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-15142

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to (a) take direct control of any of NHS Tayside’s financial operations and (b) move (i) control or (ii) management of any matter, whether financial or otherwise, that is currently controlled or managed by NHS Tayside to another body.

Question reference: S5F-02196

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2018

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that more than £400,000 was spent on consultants to oversee the British Transport Police merger.

Question reference: S5O-01938

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals there were in relation to the 2017 business rates revaluation, and how many have been resolved.

Question reference: S5W-15206

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what is position is on Police Scotland checking social media use as part of the firearms licensing process.

Question reference: S5W-15204

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any gender inequality in policing.

Equality and Diversity within Police Scotland are matters for the Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority. Police Scotland's latest Equality and Diversity Mainstreaming Progress Report and Equality Outcomes can be found on their web site at: . The Scottish Government provides financial support to the Scottish Women’s Development Forum in support of Police Scotland’s gender equality agenda.

Question reference: S5W-15203

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the impact of the police mental health triage pilot in Dumfries and Galloway, and whether it will consider rolling the initiative out across the country.

Police Scotland and NHS Dumfries and Galloway will evaluate the impact of mental health triage arrangements being piloted across Dumfries and Galloway. The Scottish Government supports initiatives that bring justice and health partners together to improve outcomes for people with mental ill health and vulnerability and is providing strategic leadership at national level through the a new Health and Justice Collaboration Improvement Board.

Question reference: S5W-15205

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on linking the Police Scotland firearms licensing system with the command and control system.

Question reference: S5W-15159

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what impact introducing a presumption against 12-month prison sentences will have on the number of (a) fiscal work and (b) community payback orders that are issued.

This Government is committed to shifting the emphasis from ineffective short-term imprisonment to greater use of robust community sentences, with the aim of reducing reoffending. Our move towards more community sentencing, including the introduction of Community Payback Orders (CPOs), has helped bring Scotland’s reconviction rates to an 18-year low.

The presumption against short prison sentences is not a ban and sentencers retain the discretion to pass the most appropriate sentence based on the facts and circumstances of the case. Therefore it is not possible to give an exact assessment of the impact that the extended presumption will have on the numbers of CPOs, although the expectation is that numbers will increase.

Fiscal work orders are a direct measure available to procurators fiscal as opposed to a sentence passed by a court and so are not impacted by the presumption against short prison sentences.

Question reference: S5W-15141

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what financial management it is providing to NHS Tayside, and what action it will take to support the board’s financial management in the future.

Responsibility for the financial management of NHS Tayside’s business remains with the Accountable Officer. The discharge of these responsibilities is underpinned by existing systems of internal control within Scottish Government and by internal and external audit processes covering all NHS Boards.

Scottish Government has instigated an independent review of the allocation and transfer of eHealth funds to NHS Tayside and will take any appropriate action indicated by the findings of that review.

Question reference: S5W-15160

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on fiscal work and community payback order work placements being used to carry out task that were previously carried out by local authority employees.

The nature of the unpaid work placements carried out under the Fiscal Work Order (FWO) and Community Payback Order (CPO) schemes is determined by the local authority Criminal Justice Social Work team responsible for overseeing the case.

However, both the National Guidelines on Fiscal Work Orders and the Community Payback Order practice guidance advise that unpaid work placements should not be used in situations which are likely to deprive others of opportunities for paid employment.