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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 MSPs 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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-20772

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the Lord Advocate’s guidelines for Police Scotland regarding allegations of assault.

Question reference: S6O-02548

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the procurement process for the upgrade of Ardrossan harbour.

Question reference: S6W-20155

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Recommendation 32 in HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland's full inspection report for HMP Greenock, for 27 February to 3 March 2023.

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

At present there are no current plans to review the SPS Prisoners Wage Earning Policy within the current financial year. It is however anticipated that a review will be scheduled for 2024.

SPS have implemented a range of measures to lessen the impact of price increases including a temporary £1 per week supplement introduced to offset some of the price rises of canteen goods available to purchase, some of which have also been reduced to help with the rising costs.

Question reference: S6W-19515

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether all employees of the Scottish Prison Service have been directed to receive training on trauma-informed justice, and what information it holds on how many employees have received this training to date.

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

SPS records the number of training interventions delivered rather than the number of staff who have received the training. The diverse range of individuals who have benefited from these interventions include both operational staff and members of the senior leadership team.

SPS Trauma-informed training is linked to a range of learning and development interventions for SPS staff. As of 10 July 2023, SPS has delivered 2608 trauma-informed training interventions to staff.

Question reference: S6W-19517

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on whether all employees of Community Justice Scotland have been directed to receive training on trauma-informed justice, and how many employees have received this training to date.

Question reference: S6W-19516

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) non-ministerial offices, (b) tribunals, (c) executive non-departmental public bodies and (d) executive agencies have been directed to train staff on trauma-informed justice.

The Trauma Informed Justice: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for Working with Victims and Witnesses, published on 3 May 2023 , gives organisations the information they need to develop and deliver training for their staff, tailored to the nature of the engagement those staff have with victims and witnesses. Justice organisations represented on the Victims Taskforce are working in collaboration to implement the framework and are being supported by NHS Education Scotland, the authors of the Framework.

The provisions in Part 2 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill have been designed to make sure our justice system recognises how common trauma is, understands how trauma can affect people, and adjust its ways of working to respond to those impacts as far as possible and reduce the risk of retraumatising people. The Bill creates a legal definition of trauma-informed practice for the justice sector, to help provide clarity and consistency, and it requires criminal justice agencies to have regard to trauma-informed practice in their work with victims and witnesses of crime.

Question reference: S6W-19362

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18699 by Fiona Hyslop on 19 June 2023, whether it will outline the specifications in the £4 million call-off contract that it has awarded to Turner and Townsend under the Engineering and Technical Consultancy Framework.

Transport Scotland publishes the results of all regulated procurements through contract award notices on the Public Contracts Scotland website. The call-off contract awarded to Turner and Townsend for work associated with the provision of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, was awarded under the Scotland Excel, Engineering and Technical Consultancy Framework, Lot 9, Project and Commercial Management. This can be viewed via the Scotland Excel website through the contract register, ref 0820.

Question reference: S6W-19361

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration the CHFS3 Project Team in Transport Scotland’s Ferries Unit will give to the recommendations affecting islands connectivity in the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2.

Question reference: S6W-19363

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland’s Ferries Unit established the CHFS3 Project Team, and whether it will detail the (a) terms of reference, (b) staffing levels and (c) budget that has been allocated for the CHFS3 Project Team.

The CHFS3 Project Team is a recently formed team which sits alongside the Ferries Unit within the recently restructured Ferries Directorate at Transport Scotland. Staffing for the CHFS3 Project Team was formalised in April 2023.

(a) The team consists of permanent staff members tasked with developing and procuring the next CHFS contract.

(b) The CHFS3 Project Team currently consists of 11 FTE members, with 2 FTE posts still to be recruited.

(c) Staffing costs for the team are included within the wider staffing budget of Transport Scotland and are not identified separately.

Question reference: S6W-19518

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether all employees of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have been directed to receive training on trauma-informed justice, and what information it holds on how many employees have received this training to date.