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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: S5O-02031

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action schools take to protect children from knife crime.

Question reference: S5W-15677

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding the incomes of people who use (a) (i) bus and (ii) train services, (b) the Glasgow underground and (c) CalMac ferries.

a) We are investing over £1 billion annually in public transport and other sustainable transport options. Our publication, Transport and Travel in Scotland (September 2017), shows that people in lower income households were more likely to walk or take the bus and that adults in lower income households were much more likely to have used the bus in the past month than the train. Employed adults travelling to work were more likely to take the bus than the train at all levels of household income except for those earning more than £40,000 per annum. Train use by employed adults for travel to work is highest for households within an income of £30,000 to £40,000 and more than £40,000 per annum.

b) The Glasgow Underground is the responsibility of Strathclyde Passenger Transport.

c) The roll out of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) was completed on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services network in October 2015. RET has brought significantly lower fares for passengers, cars, small commercial vehicles and coaches. Evaluation reports of the RET pilots are available on the Transport Scotland website and Transport Scotland will be conducting a network-wide evaluation of RET over the coming years.

Question reference: S5W-15681

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding the modes of public transport that are the (a) most and (b) least accessible to people on low incomes.

Data on transport used by income level focuses on bus and train. Of the two, the bus is the most frequently used mode of public transport for those on the lowest incomes. The ongoing review of the National Transport Strategy is being conducted in collaboration with a wide range of key stakeholders with an interest in the issues of affordability and accessibility regarding public transport. The review will be published in summer 2019 following a formal public consultation.

Question reference: S5W-15493

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding the (a) costs and (b) benefits of the bike sharing scheme in (i) Glasgow and (ii) Edinburgh.

Decisions on bike sharing schemes are a matter for local authorities, and therefore also their responsibility to analyse costs and benefits for their local areas. The Scottish Government is supportive of such schemes that increase active travel and make our towns and cities friendly and safer.

I would encourage local authorities to speak to Forth Environment Link who run the Stirling bike sharing scheme which has received funding from Scottish Government and as part of their grant conditions carry out research into the costs and benefits of the scheme. Both Glasgow and Stirling schemes have been very successful in getting people more active. Edinburgh does not yet have a bike sharing scheme but I understand Councillors are considering the different models.

Question reference: S5W-15664

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have had concessionary railcards in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S5W-15663

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what cost- (a) benefit and (b) utility analysis it has undertaken regarding concessionary railcards for 16 to 25-year-olds.

The 16-25 Railcard is provided by the UK rail industry and not by the Scottish or UK governments. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not hold details on the cost, benefit or utility of this scheme. The scheme offers a discount of one third off most fares for an annual fee of £30, with some restrictions (such as a minimum fare before 10 am on weekdays). More information is available at www.railcard.co.uk .

The Scottish Government offers a further rail discount scheme, the Scottish Youth Railcard (SYR), for those in Scotland aged 16-18 and for full-time volunteers aged 19-25. This scheme helps to connect young people with business, education and leisure opportunities. It is free to access the scheme with a Young Scot Card and, in addition to one third off most fares, it offers half-price Season tickets. There were 2,337,203 journeys made using the SYR in 2016-17, at a cost of £529,152 to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-15442

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of how ride-sharing apps could be used to (a) reduce CO2 emissions, (b) reduce surface deterioration on congestion roads and (c) better facilitate public services.

Question reference: S5W-15669

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 20 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of crimes relating to (a) Islamophobia, (b) racism, (c) homophobia and (d) anti-Semitism in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S5W-15665

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 20 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of (a) Islamophobia, (b) racism, (c) homophobia and (d) anti-Semitism have been reported to police in each year since 2012.

Not all of the information requested is held centrally. The Scottish Government has previously published statistics on Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, with the most recent release covering the reporting year of 2013-14 ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRacistIncidents ).

This publication noted the intention to scope out the possibility of replacing this release with a new and broader product on police recorded hate crime. This would include information on other strands of hate crime recorded by the police, in addition to retaining data on hate incidents with a race element. Scottish Government statisticians have been working with Police Scotland as it develops the data it holds on its existing systems. We anticipate an update on the outcome of this work in the near future, and plans for a new publication. This update will be circulated to users through the ScotStat network ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/scotstat ).

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) also publish annual statistics on crimes aggravated by race, religious, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity prejudice ( http://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity ). These figures relate to charges reported to the COPFS and includes information on how those charges were proceeded. Information on the faith group, gender, race or country of origin of the victim is not included. Statistics for 2017-18 will be published on 15 June 2018.

Question reference: S5W-15719

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the estimated number of syringes that have washed up on Scottish shores in each year since 2012.