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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.

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Question reference: S4F-02251

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 August 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that an independent Scotland will not be able to support the state pension.

Question reference: S4W-20702

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Liz Smith on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will ensure that translation facilities are available to members lodging motions that require this.

The working language of the Parliament is English and, in this regard, under sections 4.1 of the Parliament’s Guidance on Motions and 1.6 of the SPCB Language Policy, if a member wishes a motion to be printed in the Business Bulletin in a language other than English, the member must provide the translation. Responsibility for the accuracy of the translation also remains with the member.

The SPCB is committed to ensuring that the work of the Parliament is open and accessible to all and this is reflected in its language policy:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/PublicInformationdocuments/Lang_Policy2013.pdf

The SPCB has also been extending the services available for members to enable them to communicate with constituents whose first language is not English. Since 2013, the Parliament has been involved in the Happy to Translate scheme, a national initiative developed to promote equal access to services by overcoming language barriers:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/help/65911.aspx

Question reference: S4O-03081

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what facilities are available for the showing of documentary films.

Question reference: S4W-19275

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-12369 and S4W-16395 by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 January 2013 and 25 July 2013 respectively, how many snare users attended the training required to qualify for an identification number for the purpose of setting snares by 1 January 2014.

Question reference: S4W-19276

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-16396 by Paul Wheelhouse on 25 July 2013, how many snare users, having attended the required training, had obtained an identification number from the chief constable of their local police force or from Police Scotland by 1 January 2014.

Question reference: S4W-19277

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many snaring training courses have been delivered since 11 March 2010 by (a) Borders College, (b) the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Limited, (c) Elmwood College, (d) the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, (e) North Highland College, (f) the Scottish Agricultural College, (g) the Scottish Association for Country Sports and (h) the Scottish Gamekeepers Association Charitable Trust, and how many participants there were on each.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) voluntarily administers a central register that holds all details of the snare training courses which are run by the following approved bodies: GWCT, Borders College, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Limited, Elmwood College, North Highland College, the Scottish Agricultural College, the Scottish Association for Country Sports and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association Charitable Trust. GWCT advise that because of the administrative costs involved, they are unable to provide information on the number of training courses and participants on each course run by the respective training providers.

Question reference: S4W-19245

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its questionnaire consulting on the possible mandatory microchipping of dogs and other measures does not include a question on (a) the awareness of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 and (b) what other legislation exists regarding the sale and breeding of dogs.

We are aware that there are a wide range of other concerns surrounding responsible dog ownership, and have used the consultation as an opportunity to gather initial views on other potential new measures. This includes posing an open question on the promotion of responsible dog ownership under which we can take account of any comments on how existing legislation is operating. This process will continue, both through the forthcoming summit on dangerous dogs this spring, and through other separate investigations.

Question reference: S4T-00552

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent discovery of six badger carcasses near Peebles, whether it is content with Police Scotland’s resource allocation for detecting and preventing wildlife crimes.

Question reference: S4F-01794

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2013

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will commemorate the passing of 25 years since the Lockerbie disaster.

Question reference: S4W-17914

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions for (a) sexual abuse, (b) domestic abuse or violence and (c) rape in each year since 2007 before a (i) jury and (ii) single judge resulted in a (A) not proven and (B) not guilty verdict, also expressed as a percentage of such cases.

The available information is given in the following table. Solemn court cases will be tried by a judge and jury, summary court cases will be tried a single judge.

Number of people proceeded against and acquitted where main charge was a crime associated with sexual abuse^1,2, 2007-08 to 2011-12.

Crime/result/court	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Sexual abuse
People proceeded against
Solemn court	183	203	224	214	217
Summary court	195	225	206	206	249
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty³	16	15	16	26	22
Acquitted not proven	8	11	15	11	7
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty³	30	19	25	15	37
Acquitted not proven	6	7	4	5	8
Percentages acquitted / proceeded against
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty³	9%	7%	7%	12%	10%
Acquitted not proven	4%	5%	7%	5%	3%
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty³	15%	8%	12%	7%	15%
Acquitted not proven	3%	3%	2%	2%	3%

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes sexual assault, and other sexual offences. Excludes crimes associated with prostitution, public indecency and bestiality.

3. Excludes cases where a plea of not guilty was accepted.

Number of people proceeded against and acquitted where main charge had domestic abuse aggravator recorded, 2007-08 to 2011-12

Crime/result/court	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Domestic abuse
People proceeded against
Solemn court	117	163	184	188	225
Summary court	6,258	7,788	9,975	9,834	10,267
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty¹	8	21	25	30	31
Acquitted not proven	6	9	14	6	14
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty¹	323	350	576	613	667
Acquitted not proven	64	67	104	85	114
Percentages acquitted / proceeded against
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty¹	7%	13%	14%	16%	14%
Acquitted not proven	5%	6%	8%	3%	6%
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty¹	5%	4%	6%	6%	6%
Acquitted not proven	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%

Note: 1. Excludes cases where a plea of not guilty was accepted.

Number of people proceeded against and acquitted where main charge was rape^1,2, 2007-08 to 2011-12.

Crime/result/court	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Rape
People proceeded against
Solemn court	88	86	93	58	75
Summary court	0	0	0	0	0
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty³	26	36	33	27	16
Acquitted not proven	24	18	17	8	15
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty³	0	0	0	0	0
Acquitted not proven	0	0	0	0	0
Percentages acquitted / proceeded against
Solemn court
Acquitted not guilty³	30%	42%	35%	47%	21%
Acquitted not proven	27%	21%	18%	14%	20%
Summary court
Acquitted not guilty³	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Acquitted not proven	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.

Source: Scottish Government Court Proceedings Database.

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Rape cases would normally be remitted to the High Court for sentencing.

3. Excludes cases where a plea of not guilty was accepted.