- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what work has been completed to date on developing questionnaires to capture information about the experiences of witnesses, including children, at court; whether it considers it currently satisfies the reporting requirement of section 14 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and, if not, when it anticipates being able to do so.
Answer
Section 14 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 requires the Scottish Ministers to place before Parliament a report on various matters relating to the operation of the Act during the first 3 years after commencement. This includes a requirement to provide information about the experience of witnesses, including child witnesses, in court cases prosecuted under section 1 of that Act, or where a 'domestic abuse aggravation' under section 1 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 has been libelled.
Work is underway to develop a research programme to gather information on the experiences of witnesses, including children, at court to satisfy this element of the reporting requirement contained at section 14 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. This research will be undertaken within the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and will therefore seek to account for the practical and ethical issues inherent with this type of research during this difficult period whilst still satisfying the reporting requirement. The research is likely to involve a range of methods in order to meet the research aims.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, because of financial issues, Police Scotland might have to reduce numbers by around 4,000 officers and/or move them to civilian roles, and whether it will consider increasing Police Scotland's funding to prevent this.
Answer
Police Scotland’s Strategic Workforce Plan was presented at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Board meeting on 22 January 2021. This plan has been developed to ensure that the service is best placed to meet changing demands, and enable Police Scotland to identify the officer, staff and skills profile needed to best serve Scotland’s communities.
The recruitment of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, who has recently stated that there are currently no plans to reduce police officer numbers. There are currently 17,249 police officers (as at 30 September 2020), significantly above the level inherited in 2007.
As announced in the Scottish Budget on 28 January 2021, the Scottish Government’s total budget for policing in 2021-22 will be over £1.3 billion. The SPA budget will increase by a total of £75.5m, a 6.1% increase compared to 2020-21. This will eliminate the structural deficit in Police Scotland’s budget and deliver a sustainable policing budget position. The allocation of this budget to policing priorities is a matter for the SPA and the Chief Constable.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether victims’ organisations were able to apply for support from the Victim Surcharge Fund by the end of 2020 and, if so, (a) how many applications were received and (b) what the average bid was.
Answer
The Victim Surcharge Fund opened for applications by victim support organisations on 14 January 2021. Organisations have until 12 February to apply for funding. We aim to make the first payments from the Fund by the end of March 2021.
In line with our intention, as stated in published guidance, ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/victim-surcharge-fund-guidance ) the Fund opened for applications once sufficient funding had accumulated in it. The Fund will re-open for applications on a regular basis, once sufficient funding has accumulated.
More information on applying to the Fund is available on the Scottish Government website https://www.gov.scot/publications/victim-surcharge-fund-information/
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when the review of government funding to support organisations outlined in the latest Victims’ Taskforce workplan will be completed, and what the scope of the review is.
Answer
The review referred to is a recommendation from the report ‘Transforming
Services for Victims And Witnesses’, commissioned by the Scottish Government,
COPFS and Victim Support Scotland and published in September 2020 https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/minutes/
2020/11/victims-taskforce-papers-september-2020/documents/paper-five-thrive-
report-on-transforming-services-for-victims-and-witnesses/paper-five-thrive-report
-on-transforming-services-for-victims-and-witnesses/govscot%3Adocument/FINAL
_TSVW.pdf .
The report and the range of recommendations it contains are being considered by the
Scottish Government, the Victims Taskforce and the Victim Centred Approach
Governance Group, and will help inform their work moving forward.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what relevant communications were listed in action 1b of the latest Victims' Taskforce workplan; how these were prioritised, and when it anticipates action 1b will be completed.
Answer
Scottish Government officials have undertaken an initial information gathering exercise to establish the scope of this work and determine a suitable approach to reviewing publications and other materials provided to victims as they progress through the criminal justice system.
This initial work, which we anticipate will be completed by April 2021, will help inform next steps, which will include engagement with relevant criminal justice stakeholders.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is being put in place for supply teachers during the current COVID-19 lockdown.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided local authorities with £80 million of additional investment in education staff, sufficient for the recruitment of around 1,400 additional teachers, including supply teachers, and 200 support staff this year.
In addition, a package of £45 million of new funding was announced on 13 January to support the delivery of remote learning. This new funding can be used to recruit additional teachers and may offer further employment opportunities for supply teachers.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery timetable for the three disability payments.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2021
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 27 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects further engagement to take place following the publication of the consultation, Improving Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Interventions for Victims of Domestic Abuse, as outlined in the next steps action 3e, in light of the latest Victims' Taskforce workplan referencing the date as "end 2019", which had already passed by the time of publication.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls through Equally Safe, our co-owned strategy with COSLA. This strategy identifies effective multi-agency risk assessment processes as a key component in addressing violence against women and girls in Scotland.
At the end of 2019, we published our analysis of responses to the Improving Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Interventions for Victims of Domestic Abuse consultation. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic and the reprioritisation of work to meet immediate needs arising from COVID, work in this area was paused until November 2020 when officials held a virtual workshop with stakeholders from across the VAWG sector to help prioritise key themes and outputs from the consultation and inform our next steps.
Following on from this discussion, officials will be undertaking a series of virtual mini work-shops or ‘deep dives’ into these key areas and will convene a short life advisory group comprised of key stakeholders to monitor progress.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether only victims registered with the Victim Notification Scheme will be able to observe parole hearings under the Transforming Parole proposals.
Answer
The changes which will come into force on 1 March 2021, through the Parole Board (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2021, set out a procedure for victims and family members of victims to be silent observers at parole hearings. Only victims who are registered with the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) will be able to make an application to observe.
Not everyone wants to observe a hearing so we had to consider who this might apply to. People who have registered with the VNS have already expressed an interest in being kept informed of a prisoner’s release so it is important to them to have this opportunity.
A victim, or an entitled relative of the victim as set out in the Guidance for the Scheme can register with the VNS at any time so nobody will be barred from observing a hearing if they are not registered initially.
This amendment to the rules sets out a specific procedure by which victims can request to attend a hearing. This will make it clearer for victims.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, for what reason the 2019-20 Scottish Prison Service (SPS) annual report did not record information regarding addiction prevalence testing and, if this information is no longer recorded, (a) for what reason the SPS reached this decision and (b) how the SPS will monitor the scale of drug misuse in prisons.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
Addictions Prevalence Testing (APT) for Performance Measurement purposes was suspended in November 2019 and therefore not included in the latest annual report. The APT process at that point was considered to be no longer fit for purpose as it did not acknowledge the changing trends in drug taking evidenced through the Management of Risk from Substances (MoRS) Policy and drug-find results .
SPS is currently reviewing its approach with the aim of procuring a comprehensive solution which improves the validity of testing and its connection to subsequent monitoring, intervention and action. In the interim period, further investment in technology has been made to prevent the introduction of illicit articles to prisons and relevant adaptations have been made to the existing testing arrangements.