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: S5W-27570

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26056 by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019, when it was established that there was a data gap, and when it expects the new platform to be live.

The data gap initially arose due to technological difficulties when the Scottish Government server was upgraded in 2014. Scottish Government analysts agreed with the Scottish Prison Service that SPS would provide public information on the prison population regularly to fill the gap in provision.

SPS use an management information system, PR2, in their day-to-day operations. They publish aggregate statistics on the population annually, providing key information on the age, gender and legal status of the population on their website. The information available in these aggregate statistics is limited to the attributes defined when it was instituted, and as a result is not as flexible as the previous system.

SPS also provide a weekly snapshot from PR2, giving the most up-to-date version of similar information, on their website.

The Scottish Government recently pre-announced the publication of statistics on the prison population in May 2020. This collection is a derived longitudinal dataset, constructed from available legacy information on PR2. It does not rely on the daily snapshots from which the previous Official Statistics source was built. This publication will include a range of information not previously available, including detailed age groups, equalities group characteristics, and durations in residence for the prison population.

Question reference: S5W-27325

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26057 by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019, by what date the shared operational database will go live, and what data it will include.

Justice Analytical Services (JAS) has been working closely with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to deliver a shared approach for the dissemination of statistical information collected by their prisoner management information system, PR2.

Following a meeting between JAS and SPS on Thursday, 13th February 2020, a plan to develop and improve the statistical information published about prisons in Scotland has been agreed. A number of key operational indicators are under consideration for scheduled publication by SPS. This list will be agreed as standardised statistical processes and quality assurance protocols are mainstreamed, beginning with improved regular bulletins on deaths in custody.

A detailed longitudinal dataset is in development by JAS. The publication of these statistics has been pre-announced for May 2020 and will include demographic, geographic and equalities characteristics for prisoners in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-27534

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has been a delay to publishing updates on the prison population, and when up-to-date figures will be resumed.

There had been a temporary delay to publishing weekly figures based on live and aggregated management information due to temporary resourcing issues at the SPS, however this has now been addressed and weekly publication has resumed and is up-to-date.

In addition, the Scottish Government recently pre-announced the publication of statistics on the prison population in May 2020. This will include more detailed information about the characteristics, legal statuses and offences of prisoners, which are not available through the weekly or annual digests produced by SPS.

Question reference: S5W-27454

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to meet the objective in the Flood Risk Management Plan for Orkney to (a) reduce the overall flood and (b) avoid an overall increase in flood risk, and how it has measured the effectiveness of any action taken.

Question reference: S5W-27453

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support the Flood Risk Management Plan for Orkney.

The Scottish Government undertakes a range of actions to support the Flood Risk Management Plan for Orkney and help meet the objectives set out within it. These include ensuring that national polices and guidance are in place to help reduce and avoid flooding.

The Scottish Government provides capital and revenue funding to local authorities to fulfil their flood risk management functions. Local authorities receive £42 million annually through the Local Government Capital Settlement. This agreed funding enables local authorities to invest in measures to reduce flood risk set out in Local Flood Risk Management Plans. For example, the Kirkwall Flood Protection Scheme, launched in 2018 and protecting around 750 properties, received 80% of its costs from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government provides funding to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to support its role as Scotland’s national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management authority. This funding helped deliver the Orkney Flood Warning Scheme in September 2018.

Funding is also provided to the Scottish Flood Forum to provide advice and support to individuals, communities and businesses at risk of flooding.

Progress on the actions and objectives in each Local Flood Risk Management Plan is set out in interim and final reports which must be produced by the 14 Lead Local Authorities by June 2019 and June 2022, respectively.

Question reference: S5O-04237

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on preparations for a ministerial visit to Orkney to view the impact of resident greylag geese on farmland and crops.

Question reference: S5W-27455

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish an updated National Flood Risk Assessment in partnership with SEPA.

Question reference: S5W-27568

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to upgrade each control tower in the Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) network.

As set out in the Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy Programme Business Case, the estimated cost of deploying surveillance equipment at each airport is £19.8 million. This does not, however, include the cost of refurbishment / replacement of the existing towers, all of which are reaching the end of their economic life. It also does not include the cost of the significant increase in staff that would be required if this option had been pursued. These costs were not calculated as this option was, after careful consideration, discounted due to it failing to meet the overall requirements of the ATMS. This option would not address the staff recruitment and retention issue that HIAL is facing, in fact it would exacerbate it.

Question reference: S5W-27430

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects Highlands and Islands Airports Limited to have (a) commenced and (b) completed the rollout of the Combined Surveillance Centre.

Question reference: S5W-27428

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of recruitment forecasts for air traffic controllers in airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, and whether it has received any information and assurances about recruitment and retention under the new Air Traffic Management Strategy.

HIAL continues to find recruitment of air traffic controllers challenging with a number of airports under complement. While HIAL are managing this situation in order to avoid, where possible, any impact on services, the lack of resilience this provides is not sustainable in the longer term. By moving to a Centralised Surveillance Centre under the Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy, HIAL will be able to improve resilience through having a larger number of controllers to call upon to cover staff absences. A recruitment campaign for a minimum of nine controllers to help staff the first phase will be underway shortly.