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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: S6W-14260

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that more than half of inmates released early during the COVID-19 pandemic have gone on to reoffend.

The early prisoner release power within the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act was used once, in May 2020. This power was used to protect the security and good order of prisons and the health, safety and welfare of prisoners and prison staff alike. Such measures were taken across the world, including elsewhere in the UK.

Steps were taken to manage the risks around those being released early to as low a level as realistically possible. That included statutory exclusions and a governor veto where there was a known risk to a specific individual. Furthermore, the scheme applied only to those sentenced to eighteen months or less, with 90 days or less left to serve in custody, at the time of the power being used.

A proportion of those prisoners were returned to custody for a number of reasons including, in some cases, due to reoffending.

No level of reoffending is acceptable. That is why this Government is focused on driving a greater shift away from short-term prison sentences, which those released under this power were serving, towards community-based interventions which we know are more effective at reducing reoffending.

Question reference: S6W-14257

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the letter of October 2022 from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to the Criminal Justice Committee regarding follow-up points on its pre-budget scrutiny, whether it will list the (a) 220 fire stations that were assessed as “poor or bad with regards suitability”, (b) 11 fire stations identified that do not have a water supply and (c) fire stations that do not have “sufficient” showering facilities.

The facilities in place at the 357 fire stations in Scotland are an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including whether to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

Question reference: S6W-13920

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many public electric vehicle (EV) charging points have been installed in each year for which records exist, broken down by local authority area.

The Charge Place Scotland (CPS) network currently hosts 2445 publicly available electric vehicle charge points. Historical data relating to CPS’ development is not available broken down by Local Authority area.

The following table shows the total number of installations across the CPS network in each year since its inception. There are 105 charge point installations that cannot be reconciled with a specific year due to different methods of recording installs employed by CPS’ operators since the network was established, hence the current publicly available total is higher than the figures in the following table.

The information provided only presents charge points registered on the Scottish Government funded CPS network. The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to commercial electric vehicle charging networks.

Year	Publicly Available Installs
April 2014 – March 2015	157
April 2015 – March 2016	253
April 2016 – March 2017	82
April 2017 – March 2018	161
April 2018 – March 2019	219
April 2019 - March 2020	513
April 2020 - March 2021	394
April 2021 - March 2022	273
April 2022 – December 2022	288
Unattributable to a specific year	105

Question reference: S6W-14245

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions of alleged perpetrators of modern slavery there have been in each of the last 10 years.

In terms of Criminal Proceedings statistics, there is no single crime of 'modern slavery'. However multiple types of crime involve, or can involve, 'slavery'. A list of these is provided below. Further information on slavery related activity is also available from the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, within their Annual Report .

Slavery or forced labour
Human organ offences
Immoral traffic
Procuration (excluding homosexual offences)
Procuration (homosexual offences)
Breach of trafficking and exploitation order

Most of these crime types fall under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. This came into effect on 31 May 2016. Prior to the 2015 Act, there were a number of offences under which crimes of modern slavery could be prosecuted.

The latest available information on the number of people prosecuted for modern slavery related crimes, since 2011-12, is provided in the following table.

Number of people prosecuted for modern slavery related crimes (where main crime) in Scottish courts, 2011-12 to 2020-21.

		2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Immoral traffic	CRIMINAL JUSTICE (SCOTLAND) ACT 2003 SECTION 22(1)(A)(I)	4	-	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
	CRIMINAL JUSTICE (SCOTLAND)ACT 2003 SECTION 22(1)(A)(I)&(II)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
	CRIMINAL LAW (CONSOLIDATION) (SCOTLAND) ACT 1995 SECTION 11(1)(A)	-	-	1	-	1	-	2	1	-	-
	HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2015 SECTION 1(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-
Procuration (excluding homosexual acts)	CRIMINAL LAW (CONSOLIDATION) (SCOTLAND) ACT 1995 SECTION 7(1)(B)	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Procuration of homosexual acts	CRIMINAL LAW (CONSOLIDATION) (SCOTLAND) ACT 1995 SECTION 13(4) & 5(C)	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Slavery or Forced Labour	HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2015 SECTION 1(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1
Slavery or Forced Labour	HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2015 SECTION 4(1)(B)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Please note: Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in Spring 2023.

Question reference: S6W-13966

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Near Me service.

Question reference: S6W-13980

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to enable patients to have more control over their health and care information since publishing its Digital Health and Care Strategy in October 2021.

The Digital Health and Care Strategy was further reinforced in November 2022 with the publication of the Digital Health and Care Delivery Plan . In addition, a Data Strategy for health and care is due to be published early this year, which was consulted on extensively throughout 2022. This included public consultation, including in relation to patients' use of their own health and care information.

One of the core ambitions of the Data Strategy is to: empower the people of Scotland by giving individuals clear and easy access to, and the ability to manage and contribute to, their own health and social care data where it is safe and appropriate to do so. To achieve this, we will confirm data sources and data sets that are safe to be consistently shared. Data access will be enabled through the implementation of the Digital Front Door.

Question reference: S6W-14097

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how it has increased access to evidence-based digital mental health treatments, products and services.

We have significantly increased access to digital mental health treatments, products and services since the first cCBT treatment was rolled out in 2017. We now have 27 different computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) treatments available across all NHS Boards. In 2022 we launched Mind to Mind, a wellbeing site with short videos from advice from clinicians and people with lived experience of mental health services and links to support services. The majority of appointments using Near Me, the video conferencing service available across NHS Scotland, are for mental health and offer people access to support if they are unable or prefer not to attend in-person services.

This increase in cCBT treatments has been gradual, with products being piloted with a small number of Boards before national rollout. From 1 treatment in 2017 this increased to 12 in 2020 to reflect higher demand for digital support during lockdown. This increased to 21 treatments in 2021 including two new products that could be accessed by anyone in Scotland via a link, rather than requiring a referral from a GP or mental health professional. We continue to explore more options around self-referral and the role cCBT treatments play in offering mental health support that is accessible at any time.

Question reference: S6W-14049

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the Scottish Prison Service will publish its revised mental health strategy for people in custody.

Question reference: S6W-14051

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of capacity at prison facilities for the purpose of relocating HMP and YOI Cornton Vale prisoners during the interim period between the prison’s closure and HMP and YOI Stirling’s opening.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS continually monitor both the prison population and the number of available spaces for all those in our care. The current women’s estate, excluding HMP & YOI Cornton Vale provides 349 single room spaces as follows:

HMP Edinburgh 92
HMP & YOI Polmont 117
HMP & YOI Grampian 48
HMP Greenock 52
The Lilias Centre 24
The Bella Centre 16

The current average number of Women in SPS care is 282.

Question reference: S6W-14055

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any new staff will be recruited in 2023 to support the delivery of climate change initiatives, and, if so, at what grades, and in what numbers.