Chamber and committees

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-18261

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of what litigation requires to be concluded before it will initiate a public inquiry into prosecutions relating to the administration of Rangers FC.

The following litigation requires to be concluded:

Imran Ahmad v the Lord Advocate: Proof before answer was heard by Lord Harrower in respect of quantum between 1-10 March 2023 and Lord Harrower made avizandum. The decision in this case is still pending.

David Grier v the Lord Advocate: On 12 April 2023 the Court of Session refused Mr Grier’s application for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. Mr Grier thereafter filed an application for Permission to Appeal directly to the UK Supreme Court on 9 May 2023.

Shelagh McCall KC has been instructed to independently consider reports of criminal conduct from a legal perspective in relation to the prosecutions connected to Rangers Football Club. This process is in place to ensure that any allegations of criminal conduct are considered fairly and objectively.

The aforementioned cases and the work of Shelagh McCall KC remain ongoing at this time.

The Scottish Government and the Lord Advocate have committed to a process of a judge-led inquiry once all legal proceedings relating to the malicious prosecutions are at an end. The exact form and timing of an inquiry will be determined once all legal proceedings are concluded.

The Justice Directorate has been identified as the directorate to lead on providing advice to Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-18855

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcomes have been of the engagement by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs with the Scottish Sentencing Council regarding the review of sentencing guidelines produced by the council, and what action the (a) Scottish Government and (b) Scottish Sentencing Council will be taking as a result of this engagement.

I met with the Chair of the Scottish Sentencing Council on 17 May. At that meeting, we discussed a range of matters relevant to the work of the Council. This included the approach that the Council plans to take to the review of guidelines that it produces. It was outlined that when reviewing offence or offender-specific guidelines, the Council will carry out an interim review when a guideline has been in effect for a year, considering data on relevant cases and engaging with sentencers to assess whether the guideline has had the intended effect and identify any unintended consequences. This will be followed by a full review after three years which the Council will publish, setting out the impact of the guideline in the medium term. The review of sentencing guidelines is a role that the Council undertakes independently.

Question reference: S6W-18536

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether the electric fire appliance provided to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has entered service, and, if it has not, when this is expected to happen.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is expecting to take delivery of the electric appliance in the coming weeks. The vehicle remains with the manufacturers, Emergency One in Ayrshire at this time.

The appliance has now completed and passed its localised testing, however it is awaiting final independent Vehicle Certification Agency testing before being placed in an operational fire station.

Following a period of staff training for firefighters and SFRS fleet maintenance, SFRS expects the electric appliance to enter operational service later in the summer.

Question reference: S6W-18424

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 12 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to establish a register of interests for the judiciary.

Question reference: S6W-18280

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the status of the Scottish Prison Service gender identity and gender reassignment policy review.

Question reference: S6W-18279

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the status of the standard operating procedure being developed by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) in relation to transgender prisoners, as referred to by the chief executive of SPS in her evidence to the Criminal Justice Committee on 22 February 2023.

Question reference: S6W-18049

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the next edition of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey will be published.

The next set of results for the SCJS will be published in Autumn 2023. These results will cover a full years' worth of interviews through to December 2022.

Along with the other large household surveys that rely on face-to-face interviews, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) was suspended in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, no SCJS interviews were conducted during 2020-21 and no report will be published for that year. In recognition of the evidence gap opened up by the suspension, the Scottish Government introduced the Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey as a discrete and additional collection to the SCJS. This asked people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, safety and policing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with findings available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Fieldwork for the SCJS resumed in late 2021.

Question reference: S6O-02343

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any discussions it has had with Renfrewshire Council regarding Dargavel Primary School.

Question reference: S6T-01368

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding reports that a new contract has been awarded by the Scottish Police Authority, valued at around £663,000, for the provision of additional forensic testing in relation to suspected cases of spiking.

Question reference: S6W-16902

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the change of First Minister, whether it will provide an update on how many Special Advisers it now employs, broken down by (a) job title, (b) who they work for and (c) pay scale.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers. All Special Advisers are appointed by, and remain under the responsibility of, the First Minister.

As at the date of your request, the following Special Advisers were in post:

Colin McAllister

Callum McCaig

Jeanette Campbell

Gavin Corbett

Ewan Crawford

Jennie Gollan

David Hutchison

Harry Huyton

Ross Ingebrigtsen

Emily Mackintosh

Jack Middleton

The Pay Bands and Pay Ranges for those Special Advisers are as follows:

Pay Band	Pay Range (£)	Number of SpAds in Band
1	£53,915 - £56,428	0
2	£58,946 - £72,441	4
3	£74,650 - £95,019	6
4	£101,088 - £107,149	1

Since the date of your request, further Special Adviser appointments have been made and a current list of Special Advisers and their responsibilities can be found on the Scottish Government website