scottish Government also undertakes research into seabird-sandeel interactions in order to better understand how we can help seabird populations reach a favourable condition.

Question reference: S6W-00600

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to safeguard sandeels in the North Sea.

Given the importance of sandeels to the wider ecosystem and the subsequent benefit in aiding long-term sustainability and resilience, it remains an overarching Scottish Government position, which is reflected in Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy, not to support fishing for sandeels in our waters. During the parliamentary session on the 09 June, I committed to looking at this issue as a matter of urgency and to consider what additional measures we can put in place to manage the North Sea sandeel fisheries in the most sustainable way possible.

There are also a number of measures already in place for the protection of sandeel stocks in the North Sea. The Northeast UK closed area means that that over half the grounds of sandeel area 4 are closed to fishing. In addition, the Scottish Government has made major steps in protecting areas of key importance to sandeel through the designation of a network of Marine Protected Areas focussed on areas important to sandeel populations.

Question reference: S6O-00064

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding allocations earmarked for new and existing teaching posts will be made permanent, to enable local authorities to award a greater number of permanent contracts.