- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Professor Angela Daly's reported comments that live facial recognition technology is "not fit for purpose" and is "generally unethical", in light of the reported proposals by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy the technology in Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any trade union engagement that took place regarding the Onshore Wind Sector Deal.
Answer
The Scottish Government publicly consulted on the draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement between October 2021 and January 2022. A final Onshore Wind Policy Statement was published in December 2022 after careful consideration of the 163 responses received during the consultation period. An analysis of the consultation responses can be found on the Scottish Government website – Supporting documents - Onshore wind policy statement refresh - draft: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
The final Onshore Wind Policy Statement set out our ambition for 20GW of onshore wind to be installed by 2030. The Policy Statement also set out measures that the Scottish Government would take to reach our ambition of 20GW of onshore wind by 2030 and to ensure that Scotland’s people benefit from this ambition.
One such measure was the establishment of the Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group (SLG), which consists of government representatives, onshore wind industry leaders, Scottish Renewables, relevant Scottish Government agencies, Supply Chain representatives and a body representing issues affecting local communities. The SLG was tasked with the development of the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal. Since the publication of the Sector Deal in September 2023, the SLG monitors and scrutinises the delivery of the deal. There was no direct engagement with trade unions during the drafting of the Sector Deal.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, what its response is to reports that the use of live facial recognition by South Wales Police has produced 2,833 false alerts, compared with only 72 resultant arrests.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland has corresponded with the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner about the reported proposals to deploy live facial recognition technology in Scotland, and, if so, whether this correspondence was undertaken before the Chief Constable outlined the proposals to the media.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the report that it commissioned on the constitutional role(s) of the Law Officers for Scotland.
Answer
Work is progressing towards finalisation of research after which a report will be published.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, what its response is to reports that the Metropolitan Police's use of live facial recognition technology produced verifiably correct matches on only 19% of occasions and that this was still "exceeding" its "accuracy expectations".
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner regarding the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its previous announcement that it plans to align with other UK administrations to deliver a UK-wide ban on single-use vapes, whether it expects that this ban will come into effect from 1 April 2025.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with a four-nation approach towards banning the sale and supply of single-use vapes.
In order to align with timescales recently announced by the Welsh and UK governments and provide consistency across the four nations, the Scottish Government will lay legislation to amend the coming into force date in the Scottish regulations banning the sale and supply of these vapes recently passed by the Scottish Parliament from 1 April 2025 to 1 June 2025.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported low incidence of violent and criminal behaviour among the public at large, what its understanding is regarding how the risk of base rate neglect will be factored into the operational use of live facial recognition technology, under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Michelle Thomson, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 28 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported calls from the Scottish Retail Consortium and Scottish Tourism Alliance for the UK Government, in the upcoming Autumn Budget, to restore tax-free shopping for overseas visitors as a means of supporting Scotland’s retail, tourism and hospitality sectors.
Answer
The Scottish Government opposed the abolition of tax-free shopping when it was announced in 2020 and called upon the previous UK Government to listen to industry and urgently reconsider the issue, including in a letter sent to the Chancellor ahead of the 2024 UK Spring Budget.
The removal of VAT-free shopping is likely to be having a detrimental impact on retail businesses and may be discouraging tourists from visiting the UK, and Scotland specifically. Many EU countries offer tax-free shopping for non-EU visitors, giving their retail sectors an advantage over Scotland’s fantastic range of shops, stores, manufacturers and producers and making those European cities a more attractive tourist destination.
The Scottish Government’s position remains that the restoration of VAT-free shopping for all overseas visitors to the UK would help support this vital sector in Scotland.
Ultimately, the Scottish Government believes that all tax powers should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament so that we can provide the support that Scottish retailers and tourism businesses need.