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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: S6W-04288

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Victim Surcharge Fund is due to open its next round of funding applications from victims groups.

The Victim Surcharge Fund is opened for applications from victim support organisations once sufficient money has accumulated to enable a viable exercise, which in turn is dependent on the number and value of fines imposed by the courts.

The Scottish Government will reopen the Victim Surcharge Fund for applications from victim support organisations to allow funding to be allocated during the 2021-22 financial year.

The funds distributed will depend on the amount that has accumulated in the Fund and the level of successful applications received.

Question reference: S6W-04306

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many recorded incidents of bicycle theft there have been in the Inverclyde Council area in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-04316

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports of increased waiting times at A&E in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

As with other parts of Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has faced unprecedented pressures over recent weeks. This has brought many unexpected challenges which are resulting in some patients waiting longer than necessary.

To help alleviate these pressures, we announced a substantial new investment of over £300 million in hospital and community care to support the NHS and social care system over winter. The will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in our hospitals and primary care, reduce delayed discharges, improve pay for social care staff, and ensure those in the community who need support receive effective and responsive care.

As part of our work to maximise capacity for winter, we are investing £10 million to support two new specialist programmes – Interface Care and Discharge without Delay - to support improved processes that ensure patients are discharged as soon as they are medically fit, avoiding unnecessary delays in hospital and ensure alternatives to admission.

Additionally, earlier this month I announced an additional £10 million winter funding which aims to ease pressures in A&E departments and minimise delays that patients are currently experiencing when they need urgent care. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde received £2.1 million of this funding.

We continue to meet regularly with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to discuss their local improvement plan.

Question reference: S6W-04305

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided in the current financial year to police divisions that operate in rural areas for the purpose of tackling (a) sheep theft and (b) rural crime.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This year the Scottish Government has increased funding for policing in Scotland by £75.5 million to more than £1.3 billion. The allocation of these resources across policing priorities is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable to determine.

People living in Scotland’s rural areas are less likely to be a victim of crime now than a decade ago, as detailed in the 2019-20 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey. Over three-quarters (76%) of those living in rural areas believed that the local crime rate had been stable or fallen in the previous two years.

The Scottish Government will continue to bear down on crime in Scotland, through protecting police budgets as well as through substantial investment in preventative programmes.

Question reference: S6W-04290

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much will be distributed to victims groups from the next round of funding applications to the Victim Surcharge Fund.

Question reference: S6W-04303

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) reported incidents of, (b) prosecutions for and (c) convictions for wildlife crime there have been in each of the last five years.

(a) The latest available information for Recorded crime data is for the financial year 2020-21 and is presented in the following table:

Wildlife crime Recorded by Police Scotland, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Financial year	Total
2016-17	231
2017-18	236
2018-19	171
2019-20	198
2020-21	308

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics Dataset

(b)(c) The latest available information for criminal proceedings is for the financial year 2019-20 and is presented in the following table:

People proceeded against in Scottish courts for wildlife crimes, where main charge, 2015-16 to 2019-20

Financial year	Total prosecuted	Total convicted
2015-16	25	20
2016-17	23	22
2017-18	29	25
2018-19	15	10
2019-20	12	11

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. Recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Crimes and offences alleged to have been committed by children under 16 years old are also generally dealt with through the children’s hearings system rather than through the courts.

Question reference: S6W-04289

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the next round of funding from the Victim Surcharge Fund will be distributed to victims groups.

Question reference: S6W-04253

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its current estimate is of the number of people who have been trafficked into Scotland or are being held against their will through acts of modern slavery.

Human trafficking is a hidden and often complex crime. Accurately assessing the scale of the problem in Scotland and beyond is challenging, although a range of estimates exist around the prevalence of the issue, both in the UK and globally.

Data on the number of trafficking victims in Scotland is drawn from the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The NRM is the UK-wide framework for identifying potential victims of trafficking and ensuring they receive appropriate support and assistance.

Information from the NRM is released by the Home Office Single Competent Authority quarterly and in an end of year summary. Data relating to 2020 and 2021 can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics .

Question reference: S6F-00519

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2021

To ask the First Minister what discussions have taken place between the Scottish Government and the postal and banking sectors regarding the continued access to everyday services, particularly for rural, digitally excluded and vulnerable consumers.

Question reference: S6W-04342

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it estimates are awaiting dental treatment as a result of the reported backlog in (a) North Ayrshire and (b) Inverclyde.

Financial year	Number of crimes
2016-17	26
2017-18	21
2018-19	6
2019-20	19
2020-21	15