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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-17470

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland, what its position is on whether any proposed benefits of integration will outweigh the anticipated costs and risks, and how it will ensure that any analysis of these will be independent, transparent and evidence-based.

The benefits of the merger of the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland are set out in the Policy Memorandum which supported the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2017. As the re-planning of the Programme, and the integration Programme itself, progress, costs and risks will be kept under regular review by the Joint Programme Board overseeing the integration. The Programme will be subject to an independent deliverability assessment in September.

Question reference: S5W-17469

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland, whether it will confirm the advice given at the staff engagement session on 20 June 2018 regarding the Scottish Government meeting the full costs of integration.

Question reference: S5W-17473

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland, whether it will commit to meeting the long-term liabilities of a segregated pension scheme.

Question reference: S5W-17474

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the proposed merger of British Transport Police (BTP) in Scotland with Police Scotland, whether it will confirm that, following the merger, (a) any redundancy liability for former BTP officers will be covered as set out in their BTP contracts, and (b) who will meet this liability.

Question reference: S5W-17465

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16958 by Humza Yousaf on 13 June 2018, what its position is on the robustness of the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill Financial Memorandum, which states that the transitional costs would be "minor" and were "expected to be small".

Question reference: S5W-17543

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the updated rules for Scottish Police Authority board meetings and the extension of circumstances in which meetings may be held in private.

This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority. However, the Scottish Government welcomes any improvements aimed at strengthening the Scottish Police Authority's corporate governance procedures and revisions to its Standing Orders are part of that. The Standing Orders, approved by the Authority’s Board on 28 June 2018, provide greater transparency as to why an agenda item may be taken as an item of private business.

Question reference: S5W-15139

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether any form of settlement agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar post-employment contract has been put in place for the outgoing finance director of NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-15143

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) has been and (b) will be paid to the outgoing finance director of NHS Tayside as a result of the termination of his employment, broken down by (i) pension, (ii) ex gratia, (iii) notice, (iv) holiday and (v) any other payments.

Question reference: S5W-17394

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures in the report, Criminal Proceeding in Scotland, 2016-17, which record a 74.9% reduction in the number of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices since 2009-10.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises how this can blight people’s lives. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities.

It is likely that the reduced use of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices (FPN) is the result of an overall fall in levels of antisocial behaviour committed in Scotland – as demonstrated by our population surveys and similar to the significant reduction in levels of recorded crime (down 43% since 2006-07) – and the introduction of the Recorded Police Warning scheme, which commenced in January 2016 which provide an additional tool to police when dealing with antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities to use their expertise and knowledge to inform, refresh and update all of the guidance documents on tackling antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S5W-17395

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the figures in the report, Criminal Proceeding in Scotland, 2016-17, which record a 96.2% reduction in the number of police formal adult warnings since 2009-10.

The Formal Adult Warnings system was replaced with the Recorded Police Warnings scheme in January 2016. Recorded Police Warnings provide a proportionate, formal way of dealing with low level offences which commonly do not result in court action and will still appear on records for two years.

The types of crime covered by the scheme are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of his independent role as head of the system of prosecution.