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-04835

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to civilian staff working in Police Scotland control rooms, in light of reports that a third of them took long-term sick leave during 2015-16.

Question reference: S5W-04786

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted each year under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The number of people prosecuted and convicted in Scotland under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is shown in the following table

People prosecuted under Computer Misuse Act 1990¹, 2007-08 to 2014-15

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 3	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 1	1	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
All	2	1	2	1	2	-	1	-
1. Where main offence.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

People convicted under Computer Misuse Act 1990¹, 2010-11 to 2014-15

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 3	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-
COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 1990 SECTION 1	1	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
All	2	1	2	1	2	-	1	-
1. Where main offence.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

Question reference: S5W-04598

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its Public Wireless Programme investment by local authority area.

The Scottish Government launched its Public Wireless Programme in August 2015 with a remit to engage and collaborate with Scottish public bodies to develop best practice guidance on deploying wireless connectivity as well as making investment available for new infrastructure in the form of grants.

During 2015-16, just under £1 million in grants were committed. This enabled local authorities across Scotland to modernise and extend existing Wi-Fi provision in public places like libraries but also to introduce services in other publicly accessible buildings such as sports facilities and community centres. Applicants were asked to demonstrate how proposals would underpin digital participation initiatives. All 32 local authorities were invited to bid.

The following table summarises the successful applications.

LOCAL AUTHORITY	GRANT AWARDED (£)
Aberdeen City	57000
Aberdeenshire	39781
City of Edinburgh	267611
Dumfries and Galloway	4500
East Ayrshire	81244
East Renfrewshire	3700
Falkirk	27603
Fife	8600
Glasgow	92736
Midlothian	30300
North Ayrshire	40000
North Lanarkshire	40000
Orkney	6000
Perth & Kinross	45805
Renfrewshire	68873
South Lanarkshire	38000
Stirling	37336
West Lothian	39768

Question reference: S5W-04781

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding introducing legislation to update the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The Scottish Government (SG) had discussions with the UK Government during 2014-15 regarding amendments to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA 1990) which were introduced under the UK Government’s Serious Crime Act 2015.

SG liaised with the UK Home Office on the development of the draft clauses for the amendments to the CMA 1990, as it was proposed for such amendments to extend to Scotland and so the discussions were to ensure there would be no unintended implications for Scotland.

On 6 January 2015, the Scottish Parliament agreed to Legislative Consent Motion S4M-11986 for the Serious Crime Bill, the Bill which became the Serious Crime Act 2015.

Question reference: S5W-04782

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02697 by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2016, whether it will provide a breakdown of the amount provided each year expressed in real terms.

Question reference: S5W-04785

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for (i) cyber-enabled crimes (fraud and theft) and (ii) cybercrimes there have been in each year since 2010-11.

Question reference: S5W-04784

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) cyber-enabled crimes (fraud and theft) and (b) cybercrimes have been reported in each year since 2010-11.

Question reference: S5W-04752

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of alcohol licence applications being lodged by online distributors that can distribute across the UK, what its position is on how locally-led licensing regimes can respond to online sales.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 makes provision for the licensing of premises in Scotland where alcohol is sold remotely, for example, by means of telephone, fax or internet and despatched from Scottish premises.

For internet sales a premises licence is required for the premises from which alcohol is specifically selected for and despatched to the purchaser, such as a warehouse.

The application for a licence is made to the appropriate licensing board where the premises is located. It is therefore for individual licensing boards to consider any applications for a new licence whether relating to online sales or not, in line with the existing legislation.

Question reference: S5T-00217

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the Chinese company, SinoFortone, is willing to reopen investment discussions, what steps it will take to ensure that any investment is transparent.

Question reference: S5W-04837

Current Status: Withdrawn