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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-06793

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05946 by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2017, in light of the comment that it "allocates funding directly to NHS Boards as part of their overall funding allocations", whether the amount given to Police Scotland was reduced when this funding was allocated to the NHS boards.

Question reference: S5W-06902

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 16 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was alerted by the Lord Advocate prior to the 2017-18 Draft Budget that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service would need to lose around 200 posts from its current workforce to deliver the required real terms savings over the next five years.

There is no plan to reduce the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s workforce by 200. The Workforce Planning Strategy, which is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service rather than the Scottish Government, sets out, in line with the recommendations of Audit Scotland, a possible model for the future beyond 2017-18 but no decisions have yet been taken about staffing beyond that point. Future decisions about staffing will depend on what budgets are set in subsequent years, the numbers and types of cases reported to the Service, and progress with reform in the operation of the criminal justice system. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service budget has only been set for one year (2017-18) and the expected impact of that budget on staffing levels has been shared publicly with the Justice Committee and with staff.

Question reference: S5W-06900

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 16 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service would be able to achieve the priorities identified in the 2017-18 Draft Budget with a reducing workforce.

Question reference: S5W-06901

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 16 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it was made aware of the contents of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Workforce Planning Strategy, which was reportedly published on 30 January 2017.

Question reference: S5O-00670

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the board of NFU Scotland and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S5W-06575

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what is position is on the findings of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s 2015 staff survey.

Question reference: S5W-06576

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has not placed the findings of its 2015 staff survey in the public domain, and what its position is on this decision.

Question reference: S5W-05946

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which Police Scotland divisions pay the NHS to provide medical services in custody centres.

Question reference: S5F-00847

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Auditor General’s comments regarding Police Scotland and that the “lack of progress that’s been made in demonstrating financial leadership is unacceptable for any public body.”

Question reference: S5W-05948

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many air (a) rifles and (b) weapons it estimates there are in Scotland and how many of these were licenced on 1 January 2017.

At the time of preparing Part 1 of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, we estimated that there may be some 500,000 air weapons in circulation in Scotland. That figure was based on known sales and other factors over a long period and was agreed in discussions with the Scottish Firearms Consultative Panel of experts who advised the Government on the development of the legislation. The Panel included the police and members of the shooting lobby.

The new licensing regime applies to people, not individual guns. A certificate holder may use, possess, purchase or acquire any number of air weapons. No record is kept of the number of weapons held on each certificate.