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-10853

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what processes are in place to measure and address (a) illiteracy, (b) substance abuse and (c) mental health issues among (i) prisoners and (ii) offenders.

The responsibility for provision of healthcare to prisoners, including substance misuse and mental health services, in Scotland was transferred from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to the National Health Service (NHS) on 1st November 2011. The Scottish Government works with and funds NHS Boards and local authorities to ensure they plan and deliver appropriate local services. It is for local NHS Boards to decide how they ensure that their local population, including prisoners, have the highest quality care and treatment.

The Scottish Government, through its strategies on Justice, Policing and Mental Health, wants to capitalise on the many opportunities to develop and improve actions that promote good mental health for people who come into contact with the justice system as a result of their offending behaviour. The Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, contains 3 Actions to support improving the mental health of offenders and prisoners.

A refreshed literacy and numeracy skills profiler was introduced in partnership with Education Scotland; Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework; Fife College and New College Lanarkshire as a key part of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) New Generation Learning and Skills contract that went live on 1 August 2017. Accordingly, the refresh of the profiler has been designed to improve on standardised initial literacy and numeracy screening across the Scottish prison estate.

Prisoners screened as having literacy and/or numeracy needs receive an individual learning feedback and planning meeting from the SPS learning provider (Fife College) and an offer of a place on a programme of learning to support their needs. SPS Learning Centres in each establishments provide dedicated support for such individuals where required in terms of 1:1 or small group work. The learning centres will also, if required, provide relevant information and/or make referrals to other support services such as the NHS.

The Scottish Government does not hold information for offenders as a specific group. Offenders who are not in prison would engage with public services as members of the general population and their interaction would not be recorded separately.

Question reference: S5W-10679

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many times in each year since 2013 have police control rooms been unable to answer (a) 999 and (b) 101 calls, broken down by (i) control room and (ii) the reason.

Question reference: S5W-10499

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is has been informed of any issues at the Police Scotland Dundee control room arising from a lack of space necessary for it to take over operations from Inverness control room and, if so, what action it has taken.

Question reference: S5W-10500

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff there are at the Police Scotland Dundee control room, broken down by grade, and how this compares with the number immediately prior to the transfer of operations from the Aberdeen control room.

Question reference: S5W-10502

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents at the Police Scotland (a) Aberdeen service centre, (b) Aberdeen control room and (c) Dundee control room (i) were recorded in (A) 2015-16 and (B) 2016-17, broken down by quarter, and (ii) have been recorded since April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10501

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the overtime costs at the Police Scotland Dundee control room (a) were in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17, broken down by quarter, and (b) have been since April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-10358

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent IT failure at the Dundee Police Scotland control room; whether it will formally investigate the matter, and what action it is taking to prevent a reoccurrence.

Question reference: S5W-10366

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of all communication that it has had with Police Scotland regarding the recent IT failure at the Dundee Police Scotland control room and other similar incidents.

Question reference: S5W-10360

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Police Authority monitors Police Scotland’s integrated communications control system, and whether it will publish the findings of any reports.

Question reference: S5W-10357

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how often police officers relied on hand-held radios to make so-called assistance shouts in the last year, and how many times this method of communication was required following the recent IT failure at the Dundee Police Scotland control room.