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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-15992

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that operations are to be contracted out on the Caledonian Sleeper when it is brought back into public ownership, what parts of the service or operations will be contracted out; which companies will be contracted for which part of the service or operations; for how long each contractor will be contracted for, and how much each contractor will be paid for the services that they provide over the course of their contract.

Question reference: S6W-15896

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce its decision on the Outline Business Case for the Monklands Replacement Project, which was submitted to its Capital Investment Group in December 2022.

Question reference: S6W-15895

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the dates of any meetings it has had with members of its Capital Investment Group at which the Monklands Replacement Project was discussed, and whether it will outline the content of those discussions.

Question reference: S6W-15800

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the (a) conclusions and (b) findings from all stages of the National Speed Management Review.

Question reference: S6W-15801

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 24 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its current position is on HGV speed limits.

In Scotland the speed limit for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) in built up areas is 30 mph. On single carriageway it is 40 mph, dual carriageways is 50 mph and on motorways 60 mph.

In addition, the HGV speed limit on single carriageway sections of the A9 between Perth and Inverness was raised to 50 mph on 28 October 2014.

HGV speed limit policy is being considered as part of the National Speed Management Review, later this year we will consult with stakeholders and the public to gather and consider their views on future changes to speed limit policies and speed management measures.

Question reference: S6O-02083

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has put in place to support island communities in advance of Hulls 801 and 802, and other ferries, coming into service.

Question reference: S6W-15771

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 22 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any (a) ministers, (b) officials and (c) special advisers were consulted before the offer of immunity from prosecution was made to prison officers charged with the care of Allan Marshall.

The Crown does not grant immunity from prosecution but makes prosecutorial decisions based on criteria set out in the Scottish Prosecution Code. Decisions on prosecution are taken independently and are matters for professional prosecutors within the system for which the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are responsible. It is therefore not appropriate for any other minister, or for Scottish Government officials or special advisers to be consulted in relation to any prosecutorial decisions.

I have confirmed to Mr Marshall’s family that some aspects of the investigation fell short of what they were entitled to expect. The previous decision not to prosecute individual prison officers cannot be reversed. I have instructed Police Scotland to investigate possible corporate responsibility by the Scottish Prison Service.

The way in which custody death cases are handled by COPFS has been reviewed and transformed. I am confident that new structures and processes in place will ensure such cases are undertaken rigorously, respectfully and compassionately.

Question reference: S6W-15770

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision of the Lord Advocate to instruct the police to investigate the Scottish Prison Service for corporate homicide, whether it will hand over to Police Scotland all correspondence, transcripts, notes of meetings and all other communications with ministers, their officials and the Scottish Prison Service to assist with this investigation.

Question reference: S6W-15034

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the full-time equivalent staffing levels were in Transport Scotland’s Ferries Unit in each year from 2012 to date.

Within Transport Scotland, we only have FTE records available from 2016, due to data retention policies. From 2016 to December 2022, Ferries existed as a team within the Aviation, Maritime, Freight and Canals (AMFC) Directorate. I have provided the FTE separately for both the Ferries team and the AMFC directorate as a whole. From December 2022, a new Ferries Directorate was formed, this FTE figure is shown below. All figures are as at March of each year.

FTE Figures	AMFC Directorate	Ferries Team within AMFC
March 2016	34.6	17
March 2017	29.1	13.5
March 2018	30.5	15.5
March 2019	33.3	19.3
March 2020	38.4	23.6
March 2021	42.7	23.8
March 2022	48.5	30.6
	N/A	Ferries Directorate
Currently		41.7

Question reference: S6W-15032

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Minister for Transport’s reported commitment on this issue, what steps it has taken to ensure that its private sector consultant, Ernst and Young, meets with trade unions organising Scotland’s ferry workers to discuss Project Neptune.