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: S4W-18817

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been appointed to the Safeguarders Panel under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, and how many are practising solicitors.

Question reference: S4W-18425

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have sought protection each year under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, broken down by (a) age and (b) gender, and what proportion of cases have led to the court (i) awarding damages, (ii) granting an interdict or interim interdict and (iii) issuing a non-harassment order.

The available information is given in the following table.

Cases initiated and disposed for Non-harassment Orders - Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s8.

Financial Year	Initiated	Disposed	Granted
2011-12	13	4	2
2010-11	3	1	0
2009-10	4	3	3
2008-09	4	8	3

This data relates to non-harassment orders raised in the civil courts under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s8. This act was amended by the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2011 which came into effect in July 2011. It is possible that this has led to the rise in the number of non-harassment orders initiated in 2011-12.

These statistics relate to the “principal crave” only. An individual case can involve a number of different case types. The case type which is listed first on the writ/summons is normally known as the “principal crave”. More information about this, and other explanations about the data, can be found in sections 11-13 of the latest publication, which can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/9263.

The number of ordinary and summary cause cases disposed of may be an underestimate. In addition, around a fifth of ordinary cause cases are sisted (suspended).

Cases may be initiated and disposed in different years, so the statistics for initiated and disposed for a particular year do not necessarily represent the same cases.

Data prior to 2008-09 is not available.

The data in the table above relate to the number cases and may not necessarily equal the number of people seeking an order.

Information on the age or sex of the people involved is not held centrally. The data held on damages and interdicts does not specifically identify cases relating to protection from harassment.

Question reference: S4W-18429

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the effectiveness of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and whether it plans to review the legislation.

Question reference: S4W-18428

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is effective and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides measures available to people who require protection from other people who are harassing them. The legislation enables any person to apply to a court for a Non-Harassment Order (NHO), which is a civil order which prohibits someone upon whom it was imposed from undertaking particular conduct which constitutes harassment towards another specified person. Breach of the terms of an NHO is a criminal offence.

The Scottish Government monitors the effectiveness of legislation to address harassment on an on-going basis through contact with stakeholders in the police, COPFS, victims’ groups and others. That is why, for example, we legislated through the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 to make it easier for a court to grant an NHO against a person who has been convicted of an offence involving harassment, by removing the need for the convicted person to have engaged in a “course of conduct” constituting harassment, and enabling the court to take account of any previous convictions.

We have also reformed the criminal law to improve how it addresses behaviour constituting harassment. The offences of “stalking” and “threatening and abusive behaviour”, contained in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 provide police and prosecutors with additional tools to deal with criminal behaviour constituting harassment.

Question reference: S4W-18018

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what projects in the South Lanarkshire Council area have received funding from the CashBack for Communities scheme, broken down by (a) amount granted and (b) location.

Financial information showing investment in the CashBack for Communities Programme, including expenditure at local authority level, is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/17141/cashback/CashBack-Finance

An overview of CashBack investment by organisation delivering activity in South Lanarkshire is detailed in the following table:

Investment in South Lanarkshire Local Authority through CashBack for Communities Programme

South Lanarkshire CashBack Investments	£1,149,971
Amateur Boxing Scotland	£39,066
basketball scotland	£13,773
Creative Scotland	£96,853
Princes Trust Development Awards	£12,869
Scottish Football Association	£138,481
Scottish Rugby	£71,945
Scottish Sports Futures	£19,652
sportscotland (sport facilities)	£199,142
Working on Wheels	£3,812
Youth Scotland	£63,654
YouthLink Scotland	£490,724

Question reference: S4T-00501

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that local authorities are owed more than £3 million in rent as a result of the so-called bedroom tax.

Question reference: S4O-02555

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of South Lanarkshire College and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4O-02483

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met South Lanarkshire Council to discuss economic development.

Question reference: S4W-17277

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 2 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to reassure staff at NHS Lanarkshire who are concerned at proposed changes to the board's boundaries.

Question reference: S4W-17276

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 2 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what hospital departments have been under pressure due to high waiting times in each NHS board in the last three months.