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-03682

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many inmates have been returned to prison by prisoner and custody escort services after "lights out" in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

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

Data is not routinely recorded regarding the time that individual prisoners return to the prison, and modern prisons do not have a “lights out” time. In the Court Custody and Prisoner Escort Services (CCPES) contract, a performance measure is recorded each time that a prisoner arrives after the time when the prison’s prisoner reception would ordinarily close. This time varies between establishments.

The following data shows the number of times this performance measure has been recorded, including instances of excusable failure as well as service provider failure.

Establishment	2013	2014	2015	2016 to 30-9-16	Grand Total
HMP Addiewell			1		1
HMP Barlinnie	9		2		11
HMP Castle Huntly		20			20
HMP Cornton Vale	3	3	1		7
HMP Edinburgh					0
HMP Glenochil		1	1		2
HMP & YOI Grampian			4		4
HMP Greenock		1			1
HMP Low Moss	2				2
HMP Perth		1	4		5
HMYOI Polmont	4		15		19
Grand Total	18	26	28	0	72

Question reference: S5W-03673

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the decision by the Scottish Police Authority to hire an interim chief financial officer via a service company; whether it is satisfied that this decision complies with the Scottish Public Finance Manual and for what reason, and whether it will publish all correspondence that it has had with the authority regarding the appointment.

Question reference: S5W-03441

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken was for a person to be transported by prisoner and custody escort services in each of the last three years, broken down by prison establishment.

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

The following table shows the average length of time from leaving the establishment to arriving at court. There is no data available for the duration of non-core service journeys from establishments.

Establishment	2013	2014	2015	2016
HMP Aberdeen	00:34:46	00:21:13
HMP Addiewell	00:55:18	01:07:25	00:58:59	01:09:52
HMP Barlinnie	00:38:54	00:48:56	00:44:50	00:57:06
HMP Castle Huntly	01:50:53	01:25:48	01:33:00	01:40:00
HMP & YOI Cornton Vale	01:34:43	01:34:44	01:21:47	01:36:48
HMP Dumfries	01:09:53	01:18:45	00:46:26	01:16:39
HMP Edinburgh	00:37:33	00:48:01	00:38:51	00:56:42
HMP Glenochil	01:06:39	01:15:49	01:08:24	01:08:35
HMP Grampian		01:19:31	01:07:46	01:16:43
HMP Greenock	01:19:56	01:11:54	01:00:39	01:17:56
HMP Inverness	00:48:15	00:51:48	00:50:38	01:01:58
HMP Kilmarnock	00:37:04	00:51:05	00:34:45	00:41:26
HMP Low Moss	01:01:20	01:08:39	00:59:52	01:08:42
HMP Perth	00:56:11	01:07:14	00:54:23	01:05:43
HMP Peterhead	01:13:59
HMP & YOI Polmont	01:25:56	01:35:20	01:30:44	01:37:21
HMP Shotts	00:57:12	01:13:50	00:59:02	01:15:42
Overall Average	00:54:36	01:04:54	00:57:04	01:08:21

Question reference: S5W-03440

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many journeys have been made by the prisoner and custody escort services in each of the last three years, broken down by prison establishment.

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

The following table shows the number of journeys for core and non-core services for the period from 1 April 2013 until 30 September 2016.

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

2016-2017

Establishment	Core	Non Core	Core	Non Core	Core	Non Core	Core	Non Core
Aberdeen	1348	157		1
Addiewell	4876	966	5093	1093	5228	1059	2336	575
Barlinnie	12195	1876	11554	2147	10606	2362	5489	1385
Castle Huntly	18	3983	31	4688	17	3769	8	1877
Cornton Vale	2763	605	2586	685	2345	751	853	283
Dumfries	582	293	616	263	614	335	246	151
Edinburgh	7008	1465	7367	1441	6657	1446	3048	820
Glenochil	764	1118	621	933	738	907	336	444
Grampian	80	17	2825	389	3317	472	1357	311
Greenock	994	734	1087	805	831	849	497	406
Inverness	1579	213	1420	196	1311	204	725	110
Kilmarnock	2630	660	2578	754	2658	824	1309	410
Low Moss	4717	827	4887	1008	4853	1306	2493	674
Perth	4945	1001	5464	1066	4940	1093	2407	636
Peterhead	193	108
Polmont	6525	696	6090	526	6356	695	3159	325
Shotts	355	1125	379	1103	431	993	160	426
TOTAL	51572	15844	52598	17098	50902	17065	24423	8833

While the core service is the escorting service to and from court, the non-core service covers various services such as inter-prison transfers and attendance at hospital appointments. For the core service, each separate journey is counted as one journey. Thus, the same person going to court, and then returning from court on the same day shows as 2 journeys. For non-core services, a return trip is counted as 1 journey.

Question reference: S5W-03442

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital and court appointments have been (a) delayed and (b) cancelled in each of the last three years due to problems with the provision of prisoner and custody escort services.

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

The contract contains a number of performance measures which capture instances of failure by the escort contractor. Due to the requirements of the contract, data is not captured which allows a specific response to both areas in question. The following tables show the data insofar as it can be gathered.

Delays to Court

The following table shows instances where a late arrival at court delayed proceedings. No data is held in relation to where any proceedings may have been cancelled.

	1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014	1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015	1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016	1 April 2016 - 31 August 2016
Late Arrival of a person at Court which delays the proceedings of the court	69	195	133	11

Delays to hospital Appointments

A hospital appointment is part of the non-core service delivery and the data is for all types of non-core services. These numbers relate to non-core events which resulted in: cancellation of the event/appointment; the person not appearing or participating in the event/appointment or the event/appointment being delayed awaiting the individual’s arrival.

	1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014	1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015	1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016	1 April 2016 - 31 August 2016
Late Arrival of a person for non-core services	8	14	14	4

The total number of movements within the contract for the period referred to in this question were 610,628 therefore delays to court proceedings and hospital appointments equate to 0.07% of the overall contract movements.

Question reference: S5W-03895

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when the outcome of its consultation on the minimum age of criminal responsibility will be published.

Question reference: S5W-03896

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing the recommendation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UK Children’s Commissioners to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

Question reference: S5W-03680

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03143 by Fergus Ewing on 5 October 2016, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding what minimum speed of broadband will be available by 2021.

Question reference: S5W-03443

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made with regard to prisoner and custody escort services in the last year.

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

The following table shows the number of complaints made in the past year. The total figure for each month include complaints from service users as well as public sector partners to the contract.

Month	Number of Complaints
Oct-15	56
Nov-15	35
Dec-15	44
Jan-16	18
Feb-16	68
Mar-16	18
Apr-16	45
May-16	23
Jun-16	41
Jul-16	29
Aug-16	49
Sep-16	38
Year Total	464

The total number of movements within the contract for the period referred to in this question were 158,049 therefore complaints regarding the contract for court custody and prisoner escort services in Scotland equate to 0.30% of the overall contract movements.

Question reference: S5W-03232

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the recommendations in the report, Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme: An independent assessment for the Scottish Parliament, what plans it has to (a) address insufficient data on progress made and (b) implement an effective monitoring regime and timetable of delivery across government directorates.

We will consider the areas highlighted in the report which recommend the need for further data on progress and work with stakeholders such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Planning Authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, National Health Service, Health Protection Scotland, Scottish business representatives and Scottish Water to improve these datasets.

The next Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, due in 2019, will take into account the recommendation to 'introduce an effective monitoring and evaluation regime, to allow the impact of actions and delivery of each objective to be fully assessed'. This work will be undertaken by Scottish Government in collaboration with a range of relevant stakeholders including ClimateXChange - Scotland's centre of climate change science expertise.