Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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-22214

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the chief constable regarding the use of tasers to ensure that their deployment does not become the norm for day-to-day policing,

Question reference: S5W-22213

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers (a) nationally and (b) in each division have been issued with a taser in each of the last five years, also broken down by how many times the devices were deployed.

Question reference: S5O-03051

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kezia Dugdale on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its policy is regarding unpaid work and internships within the Parliament.

The SPCB supports short term paid internships with partners such as Career Ready and Inclusion Scotland. We also offer one 3-week paid placement within the Parliament’s legal team as part of a competition for law students run annually by the Law Society of Scotland. The SPCB offers unpaid work experience placements for school, college and University students. Applicants for work experience apply to the HR Office who then co-ordinate with Parliament Offices to identify suitable placements.

SPCB understands that some Members have their own arrangements in place and officials are reviewing how we support Members in their role as employers. As part of this review we will seek feedback from Members on their arrangements for internships and unpaid work experience placements at Holyrood.

Question reference: S5O-03053

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-21865

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the second supplementary to question S5T-01518 by Ash Denham on 26 February 2019 (Official Report, c. 8), in light of the minister's comment that "I agree that a review [of fatal accident inquiries] is required", whether it will confirm the scope, purpose and timeline of any such review.

As previously stated, the commitment given was that the issue of legal aid for families involved in fatal accident inquiries will be considered as part of wider planned reforms to legal aid legislation arising from the Independent Review of Legal Aid.

Such consideration will include the current statutory tests of probable cause, reasonableness and financial eligibility.

A comprehensive independent review of the legislation on fatal accident inquiries was undertaken by Lord Cullen, the former Lord President, and reported in November 2009. The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 was passed unanimously by Parliament. The main provisions were implemented in June 2017, less than 2 years ago.

In August 2016, the independent Inspector of Prosecution published a thematic inspection of fatal accident inquiries. The Inspector has confirmed that she will undertake and publish during the first half of 2019 a follow-up on her review of fatal accident inquiries. It will be for the Lord Advocate to consider that report when it is published.

Question reference: S5W-21785

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its employees by (a) nationality, (b) age and (c) gender.

A breakdown of employee age and gender is regularly provided in our workforce information publication which is available here .

We are unable to provide a breakdown of employee nationality as this information is not held. While nationality is collected to satisfy Civil Service nationality rules regarding eligibility for employment

it is subsequently destroyed in line with Data Protection Legislation as it is no longer required.

Question reference: S5W-21589

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has spent on organising the Festival of Politics in each of the last three years, also broken down by what financial assistance it has received from the Scottish Government.

The Festival of Politics is in its 15th year and continues to be one of the Scottish Parliament’s major public engagement events with over 5,000 people attending last year’s Festival.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body allocates an annual budget to support the development and delivery of the Festival of Politics. This covers Festival development; advertising; promotion; programme design and production; panellist travel, accommodation and expenses; audio-visual costs; Festival Assistants; and the free Festival Café Bar programme of music, exhibitions, dance and comedy. The overall costs are offset by ticket sales, sponsorship and gifts in-kind.

The costs vary slightly year-to-year depending on the numbers of days the Festival runs; the number of events staged; the number of participating panellists; and the number of tickets sold. The direct costs to the SPCB after ticket sales and other revenue have been taken into account for the last three years were as follows: 2016 (£54k); 2017 (£49k); and 2018 (£60k).

The Festival receives no financial assistance from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-21588

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jackson Carlaw on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what biometric details will be held by it following the introduction of the two-factor authentication fingerprint system.

No biometric details are held by the Parliament in relation to the introduction of the two-factor authentication system.

The two-factor authentication system works by scanning a person’s finger measuring and collecting unique reference points. This data is extracted, transferred and stored on to the photographic ID card. The information is securely encrypted and details are not held by the Parliament or any other body. It is not possible to recreate a fingerprint using the information held on the card. As a result, if the card is lost or misplaced, the personal data cannot be recovered, and the cardholder will have to re-enrol before being provided with a replacement card.

Question reference: S5F-03140

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the First Minister whether the merger of Police Scotland and the British Transport Police has been permanently abandoned.

Question reference: S5T-01518

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing legal aid to victims' families for fatal accident inquiries.