Skip to main content
Loading…

Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 7 October 2025
Answer status
Question type

Displaying 44889 questions Show Answers

|

Question reference: S6W-30312

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was informed by Police Scotland about the reported proposals to use live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes before they were recently referred to by the Chief Constable.

Question reference: S6W-30324

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Police Scotland can sufficiently monitor the workings of live facial recognition systems, as proposed by the Chief Constable, in relation to any equalities impacts, in light of the so-called black box problem affecting some AI systems.

Question reference: S6W-30285

  • Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21980 by Graeme Dey on 31 October 2023, whether it has concluded and published the findings of the Student Finance and Wellbeing Study, and, if not, when it will do so.

Question reference: S6W-30316

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received a reliable estimate of the false negative rate of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30326

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the live facial recognition systems that Police Scotland's Chief Constable has proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes could be used as evidence in criminal proceedings.

Question reference: S6W-30329

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported comments by Police Scotland's Chief Constable while proposing the use of live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, what its position is on whether the non-consensual use of AI in public for live facial recognition is "parallel" to the consensual use of AI in confidential medical settings for the detection of cancer.

Question reference: S6W-30310

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has spoken to Police Scotland regarding the reported proposals from the Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.

Question reference: S6W-30338

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • 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 use of live facial recognition technology in criminal proceedings, under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable.

Question reference: S6W-30314

  • Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether live facial recognition technology could disproportionately misidentify the faces of ethnic minority people, and what implications this might have for the use of the technology.

Question reference: S6W-30460

  • Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
  • Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2024
  • Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 25 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having regarding introducing regulations similar to those set out by the UK Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 that require landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes (Awaab's law).