- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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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.
Answer
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).
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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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.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2023
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in each local authority are working on processing short-term lets licensing and applications.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 requires local authorities to establish and run licensing schemes for short-term lets in their areas. Information on staffing levels dedicated to short-term let licensing within each local authority will be held by individual local authorities, and vary based on a number of factors, including volume of activity and approach to physical property inspections.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the (a) short-term lets sector and (b) hospitality sector about whether 12 months is an excessive amount of time for local authorities to process short-term lets applications, and whether there are plans to reduce this timescale.
Answer
included draft guidance explaining the rationale for licence application determination times. Licensing authorities only have 12 months to determine applications made by existing hosts (those operational before 1 October 2022) during the transitional period. This is to support licensing authorities to manage the initial volume of applications they receive. During this transitional period, existing hosts are able to continue operating whilst their application is being determined.
For new hosts (those commencing operation on or after 1 October 2022), the usual 9 month determination time set out in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 applies. We understand many local authorities are prioritising these applications to provide new hosts with a timely outcome. We have no plans to alter either timescale, however, as we have already indicated, we will conduct a review of the scheme in early 2024.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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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.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12707 on 12 December 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 24 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will publish its annual report on the Victims’ Right to Review scheme for 2021-22.
Answer
The COPFS Victims Right to Review Annual Report 2021-22 was published on the COPFS website on 24 January 2023.
The report is available on the COPFS website at the link below.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the scheme to equip 18,000 police officers with body-worn cameras to improve their safety will not go ahead.
Answer
In November 2022, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Resources Committee approved Police Scotland's Initial Business Case for the introduction of National Body Worn Video, ahead of consideration by the SPA Board. Once approved by the Board, Police Scotland is expected to undertake a full procurement exercise this year which will provide more clarity on costs - both upfront purchase costs and ongoing costs.
The Scottish Government remains fully committed to using the resources available to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland. We have invested over £11.6 billion in policing since Police Scotland was created in 2013 and we will invest a further £1.45 billion in 2023-24. Despite cuts to the Scottish Government capital budget, we have also continued to maintain the £45.5 million capital investment in the police asset base for buildings, vehicles and technology. Operational policing decisions on the introduction and use of body worn cameras and budgetary prioritisation remain matters for Police Scotland to decide, acting under the oversight of the SPA.
