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-26181

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines or repayments have been imposed for the alleged misuse of Air Discount Scheme (ADS) membership cards in each of the last five years, also broken down by how many times the difference between the full price and the ADS fare has been sought as a penalty.

Question reference: S5W-26182

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out into the effectiveness of current arrangements for ensuring that address and contact details for Air Discount Scheme members are kept up to date.

It is a requirement under the terms and conditions of the scheme for members to inform us if they change address. Whenever a member phones the ADS Admin Team they are asked to confirm their address. If we receive an application from an address where someone with a different surname is already registered we write to that member asking if they are still living at that address. If we receive no response then the member is removed from the system. When the scheme is renewed, we write to all scheme members. Where letters are returned marked that the addressee has gone away, they are removed from the system. We are content that these arrangements are effective.

Question reference: S5W-26045

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the occupancy rate is of the separation and reintegration units operational in Scottish prisons, broken down by institution.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

On 30 October 2019 there were 121 people in our care temporarily residing in SPS’ Separation and Reintegration Units (SRUs).

Prison	SRU Capacity	Population	Percentage Capacity
Addiewell	11	11	100%
Barlinnie	15	12	80%
Cornton Vale	4	4	100%
Edinburgh	14	12	86%
Glenochil	14	11	78%
Grampian	10	9	90%
Inverness	2	2	100%
Kilmarnock	14	14	100%
Low Moss	12	11	92%
Perth	14	13	93%
Polmont	12	8	66%
Shotts	14	14	100%
Total	136	121	89%

There are no SRUs at HMP Castle Huntly, HMP Dumfries or HMP Greenock.

Question reference: S5O-03775

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Destination Orkney and Orkney Islands Council about the future needs of the tourism sector.

Question reference: S5W-26049

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how frequently it believes that inmates of Scottish prisons spend “22 to 23 hours per day in their cells”, as reported by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

This quote from the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) report was made specifically in relation to HMP Barlinnie, not the wider SPS estate.

On Friday 1 November 2019 HMP Barlinnie was operating at 144% capacity. HMP Barlinnie has been routinely operating significantly above its intended capacity for some time and this has had a notable impact upon the operation of the prison.

Where any prison routinely operates above capacity then this inevitably impacts upon the ability to provide an enhanced regime across. HMP Barlinnie’s building design also inhibits open association and in order to ensure the safety of people in our care, out of cell activity requires `more structured delivery than at other prisons.

The CPT report highlighted that in the other prisons they visited, including HMP Edinburgh and HMP & YOI Grampian, people held on remand were provided the opportunity for out of cell activity which exceeded two hours per day.

In 2018/19 SPS facilitated a total of 6,258,125 Purposeful Activity (PA) Hours. This equates to, on average, 20 hours per week of PA, undertaken by each convicted person outside of their cell.

Question reference: S5W-26135

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether its development of an interactive data hub to measure the fairness of delivery pricing in rural areas is expected to commence before 2020 and, if not, by what date it will do so.

Fairer Deliveries For All: An Action Plan sets out eight clear actions designed to tackle longstanding issues surrounding parcel deliveries, with particular regard to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

As part of the Action Plan, the Scottish Government committed to publishing an annual review setting out progress made on each of the actions. It was anticipated that this review would be published in November 2019. However, the Scottish Government has taken the decision to postpone this publication and associated announcements until early 2020 on account of next month’s General Election, and the restrictions that apply to it during the pre-election period. A full update will therefore be published early next year.

Question reference: S5W-26138

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made since January 2019 regarding postcode accuracy for parcel deliveries in rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-26136

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date its fair delivery charges map for parcels will be launched.

Question reference: S5W-26137

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support its Statement of Principles for Parcel Deliveries by retailers.

Question reference: S5W-26057

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest time spent on remand by individuals was in in each year since 2014-15.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information at present. As stated in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data captured by the operational database (as well as the range of historical data held) and making more data and information accessible to users. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Year	Number of members	Amount reclaimed (£)
2014-15	113	6,509.60
2015-16	178	11,436.89
2016-17	182	15,282.30
2017-18	198	13,766.36
2018-19	217	18,375.57