- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many fatal accident inquiry recommendations have required legislative changes in each of the last three financial years, and how many of these have been implemented.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the impact of any resource constraints within the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service on the progress of fatal accident inquiries.
Answer
As a non-Ministerial office, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) is responsible for preparing a detailed budget for each financial year. Throughout the Budget process, the Scottish Government liaises with the SCTS to identify its budgetary requirements. These requirements are considered alongside the resource needs of the rest of the justice system in order to ensure the SCTS has sufficient resources to meet its statutory obligations. Compared to the opening 2024-25 budget, an additional £11.5m Resource funding and £2m Capital funding has been provided to the SCTS for 2025-26.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to enhance public access to information about fatal accident inquiry outcomes, recommendations and their implementation status.
Answer
The statutory framework for FAIs is the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc (Scotland) Act 2016. The legislation introduced a requirement for the Sheriff conducting the FAI to make a determination setting out their conclusions and recommendations as soon as possible. Recommendations from a Sheriff must be responded to by the body to whom they are directed. The 2016 Act sets out that the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is required to publish the determination and subsequent response from the party to whom the recommendations are directed. The response will normally detail what action has been taken or is proposed to be taken in light of the recommendations. These are published on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals' website and are therefore publicly available.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether prioritising action on retail crime, including shoplifting, should form part of (a) its strategic police priorities and (b) the priorities of the Scottish Police Authority.
Answer
The Strategic Police Priorities (SPPs) are designed to provide high-level direction for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland, as set out in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012. Prevention and detection of crime and working with key sectors is currently covered in the SPPs and the SPA and Police Scotland will use the SPPs to inform both their Strategic and Annual Police Plans, which will include putting in place objectives for the police service and the activities which will deliver them.
Police Scotland’s commitment to tackling retail crime has been underlined by last month’s launch of an action plan which includes a number of measures aimed at preventing such incidents and pursuing those responsible. This has been made possible through additional Scottish Government funding of £3 million for this year.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how frequently it reviews the implementation status of fatal accident inquiry recommendations with relevant organisations or bodies.
Answer
The determination of an FAI will set out the Sheriff's recommendations, which will be aimed at the relevant public body. The Scottish Government would expect any public body to take cognisance of any recommendations.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered any reforms or changes to the fatal accident inquiry system, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Government has acknowledged that there are concerns about the operation of the FAI system. In January of this year, following publication of the determination of the FAI into the deaths of Katie Allen and William Brown at Polmont Young Offenders Institute, the Scottish Government announced a focussed, independent review of the FAI system. This review is to look at the efficiency, effectiveness and trauma-informed nature of investigations into deaths in prison custody.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the effectiveness of fatal accident inquiries in preventing similar fatalities.
Answer
The Scottish Government supports the independent judiciary's careful examination of matters in FAI determinations and believes that valuable learning is offered through the process.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35531 by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2025, whether it remains committed to all of the targets set out in its 2021 document, A Strategy for Space in Scotland.
Answer
2021’s A Strategy for Space in Scotland is not a government-owned document but one jointly developed and owned by industry, academia, and government. The Scottish Government, for its part, remains committed to the ambitions set out within.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35531 by Richard Lochhead on 18 March 2025, what steps it has taken to measure progress towards meeting the targets set out in its 2021 document, A Strategy for Space in Scotland.
Answer
2021’s A Strategy for Space in Scotland is a document jointly owned between industry, government and academia, and sets out the goal of achieving a £4 billion market share of the global space market and creating over 20,000 jobs in the sector by 2030.
The Scottish Government regularly engages key partners across the space eco-system to discuss sector growth and the economic progress of the sector is monitored against the UK Space Agency’s Size and Health of the Space Industry report, which is published annually.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on Scotland of its network of international offices.
Answer
Scotland’s international network continues to deliver tangible benefits to our people, businesses and institutions.
We welcomed the recommendation made in 2022 by the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee for the Scottish Government to publish an annual report, setting out the contribution made by the international network. The first annual report was published in December 2023. This was followed by the 2023-24 annual report in November 2024, which can be found at the following link: International network: annual report 2023-2024 - gov.scot.
The 2024-25 annual report will be published later in the year, and will include additional reporting on the delivery of the International Strategy.