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-07272

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06417 by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2017, in how many cases a court decision was made to prevent a young offender on remand to be held overnight in an adult prison in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S5W-07273

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06417 by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2017, whether the reasons that young offenders on remand are held in a prison overnight are (a) statutory or (b) non-statutory; under what circumstances young offenders are on remand in prisons; whether there has been a policy or guideline change in this regard since 2010 and, if so, what the reason for this change was.

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

Young people remanded to SPS custody can legally be held in either a prison or Young Offenders Institution (YOI). In recent years SPS has taken the policy decision to locate all young people on remand in a YOI rather than Prison. There may be occasions when SPS will locate a young person in a prison, for a temporary purpose, such as for during court proceedings, where daily travel arrangements to and from a YOI would be challenging or exhausting.

The change in SPS Policy recognised the vulnerability and significant care requirements of young people remanded to our care, in particular those aged 17 and 18. SPS believes that their needs in terms of regime and accommodation can be better met in a YOI.

Question reference: S5W-07275

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06417 by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2017, how many young offenders on remand have been placed in each prison since 2010, broken down by those being held for (a) up to one night, (b) two to three nights, (c) four to five nights and (d) six or more nights.

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

This information is not readily available on our electronic Prisoner Records System and requires significant resource time to extract this data. Given the quantity of prisoner movements involved in this enquiry, this response covers the 5 year period 2013 to 2017 in the following table.

	2013				2014				2015	2016	2017
	1nt	2-3nt	4-5nt	6+nt	1nt	2-3nt	4-5nt	6+nt	1nt	1nt	1nt
Aberdeen	2	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Addiewell	8	5	6	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	7	0
Greenock	4	4	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inverness	0	4	1	5	1	3	2	1	5	6	2
Perth	2	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Totals	16	19	14	44	1	3	2	1	11	13	2

Question reference: S5W-07642

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions and correspondence it has had with local authorities in the last six months regarding tackling fuel poverty; what agreements were reached, and whether it will publish any correspondence and minutes of meetings on this issue.

The Minister for Local Government and Communities attended the COSLA Housing Convenors Conference on 13 December where, as part of a wide ranging discussion, tackling fuel poverty was discussed.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with COSLA and Local Authorities to discuss fuel poverty and our programmes. Officials met with COSLA on 20 January and 21 September, no formal record of these meetings was taken. COSLA are also represented on our Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme Board which met on
5 September and 14 December and tackling fuel poverty is sometimes discussed at these. A note of these meetings is taken but not published. Minutes can be made available on request if needed.

Officials met with Local Authority officers working on energy efficiency on
12 September. These events are not minuted.

Local Authorities are also represented on the Fuel Poverty Forum which last met on 15 December. The minutes of the December 2016 meeting will be published following sign off by members at the next scheduled meeting on 20 April. Minutes of 2016 meetings are published via the following link

https://beta.gov.scot/groups/fuel-poverty-forum/

The Scottish Government’s consultation on Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme runs until 30 May 2017 and the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies, and Regulation of District Heating is open until 18 April 2018. A series of workshops and events have been held to support this and numerous local authorities have been involved. Tackling fuel poverty has been discussed at these sessions but no minutes have been taken.

Question reference: S5W-07701

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement in the publication, On Board: A Guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland, that the "Chief Executive of the public body is employed and appointed by the Board (with approval of Scottish Ministers)", whether it considers that the recommendation in Professor Crerar's report, Proposals on Governance and the Creation of a Strategic Board, that ministers should appoint members to the proposed Strategic Board, as well as agency chairs, (a) will have an impact on the autonomy of the agencies and (b) is consistent with the guide.

The Scottish Government is considering the detail of the proposals outlined by Professor Crerar, the views of the Ministerial Review Group and wider interests in taking forward the development of the Strategic Board. In line with “On Board” guidance, we have confirmed that individual Agencies will continue to employ and appoint Chief Executives to undertake their formal responsibilities in delivering the functions of the agencies. The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work has committed to make a statement to Parliament in the coming weeks.

Question reference: S5W-07703

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement in the publication, On Board: A Guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland, that it is the responsibility of boards to participate "in shared services and/or collaborative service delivery arrangements", what its position is on boards having the right to refuse to participate in collaborative service delivery arrangements if they deem them to be damaging to their own roles and responsibilities.

Question reference: S5W-07702

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement in the publication, On Board: A Guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland, that, if a board member fundamentally disagrees "with the decision taken by the Board, they have the option of recording their concerns in the minutes", what its position is on this practice being followed during Scottish Police Authority meetings.

Question reference: S5W-07779

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a list of the members of the rural economy hub and the minutes of any meetings.

Question reference: S5W-07232

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02951 by Fergus Ewing on 3 October 2016, whether it will publish the findings of its analysis, and what subsequent steps it has taken.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting food and drink producers from across Scotland, including those located across the islands and regions. The industry leadership body, Scotland Food and Drink, has recently facilitated an extensive engagement exercise with businesses across Scotland to help inform the development of a new national food and drink strategy - as part of that, ideas were sought on actions to further promote island and regional produce. The new strategy will be published soon and, when it is, we will set out our plans for further supporting the industry.

Question reference: S5W-07274

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06417 by Michael Matheson on 3 February 2017, what alternative locations there are to prisons for young offenders on remand to be held overnight.

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

Other than a prison, young people on remand can be held overnight in a Young Offenders Institution or a Legalised Police Cell (LPC). A LPC would only be used in exceptional circumstances where, for example, severe weather conditions impeded a return to the mainland from the Outer Hebrides.