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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: S6W-06650

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30445 by Michael Matheson on 5 August 2020, whether it will provide an update on its position regarding whether the number of short-haul flights across the UK should be increased.

Our geography means that air travel plays an important role in providing connectivity within Scotland and to other parts of the UK. It is particularly important to our island communities, enabling access to services and helping deliver our National Islands Plan. In addition, on some domestic routes, flying is a lower emission option than the quickest alternative.

Hydrogen/electric aircraft have the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of domestic aviation and as part of our work to develop an Aviation Strategy we asked for views on how we can best work in partnership with industry to have low/zero-emission domestic air services which meet the needs of communities and help deliver sustainable economic growth. We are now in the process of analysing responses.

Question reference: S6W-06321

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) publish the contract that Transport Scotland signed with SWARCO to provide a public service to electric vehicle (EV) drivers in Scotland and (b) provide details of the service levels across each aspect of the contract that have been agreed between Transport Scotland and SWARCO in relation to the service provided to EV drivers.

a) The ChargePlace Scotland Single Framework Agreement between Transport Scotland and SWARCO eVolt Ltd will be published shortly.

b) The ChargePlace Scotland Single Framework Agreement contains Key Performance Indictors (KPI), it is the KPIs which Transport Scotland use to monitor the contractor’s performance. These KPI’s have been published on the ChargePlace Scotland website and are updated monthly. The Framework Agreement describes the service levels which the contractor is expected to deliver in Schedule 1 of the document.

Question reference: S6W-06408

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be a consultation on the proposed Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

Question reference: S6W-06450

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when regulations will be laid to bring into force Part 1 of the Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06804

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of purposeful activity prisoners had, on average, per week in each month between December 2020 and December 2021, broken down by each prison.

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

The following table details the average number of purposeful activity (PA) hours that individuals in custody engaged in, within each public sector establishment, between December 2020 and December 2021.

SPS Establishment	Dec 20	Jan 21	Feb 21	Mar 21	Apr 21	May 21	Jun 21	Jul 21	Aug 21	Sep 21	Oct 21	Nov 21	Dec 21
Barlinnie	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	9	10	10	10	11	11
Cornton Vale	24	22	24	24	25	29	30	31	26	26	24	25	20
Dumfries	9	6	2	4	8	10	10	12	10	12	12	12	8
Edinburgh	11	10	11	10	11	11	12	10	10	11	11	9	10
Glenochil	12	9	9	11	10	11	13	11	12	12	10	12	11
Grampian	22	19	14	12	11	16	18	18	17	17	17	19	16
Greenock	21	17	19	20	21	21	24	23	20	21	19	25	24
Inverness	25	22	22	12	19	25	25	27	32	31	22	29	30
Low Moss	16	15	16	17	17	17	15	16	17	19	20	21	19
Castle Huntly	21	19	20	24	23	26	24	22	22	23	22	24	17
Perth	12	14	13	12	13	15	12	9	11	14	14	16	19
Polmont	16	13	14	20	22	22	22	20	18	18	16	21	17
Shotts	15	10	12	9	9	11	11	12	9	9	12	11	8

HMPs Addiewell and Kilmarnock are privately operated prisons and are not required to provide PA hours on a monthly basis. The delivery of PA hours within these establishments is monitored through contractual arrangements with SPS Controllers and Contract Managers to ensure compliance.

Question reference: S6W-06802

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) design capacity, (b) average number of occupants and (c) average occupancy rate was in each prison in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2021.

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

The following tables detail the (a) Average occupancy (b) Design capacity and (c) the Average occupancy rate of each prison over 2019, 2020 and 2021.

2019

Name	Average Occupancy	Average Design Capacity	Average Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	758	702	108%
Barlinnie	1431	987	145%
Cornton Vale	97	112	87%
Dumfries	194	176	110%
Edinburgh	914	867	105%
Glenochil	728	668	109%
Grampian	455	552	83%
Greenock	214	237	90%
Inverness	118	93	127%
Kilmarnock	574	501	115%
Low Moss	798	784	102%
Open Estate	189	284	66%
Perth	700	631	111%
Polmont	472	758	62%
Shotts	541	538	100%

2020

Name	Average Occupancy	Average Design Capacity	Average Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	728	702	104%
Barlinnie	1215	987	123%
Cornton Vale	70	109	64%
Dumfries	182	176	103%
Edinburgh	866	867	100%
Glenochil	660	668	99%
Grampian	427	552	77%
Greenock	192	230	83%
Inverness	103	93	110%
Kilmarnock	547	501	109%
Low Moss	795	785	101%
Open Estate	139	284	49%
Perth	642	631	102%
Polmont	389	758	51%
Shotts	544	538	101%

2021

Name	Average Occupancy	Average Design Capacity	Average Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	699	702	100%
Barlinnie	1208	987	122%
Cornton Vale	57	109	52%
Dumfries	183	176	104%
Edinburgh	867	867	100%
Glenochil	700	668	105%
Grampian	435	552	79%
Greenock	191	218	88%
Inverness	107	93	115%
Kilmarnock	529	501	106%
Low Moss	827	785	105%
Open Estate	145	284	51%
Perth	648	631	103%
Polmont	341	758	45%
Shotts	543	538	101%

Question reference: S6W-06801

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) design capacity, (b) number of occupants and (c) occupancy rate was in each prison in January 2021.

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

The following table details the (a) average occupancy (b) design capacity and (c) the occupancy rate of each prison over January 2021;

JANUARY 2021

The occupancy rate and the design capacity rates provided are the average for the calendar month.

Establishment	Average Occupancy	Average Design Capacity	Average Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	713	702	102%
Barlinnie	1214	987	123%
Cornton Vale	64	109	59%
Dumfries	182	176	104%
Edinburgh	859	867	99%
Glenochil	668	668	100%
Grampian	437	552	79%
Greenock	191	218	88%
Inverness	101	93	109%
Kilmarnock	524	501	105%
Low Moss	805	785	103%
Open Estate	147	284	52%
Perth	669	631	106%
Polmont	362	758	48%
Shotts	544	538	101%

Question reference: S6W-06803

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners are being held in (a) individual cells and (b) cells holding more than one person, and how many are being "doubled-up" in individual cells.

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

On 21 February 2022 the prison population at unlock was 7,561. A breakdown is provided below regarding the accommodation the individuals were located in:

1. 4,885 people were accommodated alone in a cell intended to accommodate one person and,

230 people were accommodated alone in a cell that is designed to be double occupancy.

2. 918 people were accommodated in a cell, or dormitory, intended for more than one person and,

1,528 people were accommodated with another person in a cell intended for one person.

Question reference: S6W-06805

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 March 2022

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

The following table details the average number of purposeful activity hours per week for convicted prisoners across the prison estate, in each financial year that incorporates 2019, 2020 and 2021: -

Year	April 2018 – March 2019	April 2019 – March 2020	April 2020 – March 2021	April 2021 – January 2022
Establishment	Average PA hours	Average PA hours	Average PA hours	Average PA hours
Barlinnie	14	12	10	10
Cornton Vale	19	20	20	26
Dumfries	18	15	8	10
Edinburgh	12	13	9	10
Glenochil	17	16	11	11
Grampian	25	25	19	16
Greenock	20	22	19	22
Inverness	25	25	24	27
Low Moss	23	22	16	18
Castle Huntly	22	21	20	22
Perth	18	14	9	14
Polmont	21	18	14	19
Shotts	25	25	9	10

HMP Addiewell and Kilmarnock are privately operated prisons and are not required to provide PA hours on a monthly basis. The delivery of PA hours within these two establishments is monitored through contractual arrangements with SPS Controllers and Contract Managers to ensure compliance.

Question reference: S6W-06409

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00906 by Jamie Hepburn on 28 June 2021, whether it will provide an update on the proposed Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

The development of a Scottish Education Exchange Programme is a Programme for Government commitment and will help maintain Scotland’s place as an outward looking, internationally connected destination for work and study.

We are engaging with stakeholders from across the education spectrum including higher and further education, community learning and development, youth work and adult education, schools and sports and are developing the programme ensuring it is fit for Scotland.