- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will accept recommendation 7 of HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland’s report, Inspection of COPFS practice in relation to sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently giving consideration to recommendation 7 of the Inspectorate’s report as part of its work on the planned Criminal Justice Reform Bill and proposals in relation to Independent Legal Representation in respect of section 275 applications.
The Bill will look to deliver reforms building on the Scottish Government’s recent consultation on Improving Victims’ Experiences of the Justice System and recommendations from Lady Dorrian’s Review on Improving the Management of Sexual Offence Cases.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it will report the findings of its consultation on improving victims' experiences of the justice system.
Answer
The independent analysis of responses to the consultation on improving victims' experiences of the justice system was published on 12 December 2022. The report can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253235 .
Responses to the consultation, where permission to publish them has been given, can be accessed at Improving victims' experiences of the justice system: consultation - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress being made by the Lord Justice Clerk's Review Governance Group.
Answer
The Lady Dorrian Review Governance Group has met on six occasions since it was established in December 2021 facilitating cross justice sector consideration of the Review's recommendations. The Governance Group established four working groups to conduct detailed consideration of a number of recommendations made by the Review. Three of the working groups have now concluded and their findings have been considered and endorsed by the Governance Group. The findings and recommendations of those working groups will be published in December 2022.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09636 by Keith Brown on 19 July 2022, whether it will provide an update on the findings of the Single Judge Trial Pilot Working Group.
Answer
The Single Judge Rape Trial Pilot Working Group has concluded its consideration of the recommendation of Lady Dorrian’s Review to give further consideration to a time-limited pilot of single judge rape trials. The Working Group’s findings have now been considered and endorsed by the Lady Dorrian Review Governance Group and will be published in December 2022.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many short-term lets licences have been approved since 1 October 2022, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 requires licensing authorities to maintain and publish a public register of short-term let licences on their website, or other website established for that purpose. The register is required to include a note of the kind and terms of each licence granted by the licensing authority, as well as other information set out in paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 of the Licensing Order.
Licensing authorities are also required to share content of their public register with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis for statistical analysis purposes. We expect to receive the first quarterly return for processing and analysis early in the new year. This initial return will include data relating to the number of short-term let licence applications received by 31 December 2022, and the status of those applications.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to progress the introduction of judge-only trials, and what its proposed timescale is for doing this.
Answer
The proposal for a time-limited pilot of single judge rape trials as recommended by the Lady Dorrian Review continues to be considered. Stakeholders have been engaged through a short life Working Group which brought together partners from across the justice system to give detailed consideration to proposals for implementing any pilot. Broader views on the proposal have also been sought through recent public consultation.
An independent analysis of the consultation responses and the Working Group’s findings will be published in December 2022. This material will be considered along with responses to the earlier consultation on Not Proven and associated reforms. To ensure the package of reforms maintains balance in the system and supports complainers to give their best evidence, the potential reforms will be considered together.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents have been recorded of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) escaping from (a) onshore and (b) offshore power generation sites in each of the last three years.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold recorded information on the number of leakage incidents of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) from onshore and offshore power generation sites that have been recorded in the last three years.
The Scottish Government is aware of the impact of this potent greenhouse gas on the environment and of the risk of leakage incidents. We are currently working with the UK and Welsh Governments to review the F-gas Regulation. We have already done a retrospective assessment of the Regulation and will publish an assessment report on the findings in the coming weeks.
Following the report, we will jointly consider policy options to ensure our regulations continue to support our ambitious Net Zero targets. As part of this, we will also consider other important issues including leakage. We expect to publish a joint consultation on these future policy proposals in due course.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any duty on those operating in Scotland or its waters to report gas escapes, and if this is the case, what the threshold escape volume of CO2-equivalent gas for reporting is, in light of The Guardian article from 8 November 2022, World’s ‘most potent greenhouse gas’ escaped during work on UK windfarm.
Answer
The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the regulation of health and safety in the off and onshore wind sector. This regulation includes, where appropriate, the investigation of accidents and incidents.
Incident reporting requirements can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website - Dangerous occurrences - RIDDOR - HSE
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Orkney Islands Council regarding the Scottish Budget 2023-24 and what issues were discussed.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2022
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are to progress the introduction of a specialist court for hearing sexual offence cases, and what its proposed timescale is for doing this.
Answer
The proposal to establish a specialist sexual offences court as recommended by the Lady Dorrian Review remains under consideration. In delivering against our commitment to give serious consideration to the Review’s recommendations we have consulted with stakeholders and the public on proposals to establish a specialist court and have convened a Working Group which brings together partners from across the justice system to give detailed consideration to proposals for implementing a specialist court.
Both the independent analysis of consultation responses and the Working Group’s findings are expected to be published in the coming weeks and will inform our decision on whether to proceed with proposals to establish a specialist sexual offences court, although I am unable to provide a specific timescale for this.
