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: S6W-14179

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the average (a) age and (b) retirement age is of a firefighter.

The age of firefighters, broken down into 5 year age bands is published on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Website under its Organisational Statistics. Under the various firefighter final salary pension schemes, the majority of firefighters chose to retire after 30 years service rather than at a particular age. Government Actuary Department data shows that between 31 March 2016 to 31 March 2020, the average retirement age was 54.

Question reference: S6W-14211

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the National Police Chiefs’ Council's request for all police forces in the UK, including Police Scotland, to check their officers and staff against national police databases to identify any concerns or anomalies.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Chair asked chief constables in England and Wales to take immediate action to check officers and staff against the national police database. While Police Scotland are a member of the National Police Chief’s Council, the direction in this case was provided via the Home Office. However, following discussions with the NPCC, Police Scotland have confirmed that they will align with the work being taken forward in England and Wales and check all officers and staff against national systems for criminal records and ongoing investigations.

In 2022 Police Scotland increased vetting resources by nearly 50% and introduced an additional check for new recruits, prior to being sworn into office. From April, they are also introducing dip sampling which will see around 1,200 vetting reviews of officers and staff being conducted each year.

Question reference: S6W-14175

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11947, for what reason the information is not held, and whether it will consider recording the information.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The decision as to whether a member of staff discloses that they have attended hospital is one for the individual member of staff, and there is no requirement for this information to be shared. SPS has a focus on supporting staff who may have been injured, and ensuring that any reasonable preventative measures can be put in place to ensure that the likelihood of a similar incident occurring is mitigated as much as possible.

At this time, there are no plans to change the current methods of recording, however SPS will always look at ways which we can ensure we provide the right support to our staff.

Question reference: S6W-14081

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what economic support it will make available to areas that were not successful in their bid for a green freeport, including in relation to the Clyde area bid, and what discussions it has had (a) with the UK Government and (b) specifically in relation to the Clyde area bid, with Inverclyde Council on this matter.

The Scottish Government and the UK Government are working together to provide feedback to all those who submitted Green Freeport bids. That process is under way. In fact officials are meeting members of the Clyde Green Freeport bidding coalition today. Officials from both governments also stand ready to work with the unsuccessful bidding coalitions to consider whether and how it might be possible to build on aspects of their plans, outside the Green Freeports programme, to deliver jobs and growth in their respective regions.

Question reference: S6W-14176

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the value of money that has been lost through cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Scotland, and how many (a) charges and (b) convictions related to this there have been, in each year for which data is available.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the amount of money lost through cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Scotland, and the data held for the Criminal Proceedings statistics is unable to separately identify any related charges and convictions which involve cryptocurrency. Collecting data on this subject is very challenging, with the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) highlighting that for most types of cyber fraud, a majority of victims did not report the incident to the authorities.

Scottish Government statisticians are continuing to develop the evidence base in this area. For example, the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics now include analysis of cyber-crimes recorded by the police. In 2021-22 almost half (48%) of recorded fraud was estimated to have been online/through the internet, representing around 8,000 crimes. Whilst this will include incidents of cryptocurrency scams, these cases are not separately identifiable within the data. Work is also being taken forward to develop and incorporate a new module into the SCJS, which will allow us to estimate the volume of fraud and computer misuse experienced in Scotland, including those crimes not reported to the police. These new questions will include details of financial loss arising from cyber fraud. Users will be kept informed as to the development of this work, including when the first results are expected to be published.

Question reference: S6W-14174

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many dash camera systems on Police Scotland vehicles have been reported as either not working, broken, corrupted or defective in each year since 2013, and what the average time taken to replace or repair broken dash camera systems is.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as responsibility for the maintenance of Police vehicles sits with the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable. Police Scotland has confirmed that they hold a stock of replacement dash cameras which can be fitted to their vehicles should one develop a fault; dependant on the locality of the vehicle, type of equipment fitted and the type of fault, this can be done on the same day.

I have asked Police Scotland to write to the member with this information.

Question reference: S6W-14075

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of individuals who have engaged in international child sex tourism, and how many convictions there have been in relation to this offence, in each year for which data is available.

People engaged in sexual abuse of children outside the United Kingdom can be prosecuted in Scotland under either Sections 54 and 55 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 or Section 16(b) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995. Section 16(b) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 and Section 55 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 cover people who engage in child sex tourism, whilst Section 54 of the 2009 Act covers incitement to commit such offences.

Within the span of the financial years 1995-1996 to 2020-21 a total of eight people have been convicted in Scotland for sexual abuse of children outside the United Kingdom related charges. Specifically:

Two people in 2007-08 (under Section 16(b) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995);
One person in 2009-10 (under Section 16(b) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995);
One person in 2010-11 (under Section 16(b) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995);
One person in 2018-19 (under Section 54 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009);
Two people in 2019-20 (one under Section 54 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 and one under Section 55 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009); and
One person in 2020-21 (under Section 55 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009).

Question reference: S6O-01862

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support young people with speech difficulties.

Question reference: S6W-13774

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government about the GREAT campaign, and what estimate has been made of the value of this initiative to Scotland’s (a) economy and (b) exports.

The Scottish Government has had recent conversations with the UK Government in relation to the GREAT Talent Campaign. During this conversation, we requested a final evaluation to be shared with specific Scotland demographics.

The GREAT campaign is funded and monitored by the UK Government and questions relating to it are best directed to them. The Scottish Government does work alongside a range of partners in the Brand Scotland collaboration, which seeks to build our global reputation and present Scotland as a dynamic, fair and inclusive country in which to live/work, study, visit and do business. The campaigns run by Brand Scotland are designed to raise awareness of Scotland and can often be the first interaction between overseas businesses that encourages them to engage with our agencies on investment and buying opportunities.

An example of this is the Brand Scotland business focused campaign called Think Scotland which from April 2021 to March 2022 led to over 94 million global impressions of Scotland specific content and over 28 Million views of video content which was served directly to SDI target customers. This was supplemented with a further 500k social engagements on Scotland specific social channels and over 2 million visitor sessions to the Scotland.org website and over 379 visitor sessions to the SDI website. All of this campaign activity resulted in 873 calls, leads, enquiries being generated for relevant Inward investment or Trade teams to follow up on and a further 53 engagements generated from this activity with an estimated 650 further jobs in the pipeline for SDI to take forward.

Question reference: S6W-13878

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications local authorities have received for short-term lets licences, and how many have been (a) approved and (b) rejected.