Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-14208

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential benefits of providing spiking test kits and associated training to licensed premises, including nightclubs and bars.

Several roundtable meetings have taken place to help steer the joint Scottish Government and public sector response to the act of spiking. These meetings have been designed to discuss the range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Roundtable discussions have and will continue to include the consideration of spiking test kits. It was discussed that strips vary widely in terms of what they can test for and are not a reliable diagnostic tool.

Key outcomes from roundtable discussions focussed on messaging, training and prevention, with the Violence Reduction Unit supporting Police Scotland and businesses within the night-time economy sector to continue roll out of the bystander training to raise awareness for staff to help keep people safe.

Question reference: S6W-14206

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help improve training for staff working in licenced premises to tackle suspected cases of spiking.

The Scottish Government held several roundtable meetings to bring together partners including representatives from the night-time industry and licensed premises sector to discuss the prevalence of spiking and a range of initiatives and information available on spiking.

Key outcomes from roundtable discussions focussed on messaging, training and prevention, with the Violence Reduction Unit supporting Police Scotland and businesses within the night-time economy sector to continue roll out of the bystander training to raise awareness for staff to help keep people safe.

Businesses within the night-time economy sector invest in training for staff and support a number of initiatives to keep people safe. The Scottish Government has long supported the industry-led Best Bar None Scotland initiative, a unique national accreditation and award scheme, which has been supported by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre – with input from Police Scotland – for a number of years. It is aimed at raising standards and rewarding licensed premises who undertake positive management practices in support of a safe night out. There was an acknowledged impact on the scheme as a result of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis and the Scottish Government will be working with partners to identify options for improving delivery of its core objectives.

Question reference: S6W-13874

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when an update to the Reconviction Rates in Scotland statistics will next be published.

The heavy impact of the pandemic and subsequent court closures on reconvictions data must be balanced against user needs for information with the provision of meaningful and informative statistics that carry minimal risk of misinterpretation. We are currently investigating what information we could helpfully provide users in respect of reconvictions statistics. We will communicate the outcome of this investigation to users as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-13875

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many drug tests for any prohibited substance have taken place in prisons (a) in 2021-22 and (b) so far in 2022-23, broken down by how many test results were (i) positive, (ii) negative and (iii) inconclusive.

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

The following table provides the total number of drug tests conducted in each financial year, along with the results.

Year	Total Number of Tests	Positive tests	Negative tests
2021-22	4496	294	3892
2022- Jan 2023	3770	258	3185

* The reports run from 01 April to 31 March each year.

The SPS do not record data on inconclusive tests.

Question reference: S6W-13873

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when Parole Board for Scotland’s annual report for 2021-22 will be published.

The Parole Board for Scotland is required to make a report on the performance of its functions to the Scottish Ministers as soon as practicable after the end of each year, after which this report is laid before Parliament. No specific date has been set as yet for the receipt of the annual report, including accounts, for 2021-22, but this will be laid before Parliament and published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-13377

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the publication of the Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics 2020-21 statistics has reportedly been delayed.

As noted within the Scottish Government's calendar of forthcoming statistical publications (link provided below), the Drug Seizures and Offender Characteristics 2020-21 publication has been delayed to provide additional time for data collection and validation.

Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Government statisticians now intend to publish figures for 2020-21 and the following year of 2021-22 in the Spring of 2023, and we will pre-announce a specific month to users in the near future.

Question reference: S6O-01633

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports local authorities to ensure that the provision of local services meets the needs of local communities.

Question reference: S6F-01572

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the First Minister how much the Scottish Prison Service has spent on providing free mobile phones to all prisoners.

Question reference: S6W-11834

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any significant case review into the murder of Esther Brown, as referred to by the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament on 18 November 2021.

If a person managed under Scotland’s Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) commits a further offence which results in the serious harm of another person, a Significant Case Review (SCR) must be undertaken. This SCR process is designed to examine the actions or processes employed by the agencies involved to ensure that all reasonable steps had been undertaken to minimise risk and to capture any learning.

I can confirm that in this case it is the Glasgow MAPPA Strategic Oversight Group (SOG) who are responsible for ensuring that an SCR is carried out. I understand that the report commissioned by the SOG is entering its final stages. There is a necessary process of factual accuracy checking and consideration of comments from all relevant partner agencies prior to a final report being presented by the independent reviewer. The report will then be formally considered by the Glasgow SOG and their Chief Officers Group.

We are unable to comment in any more detail as to timing or content at this time as this is a report commissioned and overseen by the Glasgow SOG.

Once published, we will carefully consider, along with our MAPPA partners, any review recommendations at organisational and national level.

Question reference: S6O-01561

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to keep teachers and pupils safe while at school.

Seòmar agus comataidhean