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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: S5W-22719

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20504 by Humza Yousaf on 8 January 2019, whether it will provide the same data for (a) January, (b) February, (c) March and (d) April 2019.

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

The following tables provide a breakdown of the average occupancy, design capacity and occupancy rate at each Scottish prison in 2019.

SPS has a responsibility to accommodate those sent to us by the courts. The data shows the occupancy levels of each prison when measured against design capacity. The design capacity and operational capacity of prisons are different and can change for reasons of policy, maintenance and changing operational requirements.

January 2019 (Average Prison Population = 7924)

Prison	Average Occupancy	Design Capacity	Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	701	702	99.89%
Barlinnie	1400	987	141.86%
Cornton Vale	88	114	77.25%
Dumfries	191	176	108.36%
Edinburgh	907	867	104.62%
Glenochil	702	668	105.03%
Grampian	452	552	81.83%
Greenock	224	238	94.24%
Inverness	117	93	126.08%
Kilmarnock	503	501	100.37%
Low Moss	776	784	98.97%
Open Estate	171	284	60.32%
Perth	698	631	110.67%
Polmont	456	758	60.20%
Shotts	537	538	99.90%

February 2019 (Average Prison Population = 7999)

Prison	Average Occupancy	Design Capacity	Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	699	702	99.61%
Barlinnie	1435	987	145.42%
Cornton Vale	86	114	75.09%
Dumfries	190	176	108.04%
Edinburgh	918	867	105.91%
Glenochil	727	668	108.84%
Grampian	459	552	83.20%
Greenock	218	238	91.48%
Inverness	123	93	132.26%
Kilmarnock	501	501	100.09%
Low Moss	776	784	99.04%
Open Estate	175	284	61.58%
Perth	701	631	111.07%
Polmont	458	758	60.47%
Shotts	532	538	98.80%

March 2019 (Average Prison Population = 8101)

Name	Average Occupancy	Design Capacity	Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	701	702	99.88%
Barlinnie	1441	987	146.01%
Cornton Vale	95	114	83.64%
Dumfries	191	176	108.67%
Edinburgh	918	867	105.85%
Glenochil	738	668	110.53%
Grampian	462	552	83.66%
Greenock	214	238	89.78%
Inverness	121	93	129.90%
Kilmarnock	538	501	107.33%
Low Moss	781	784	99.66%
Open Estate	183	284	64.57%
Perth	709	631	112.36%
Polmont	470	758	62.07%
Shotts	538	538	99.91%

April 2019 (Average Prison Population to 26 April 2019 = 8186)

Name	Average Occupancy	Design Capacity	Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	700	702	99.72%
Barlinnie	1449	987	146.79%
Cornton Vale	97	114	84.74%
Dumfries	194	176	110.45%
Edinburgh	920	867	106.17%
Glenochil	737	668	110.28%
Grampian	451	552	81.70%
Greenock	215	238	90.43%
Inverness	124	93	133.38%
Kilmarnock	593	501	118.46%
Low Moss	782	784	99.78%
Open Estate	194	284	68.48%
Perth	705	631	111.75%
Polmont	480	758	63.38%
Shotts	538	538	100.01%

Question reference: S5W-22716

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendation in the report, Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland: review of implementation, that “a baseline study to enable a monitoring framework should be established by agreement with the Scottish Government, the football authorities, Police Scotland and other relevant stakeholders”, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) a copy of the baseline study, the monitoring framework and the annual outcomes of monitoring and evaluation.

Following discussions with the Scottish FA, SPFL, Police Scotland and other stakeholders, the football authorities agreed to collate data on unacceptable conduct in Scottish football for the first time from the start of season 2017-18.

This data provides a baseline for the ongoing monitoring of unacceptable conduct by the football authorities.

This information is shared with the Scottish Government and Police Scotland in confidence, at the request of the football authorities.

Question reference: S5W-22717

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the recommendations in the report, Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland: review of implementation, should have led to Police Scotland making sectarian a mandatory marker for crime reporting and recording.

Professor Morrow’s report recommended that a review of hate crime legislation should consider how sectarianism and sectarian incidents could be integrated into a more general approach.

Following the Justice Committee’s recommendation, in January 2018, that a definition of sectarianism in Scot’s law should be considered, a working group was set up. The group reported in November 2018 and concluded that a sectarian statutory aggravation should be introduced along with a definition in Scots law. The group’s conclusions were included for all interested parties and individuals to comment within the hate Crime consultation, which closed in February 2019.

No decisions on establishing a statutory aggravation for sectarianism will be taken until the consultation submissions are fully analysed and considered.

Question reference: S5W-22718

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15871 by Michael Matheson on 8 May 2018, whether it will provide the equivalent figures for (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

The available information is provided in the following table, which has been produced from the Scottish Government’s criminal proceedings database .

Please note: Information for 2018-19 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in December 2019.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs

People convicted for possession of drugs1, by drug type and main penalty, 2017-18.

		2017-18
Heroin	Total	1,046
	Custody²	99
	Community payback order	151
	DTTO	26
	Fine	484
	Other	286
Cocaine	Total	853
	Custody²	20
	Community payback order	84
	DTTO	4
	Fine	601
	Other³	144
Cannabis	Total	1,096
	Custody²	31
	Community payback order	110
	DTTO	3
	Fine	599
	Other³	353
Amphetamines	Total	50
	Custody²	1
	Community payback order	6
	Fine	31
	Other³	12
Ecstasy	Total	127
	Community payback order	10
	Fine	88
	Other³	29
Other	Total	432
	Custody²	27
	Community payback order	44
	DTTO	4
	Fine	225
	Other³	132
Total convictions		3,604

1. Where main charge.

2. Includes prison, YOI, supervised release order, extended sentence, order for life-long restriction.

3. Includes restriction of liberty order, community service order, probation and other community sentences, supervised attendance order, admonition, court cautions, dog disposals, absolute discharge, no order made, remit to children's hearing, insanity, hospital, guardianship order.

The criminal proceedings database does not include information on whether community payback orders include a drug treatment requirement.

Question reference: S5W-22667

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21528 by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019, what discussions it has had with the chief constable regarding the findings in DCC Taylor's report, and whether it will publish the outcome of these (a) discussions and (b) findings.

Question reference: S5O-03230

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when road equivalent tariff will be fully introduced on Orkney and Shetland ferry routes.

Question reference: S5T-01644

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that firearms police were deployed to routine incidents that did not require a weapon more than 5,000 times in the last year.

Question reference: S5W-22749

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of (a) the Victim Surcharge Fund and (b) Police Restitution Orders, and on what date each will be operational.

Regarding the Victim Surcharge Fund, and as set out in my answer to question S5O-02577 on 21 November 2018, we are seeking an Order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998 to facilitate recovery of the surcharge via deduction from benefits and bring Scotland into line with the powers that already exist in England and Wales.

The UK Government have estimated that the Order will come into force in summer 2019, subject to UK Parliamentary timescales. The Victim Surcharge (Scotland) Regulations will be laid before the Scottish Parliament as soon as practicable after the section 104 Order comes into force.

Regarding Restitution Orders, we are working with the Scottish Police Federation, the Police Benevolent Fund and other stakeholders on the detail of implementation. We are also working with the UK Government on necessary changes to UK legislation. No date is set for restitution orders becoming operational.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-22619

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many offences have been recorded under section (a) 2, (b) 3 and (c) 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in each local authority area in each year since 2013, and how many subsequent (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions there were.

(a), (c) The data received from Police Scotland for producing the National Statistics on Recorded Crime, is a simple count of the number of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. The nature of this data is such that while some crime codes refer to a single act or section of legislation, others include a wider range of legislation. As such we are unable to separately identify any crimes and offences recorded under either Section 2 or Section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

(b) Number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988*, 2013-14 to 2017-18 can be found in the table provided below:

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Aberdeen City	543	641	570	485	447
Aberdeenshire	532	430	474	427	379
Angus	104	83	192	126	123
Argyll & Bute	292	336	311	269	276
Clackmannanshire	57	47	22	32	29
Dumfries & Galloway	555	577	640	608	428
Dundee	109	74	169	138	180
East Ayrshire	129	190	179	201	150
East Dunbartonshire	142	121	115	134	117
East Lothian	82	65	60	67	63
East Renfrewshire	127	117	104	85	90
Edinburgh City	407	487	548	577	591
Falkirk	205	215	207	196	169
Fife	345	334	338	423	378
Glasgow City	1,842	1,715	1,582	1,404	1,157
Highland	351	378	520	507	471
Inverclyde	128	98	115	144	124
Midlothian	67	59	72	63	68
Moray	193	162	205	198	244
Na h-Eileanan Siar	45	38	46	42	35
North Ayrshire	142	162	232	200	165
North Lanarkshire	472	415	499	535	473
Orkney Islands	38	38	34	50	45
Perth & Kinross	119	72	140	130	160
Renfrewshire	315	251	314	342	314
Scottish Borders	158	145	179	167	142
Shetland Islands	27	12	39	48	31
South Ayrshire	134	153	183	208	159
South Lanarkshire	425	439	513	469	404
Stirling	145	152	144	161	114
West Dunbartonshire	235	206	183	177	155
West Lothian	119	154	260	231	206
All	8,584	8,366	9,189	8,844	7,887

* - does not include sections 3ZA/3ZB/3ZC/3ZD/3A

(i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions: This document has been placed with the Scottish Parliament, bib number 60646.

Question reference: S5T-01619

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Police Federation describing some of the buildings in the police estate as being “unfit for human habitation”.