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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: S5W-04972

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to enable prisoners to participate in outdoor education programmes, such as the John Muir Award.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

SPS delivers an outdoor education programme in conjunction with the John Muir Trust at HMP Open Estate, Castle Huntly. Over the last 5 years, SPS has supported prisoners to attend the John Muir Trust on 19 separate occasions. This has resulted in 133 prisoners attaining Award status with the John Muir Trust.

SPS also delivers the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Bronze Award and part of the Silver Award in partnership with Barnardos at HM YOI Polmont. This initiative has been delivered on a continuous basis since 2011 with 150 young men participating. To date, 115 young men have achieved sectional Bronze Awards and the remaining 35 have completed the full Bronze Award and sectional Silver Awards.

Question reference: S5T-00242

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to reduce the number of “near misses” that are being recorded by police control rooms.

Question reference: S5W-04838

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many civilian jobs it expects to be lost as a result of Police Scotland's budget for 2016-17.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Policing 2026 project being led by the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland is looking to identify the future demands of Scottish policing, as well as the shape and size of the workforce needed to meet the challenges of the next 10 years.

They are committed to ensuring that the right people - with the right skills and experience are in the right place to deliver a flexible, modern and sustainable police service.

Question reference: S5W-04783

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03129 by Michael Matheson on 5 October 2016, whether it will provide (a) a breakdown of the funds that Police Scotland is investing and (b) further information on the progress of the hubs it is introducing in to tackle cybercrime.

Question reference: S5O-00424

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide additional support to help develop innovation in the tidal and wave energy sectors.

The Scottish Government has a long and proud history of supporting the development of marine energy technologies and we remain strongly committed to the wave and tidal energy sectors.

In a year when the marine energy sector has made outstanding progress, it is extremely disappointing that no budget has been ring-fenced for marine energy projects by the UK Government in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round.

The Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy and his officials are having discussions with the UK Government to consider what additional support can be provided to the industry. He is also convening a round table of representatives from the marine energy sector in December to understand their priorities.

Question reference: S5W-04834

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on an independent review being undertaken into the cancellation of the Police Scotland i6 project.

The results of the independent review being undertaken by Audit Scotland into the cancellation of the Police Scotland i6 project will be a matter for the Scottish Police Authority.

It is important that the Scottish Police Authority carefully considers how best to deliver cost effective, efficient and fit for purpose systems for Police Scotland to ensure that our police officers have access to modern technology to support the important work that they do.

Question reference: S5W-04836

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to minimise the number of police officers and civilian staff experiencing mental ill-health.

The wellbeing of police officers and staff is a matter for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority. Police Scotland are currently embarking on the delivery of its largest ever training programme for police officers and police staff which will be focused on how they can better assist members of the public, as well as colleagues and partners who may be suffering from mental ill health.

Question reference: S5W-04835

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to civilian staff working in Police Scotland control rooms, in light of reports that a third of them took long-term sick leave during 2015-16.

Question reference: S5W-04786

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted each year under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The number of people prosecuted and convicted in Scotland under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is shown in the following table

People prosecuted under Computer Misuse Act 1990¹, 2007-08 to 2014-15

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 3	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 1	1	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
All	2	1	2	1	2	-	1	-
1. Where main offence.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

People convicted under Computer Misuse Act 1990¹, 2010-11 to 2014-15

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 3	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 1	1	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
All	2	1	2	1	2	-	1	-
1. Where main offence.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

Question reference: S5W-04781

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding introducing legislation to update the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The Scottish Government (SG) had discussions with the UK Government during 2014-15 regarding amendments to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA 1990) which were introduced under the UK Government’s Serious Crime Act 2015.

SG liaised with the UK Home Office on the development of the draft clauses for the amendments to the CMA 1990, as it was proposed for such amendments to extend to Scotland and so the discussions were to ensure there would be no unintended implications for Scotland.

On 6 January 2015, the Scottish Parliament agreed to Legislative Consent Motion S4M-11986 for the Serious Crime Bill, the Bill which became the Serious Crime Act 2015.