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-39014

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2024-25 finding that only an estimated 21% of crime is reported to the police.

Question reference: S6W-39013

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 25 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address the reported increase in violent crime committed by those aged 16 or under, in light of the finding in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24 that 31% of violent crime offenders were under 16, while in 2021-22 the figure was 8%.

Question reference: S6W-39010

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities following the publication of its report, Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: January to March 2025, on 10 June 2025, which found that Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire were the police divisions with the highest rates of suspected drug deaths in this quarter.

Question reference: S6W-39008

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is engaged in to address the increase of 16% in shoplifting incidents recorded in 2024-25 compared with 2023-24, and how it will work with local authorities to protect retailers and their staff.

Question reference: S6W-39009

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it plans to undertake following its report, Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: January to March 2025, published on 10 June 2025, which found that there were 76 more suspected drug deaths compared with the previous quarter.

Question reference: S6W-39011

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for public confidence in local policing having reportedly fallen, following the publication of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24 results on 10 June 2025, which found that less than half of adults believed that police in their local area were doing an "excellent" or "good" job, compared with 61% the previous year.

Question reference: S6W-39012

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 23 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is engaged in to tackle the reportedly significant impact of bank and credit card fraud, following the publication of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24 results, which found that bank and credit card fraud constituted 47% of all fraud committed in the year.

Question reference: S6T-02606

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that there were almost 30,000 breaches of community payback orders in the last 11 years.

Question reference: S6W-38457

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many offenders with electronic tags have breached their orders in the past five years.

You asked about how many offenders with electronic tags have breached their orders in the past five years.

In answering your question, we have taken this to mean orders of the court (as opposed to those monitored on a release licence) and by offenders, we have taken that to mean those convicted, so not those monitored on electronically monitored bail.

In the following tables, data on all restriction of liberty orders (RLOs) and community payback orders (CPOs) and drug testing and treatment orders (DTTOs) which have an electronically monitored restricted movement requirement imposed since April 2020 is provided. The data set out below shows “status at order end”, either: revoked or expired. This is what is known by the Scottish Government at the time of order end, as the decision making on whether something is an established breach of an order, sits with the court.

Compliance with an order is reported back by the monitoring provider to a court, and the court then determines what actions they wish to take in relation to that order, which may include continuing, varying or revoking that order, including to impose a further order or an alternative disposal such as custody.

An order can be revoked by the issuing court for a number of reasons including: on appeal, on breach of a concurrent order, because a new offence had been committed or a breach of an order has occurred.

The category of “expired” orders, includes orders where the outcome of any court consideration may not yet be known at the point the order ends. It will also include orders that were not being actively monitored at order end. Active monitoring could cease for reasons including: absence of the monitored person without consent, householder consent to monitor at that address being withdrawn or as the individual is otherwise absent for example they are already in custody or are in hospital.

Revoked Orders April 2020 to March 2025

Order Type	April 2020 to March 2021	April 2021 to March 2022	April 2022 to March 2023	April 2023 to March 2024	April 2024 to March 2025
RLO	192	309	317	349	485
CPO	0	0	x	16	30
DTTO	0	0	0	0	0

Expired Orders April 2020 to March 2025

Order Type	April 2020 to March 2021	April 2021 to March 2022	April 2022 to March 2023	April 2023 to March 2024	April 2024 to March 2025
RLO	327	505	480	540	618
CPO	0	0	13	35	76
DTTO	0	0	x	0	0

Orders Imposed April 2020 to March 2025

	April 2020 to March 2021	April 2021 to March 2022	April 2022 to March 2023	April 2023 to March 2024	April 2024 to March 2025
Total number of orders imposed*	3,103	3,519	3,869	4,061	4,782
% of Revoked and Expired orders*	17**	23	21	23	24

* RLO, CPO and DTTO

** The number of revoked and expired orders during 2021-22 may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes

Some figures are not be able to be disclosed due to small numbers (less than five). These are marked with ‘x’.

These numbers are drawn from management information held by the service provider, G4S.

We are unable to provide information in relation to movement restriction conditions (MRC) which are issued by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in respect of a young person. This is because these conditions are not solely used in relation to offending behaviour. MRCs are measures put in place as part of a care order, rather than an alternative to custody.

Question reference: S6W-38458

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 20 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to establishing youth education programmes raising awareness about retail crime.

The Scottish Government recognises the significant impact that retail crime can have on businesses, employees, and communities. We are committed to working in partnership with relevant sectors to prevent offending and raise awareness of young people about the consequences of such behaviour.

While there is currently no standalone national youth education programme specifically focused on retail crime, this issue is addressed within broader preventative and educational initiatives. These include community safety programmes delivered through schools, Police Scotland’s Campus Officer’s and partnerships between local authorities, third sector organisations, and community policing teams.

More widely, the Scottish Governments Youth Justice Vision 2024-2026 promotes early and effective intervention, diversion from prosecution and a preventative approach to youth offending. This framework supports local and national initiatives that raise awareness about the harms caused by offending – including shoplifting and retail-related antisocial behaviour and encourages positive decision making among young people.

The Government continues to consider how best to strengthen preventative education and is open to exploring opportunities to incorporate greater focus on retail crime within existing programmes. We are also working with stakeholders across justice, education, and business sectors to identify effective approaches to tackling the root causes of such behaviour.