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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-10717

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the Islands Energy Strategy.

As stated in the answer to S6W-10716 on 20 September 2022, work to develop an Islands Energy Strategy was delayed during the pandemic. In the interim period there have been significant changes to the policy landscape, including commitments to take forward an Energy Strategy Just Transition Plan for Scotland and the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. An Islands Energy Strategy will follow and build on these pieces of work in 2023 allowing alignment with Scotland's national plans. Stakeholder engagement on is ongoing. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-10442

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated estimate on the annual cost of operating the Deposit Return Scheme in a "steady state" as set out in the full business case addendum, which was published on 16 March 2020.

Question reference: S6W-10443

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the full operational costs of Circularity Scotland in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-10904

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a progress update to its cancer strategy for children and young people 2021–2026.

Question reference: S6W-10794

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many recorded incidents of motor vehicle theft there have been in each year since 2017, and, of those, how many resulted in a conviction.

Table 1 on Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, 2012-13 to
‎ 2021-22, from the National statistics on Recorded crime in Scotland, includes the requested information on theft of a motor vehicle. This is available within the supporting document and the associated excel tables at: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2021-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

If useful, a rolling annual picture is also available in the shorter quarterly releases of National Statistics on recorded crime, based on the most recent 5 years. Figures for the years ending June 2018 to June 2022 are available at: Recorded Crime in Scotland: year ending June 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information on the number of people convicted for ‘theft of a motor vehicle’ is available in the Main tables (table 4b) of the National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2020-21 statistical publication available at Supporting documents - Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The latest available information is for the financial year 2020-21.

It should be noted that the national lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent court closures resulted in significant reduced activity in both the number of reports being referred to COPFS and the number of proceedings going through Scottish courts. Consequently the 2020-21 figures should not be considered indicative of any long-term trends.

Whilst the Scottish Government do publish data on both recorded crimes and criminal proceedings in Scotland, these are based on distinct and unlinked data sets. Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. Detailed information on why these two data sources are not directly comparable can be found in Annex C, paragraph 14 of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2020-21 bulletin.

For example recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year, charges brought and court proceedings concluded in subsequent years. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

Question reference: S6W-10716

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it has carried out for the Islands Energy Strategy.

Work to develop an Islands Energy Strategy was delayed during the pandemic. In the interim period there have been significant changes to the policy landscape, including the commitments to take forward an Energy Strategy Just Transition Plan for Scotland and the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. An Islands Energy Strategy will follow and build on these pieces of work in 2023 allowing alignment with Scotland's national plans. Stakeholder engagement is ongoing.

Question reference: S6W-10213

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report July 2022, which states that "Observers in Scotland noted an increase in the proportion of criminally exploited children who were charged with crimes and underscored that more trafficking victims faced criminal justice processes than traffickers".

Child trafficking and exploitation is abuse. When there is reason to believe that a child may have been trafficked or exploited an immediate child protection response is required and an inter-agency referral discussion (IRD) should be undertaken. In cases where a child or young person has been subject to any form of exploitation or trafficking their safety and protection is paramount. Child trafficking and exploitation victims must be cared for and supported within the context of Scotland’s child protection system and the national Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approach.

In September 2021 Scottish Government published the revised National Guidance for Child Protection which includes detailed advice for all practitioners who support children and families on identifying and supporting victims of human trafficking and exploitation, including criminal and sexual exploitation.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 required the Lord Advocate to issue instructions regarding the prosecution of persons who are, or appear to be, the victims of trafficking, slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour and who have allegedly committed a criminal offence. The instructions set a strong presumption against prosecution of child victims who have committed an offence in the course of, or as a consequence of, being trafficked or exploited.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with operational partners to better understand what child protection procedures are followed in cases of trafficking and exploitation, and ensure that child protection procedures are activated immediately.

Question reference: S6O-01363

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Orkney Islands Council to discuss its budget settlement.

Question reference: S6W-10628

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 6 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when 4G masts in Rackwick and Stronsay in Orkney, as part of the Scottish 4G Infill Programme, will go live.

Construction of the masts at Rackwick and Stronsay is complete. Both masts are being developed in collaboration with the Home Office’s Emergency Services Network (ESN). 4G service will, ultimately, be provided on these sites by mobile network operator EE. To move these sites to activation requires the Home Office to execute a Change Request as part of their ESN programme. The Scottish Government is aware of a substantial delay in the Home Office enacting this Change Request which is preventing these masts from moving to service activation.

All efforts are being made by the Scottish Government to expedite this issue which, once resolved, will enable a number of masts including Rackwick and Stronsay proceed to activation.

Question reference: S6O-01322

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Orkney and what issues were discussed.