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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-19798

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity on 1 November 2018 (Official Report, c.57), whether it was its position that the contractual nexus between Aberdeen Roads Limited and its lenders required to be revised when it was sent a letter dated 23 October 2018 referring to weather and the collapse of Carillion as the issues delaying the opening of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

Neither my officials nor I have received any correspondence dated 23 October 2018.

As confirmed in my statement, I was disappointed to receive a letter from Peter Truscott, CEO of Galliford Try, on 31 October 2018, suggesting Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) had yet to agree with its lenders the contractual variation. This variation, which had been on the table for some considerable time, is required to open the 31.5km section of road between Craibstone to Stonehaven and Charleston. Furthermore, ARL had yet to even advise its lenders of the draft terms.

I and my officials have been involved in a series of high-level meetings with ARL since then, designed to remove any obstacle to the road being opened while remedial works at the Don progress.

Question reference: S5W-19799

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity on 1 November 2018 (Official Report, c.57), whether it will confirm the date that it was advised of the issues delaying the opening of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), and what subsequent action it has taken with Aberdeen Roads Limited to deal with these issues.

As I outlined in my statement to Parliament on 1 November, ARL first reported concreting issues at the River Don Crossing in May 2018. Repairs were undertaken through the summer and ARL remained confident of achieving a late autumn opening. On 26 October 2018, Transport Scotland was informed that a greater scope of works would be necessary to repair the defects and ARL intimated that December was a more realistic date for opening this final section. This is supported by the Galliford Try trading announcement on 7 November.

For some months, Transport Scotland has been investigating the potential to open the 31.5km section of new road from Craibstone to Stonehaven and Charleston. I explained to Parliament on November 1 that opening this section requires a variation to the contract. I and my officials have been involved in a series of high-level meetings with ARL since then, designed to remove any obstacle to the road being opened. I continue to urge it to pursue the necessary approvals with its lenders without further delay.

Question reference: S5W-19845

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether Aberdeen Roads Limited is subject to a public announcements clause as part of its contract to build the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) comprises Balfour Beatty Investments Ltd, Carillion Private Finance (Transport) Ltd and Galliford Try Investments Ltd. Each of these companies is required to provide market updates, the content of which is not available to Scottish Ministers in advance.

As part of the AWPR/B-T contract with ARL, it is obliged to obtain approval for any public announcements. This ensures the factual accuracy of any information being disseminated. No such request has been rejected at any time by this Government.

Question reference: S5W-19817

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the Edinburgh Bar Association’s decision to stop accepting court appointments in summary cases where the accused is prohibited from carrying out their own defence.

Question reference: S5O-02620

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the views of business groups regarding its position on Brexit and wider constitutional affairs.

Question reference: S5W-19776

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of its victims task force.

Question reference: S5W-19775

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether its victims task force has met and, if not, when its first meeting will be.

Question reference: S5W-19755

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will continue to fund (a) prison visitor centres and (b) the free transport service for families travelling from Aberdeen to visit HMP Grampian beyond the current expiry of funding in March 2019.

The Scottish Government are actively considering the funding of prison visitor centres for 2019-20 and beyond, and will continue to engage with the National Prison Visitor Centre Steering Group and the third sector organisations which run these services. The overall budget in 2019-20 will reflect the outcome of the upcoming spending review.

Decisions on the individual applications for funding from each Centre (including any requests for any extra funding for additional services, such as the transport service developed by the centre at HMP Grampian) will be considered by a Funding Group comprising representatives of the SG, SPS and external stakeholders.

Question reference: S5W-19441

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many police-recorded common assaults on emergency workers there have been in each of the last five years, also broken down by type of emergency worker.

The following table contains the number of Common Assault of an Emergency Worker offences recorded by the police in each of the last five years. It should be noted these figures will not include all police recorded attacks on emergency workers (for example should an emergency worker be the victim of a serious assault, this would be recorded as a serious assault).

The Scottish Government does not hold this information by type of emergency worker. This is because the figures provided by Police Scotland are a simple count of the number of offences recorded in each local authority.

Police Recorded Common Assault of an Emergency Worker, 2013-14 to 2017-18

Financial Year	Offences
2013-14	6,813
2014-15	6,480
2015-16	6,414
2016-17	6,509
2017-18	7,004

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics. The latest bulletin is available at the following weblink (figures included above are based on a further analysis of the data)

https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/09/2051

Question reference: S5W-19571

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17371 by Humza Yousaf on 17 July 2018, by what date the Victim Surcharge Fund will become operational, and for what reason there has been a reported delay in announcing this.

In order to ensure effective operation of the victim surcharge in Scotland, an Order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998 (‘the 1998 Act’), is required to amend section 24 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (‘the 1991 Act’), which is reserved.

Section 24 gives the Secretary of State the power to introduce a process, via subordinate legislation, whereby courts can apply for a deduction from an offender’s benefits to pay for a fine or compensation order. This currently applies to the victim surcharge in England and Wales but does not extend to the new victim surcharge in Scotland.

We are therefore seeking an Order under section 104 of the 1998 Act, to amend section 24 of the 1991 Act, to facilitate recovery of the surcharge via deduction from benefits and bringing Scotland into line with powers that already exist in England & Wales.

The UK Government have agreed in principle to this Order and have estimated that, once all the necessary steps are completed, it will come into force in summer 2019, subject to UK Parliamentary timescales. The Victim Surcharge (Scotland) Regulations, which will implement the surcharge, will be laid before the Scottish Parliament, as soon as practicable after the section 104 Order comes into force.