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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-05768

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a review of healthcare in prisons.

The National Prisoner Healthcare Network is undertaking a range of activity in order to improve health outcomes for individuals in the custody of the Scottish Prison Service. This includes workstreams on female offenders, substance misuse, throughcare, alcohol and drugs and mental health. The workstream reports are available at the National Prisoner Healthcare Network website at: http://www.nphn.scot.nhs.uk/published-reports/

Question reference: S5O-00574

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is content with the way that it records crime.

Question reference: S5W-05909

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases there have been in each of the last five years, where the charge of assaulting an emergency worker under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 have been dropped by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The following table relates to charges under sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005. There will frequently be more than one charge arising from a single incident and multiple charges under the same legislation may feature in a single case.

Financial Year	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Total Charges reported to COPFS	481	412	410	492	407
Charges proceeded with	364	326	327	392	296
Charges where proceedings were commenced in Court and then No Further Action taken	39	31	31	54	39

In a significant number of cases where charges were discontinued, this was related to the mental or physical health of the accused. Included in this number were accused who died or became incapacitated after the case was reported to COPFS and accused who were made subject to Compulsion Orders, detained in hospital or engaged with treatment or other services.

Question reference: S5W-05910

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases in each of the last five years, where the charge of assaulting an emergency worker under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005, have been dropped to pursue a charge relating to the same incident.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) Management Information Database records data on the basis of charges not “incidents”. One “incident” can involve multiple charges and multiple accused, sometimes reported and prosecuted under separate cases. From the statistical data held by COPFS, it is not possible to isolate this information. The number of charges under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 in which no further action has been taken in the last five years was provided in the answer to question S5W-05909 on 11 January 2017.

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-05771

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the current stock of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service equipment will become obsolete.

The Scottish Government is significantly increasing SFRS’s capital budget from £10.8m this year to £32.5m next year which recognises the need for continued renewal of fleet, equipment, properties and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The provision and renewal of firefighting appliances and equipment is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The SFRS Board agrees the Capital programme for investment in fleet, equipment, property and ICT on an annual basis, and within this programme the SFRS prioritises its equipment investment. The 2016-17 programme is outlined here:

http://www.firescotland.gov.uk/media/925408/12_capital_budget_2016_17_combined.pdf

Question reference: S5W-05772

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many fire engines have been removed from service due to staff unavailability in the last year; what review it has carried out of this, and how it plans to reduce the number.

Question reference: S5W-05775

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to close any fire stations.

Question reference: S5W-05537

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comment by the Lord Advocate on 9 December 2016 that "there continue to be systemic aspects of the criminal justice system, which cause difficulties for victims."

The support and protection of victims and witnesses is a key priority for the criminal justice system in Scotland and must always be balanced with the protection of the fundamental rights of the accused.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is committed to working with other agencies in the criminal justice system to improve the service which is provided across the system to all those who come into contact with the criminal courts, whether as victims, witnesses or accused persons.

The Scottish Government has already implemented a number of changes which increase the engagement of all parts of the system with victims, including the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014, the Victim’s Rights (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and the commitments in the Standards of Service for Victims and Witnesses and the Victims’ Code for Scotland, and further work is in hand to address some of the systemic issues which have been identified such as churn in the summary criminal courts and the adversarial nature of the trial process.

The Evidence and Procedure Review aims to improve the experience of those who come into contact with the criminal justice system by reducing the impact of churn in the summary courts and changing the way in which the evidence of children and other vulnerable witnesses is dealt with in court through the increased use of pre-recorded evidence.

A report by the former Solicitor General for Scotland, Lesley Thomson QC, who has carried out a review into the needs of victims, will be published shortly and the recommendations will be considered by all parts of the criminal justice system through the work of the Justice Board.

Question reference: S5O-00531

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the tourism sector in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S5W-05436

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the sustainability of rural fire stations.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has a statutory duty to ensure that there are adequate arrangements in place for the carrying out of its functions in each local authority area.

The Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2016, calls for community fire stations to be used by the SFRS and other public services as locations where the development of community skills and capacities can be supported in order to help those in communities become more resilient and self-supporting in the future.

Local plans set out how the SFRS intends to discharge its duties, demonstrating that its operational arrangements for each area are adequate and proportionate to the local risk profile.

The SFRS has an ongoing campaign to recruit retained duty system firefighters.