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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-18853

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in the R100 programme to date.

The R100 programme is one of the most ambitious public investment programmes anywhere in the UK – with the Scottish Government investing over £600 million targeted at homes and businesses with the slowest broadband speeds.

As of 8 June 2023, £122.4 million has been paid to Openreach for delivery of the R100 contracts. Payments are made in arrears upon completion of build.

A further £5.4 million has been paid to a range of suppliers in the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-18852

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes in Scotland do not have access to superfast broadband.

Based on Ofcom’s latest figures up to the end of January 2023, 5% of all residences in Scotland do not currently have access to a superfast broadband connection of 30 Mbps (megabits per second) or more.

Through the R100 programme, all premises without access to superfast broadband are being supported to obtain an improved broadband connection - either through inclusion in the R100 contract build plans, or via eligibility for the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

Some people choose not to upgrade to faster broadband speeds, even when they are available to them, with Ofcom estimating that only 71% of premises in Scotland take up superfast broadband service when it is available.

Question reference: S6W-18854

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects that the R100 programme will be completed.

Question reference: S6W-18851

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet its R100 programme targets.

The R100 programme remains on track to meet its current contractual completion dates. The R100 contracts are currently delivering full fibre, gigabit capable connections at pace across the length and breadth of Scotland.

For any properties beyond the reach of the R100 contract build or commercial coverage plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 – remains available to help secure a superfast broadband connection.

Our address checker at https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com shows the most recent plans and timescales for residential and commercial properties across Scotland, allowing access to the most up-to-date information.

Question reference: S6O-02411

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it plans to resume the Super Sponsor Scheme for Ukrainian refugees.

Question reference: S6W-18544

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of its ministers or civil servants received an invitation to the Food Summit at 10 Downing Street, hosted by the Prime Minister and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in May 2023.

Question reference: S6W-18053

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Care Inspectorate’s report, Guidance for children and young people’s services on the inclusion of transgender including non-binary young people, which states that "a young person aged 12 and over is presumed to have sufficient capacity to make decisions about medical treatment, although we recognise this will not always be the case".

The Care Inspectorate is an independent public body with a duty to support services to ensure high-quality care for all children and young people experiencing care. This includes transgender and non-binary young people.

The Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 provides that a person under 16 can consent to medical procedures or treatment where the qualified medical practitioner attending them considers they are capable of understanding the nature and possible consequences of that procedure or treatment.

Question reference: S6W-17934

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of human trafficking have (a) been reported and (b) led to a prosecution, in each financial year since 2007-08.

This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under BiB No 64215.

There is no single crime of human trafficking and it may be recoded and prosecuted under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004.

Table 1 shows crimes related to 'human trafficking' recorded by the police, 2007-08 to 2021-22; Table 2 shows the number of people prosecuted where the main crime/charge was related to human trafficking, 2007-08 to 2020-21.

Please note: Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. A crime can only be recorded if it is reported to the police and can only then be prosecuted in court if the crime is reported to the procurator fiscal and a decision taken that court proceedings are the most appropriate course of action. In addition, recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland, while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases once they have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only a single conviction for the ‘main charge’ (the one receiving the most severe sentence) would be counted in the court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be reflective of long term trend.

Question reference: S6W-17935

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many outstanding cases of human trafficking have yet to lead to a prosecution due to court backlogs.

The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.

Any form of human trafficking is completely unacceptable. Through the Victim Centred Approach Fund, we are providing record funding of more than £9 million over the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2025 to organisations supporting victims of human trafficking.

We have a strong track record on court investment, and continue to prioritise supporting justice partners to address the backlog.

The 2023-24 budget allocates £42.2 million for justice recovery, which includes over £26 million for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to maintain enhanced court capacity. We have also increased SCTS’s resource funding by £5 million, and provided record resource funding for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Question reference: S6W-17936

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards currently have a specialist endometriosis service in operation.