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: S4T-01363

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what independent assessment has been carried out of the impact of reducing air passenger duty.

Question reference: S4W-30155

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the statutory basis for the creation of the National Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Data Centre and what legislation governs the (a) retention and (b) use of ANPR records.

Ministerial responsibility for the National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Data Centre (NADC) lies with the Home Secretary. Police Scotland has access to NADC and also shares data from its own network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras with NADC. ANPR information must be retained and used in compliance with all relevant legislation and procedures. The legislation that is relevant would depend on the particular circumstances, but the principal legislation relating to the retention and use of ANPR records in Scotland is the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000.

Question reference: S4W-29912

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-28457 by John Swinney on 2 December 2015, whether a privacy champion has now been appointed to the NHS Central Register Governance Board.

Question reference: S4W-30144

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason conditions in Cornton Vale prison identified in the 2010 HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland report had not been improved prior to the inspection reported in the 2015 report.

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

In the 2012 Follow Up Inspection of HMP and YOI Cornton Vale, the then inspector reported that there had been good progress in terms of night sanitation and access to toilets had improved. He noted that the arrangements were acceptable.

In the 2015 Inspection report, Mr Strang, the current inspector, reports that significant progress has been made since the earlier inspections [2009,2011,2012] and assesses that Cornton Vale is no longer in a state of crisis. The Inspector acknowledges the substantial investment in the prison in terms of the updated accommodation for women and the new family centre and help hub. He reports that the females feel safe and that relationships between staff and those in our care are positive and professional, adding that these relationships help form the basis of the caring atmosphere at HMP and YOI Cornton Vale.

Mr Strang also reported in his 2015 inspection that the arrangements for night sanitation are no longer appropriate. The recent announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice means that this will no longer be an issue by the end of summer 2016.

Question reference: S4W-30153

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) records are input into the UK-wide National ANPR Data Centre database and for what purpose.

Question reference: S4W-30151

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions data from automatic number plate recognition cameras has led to someone in Scotland being charged with an offence in each year since 2011-12, broken down by offence.

Question reference: S4W-30145

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the description of the conditions at Glasgow Sheriff Court in the recent HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland report on Cornton Vale prison; whether it plans to improve conditions at the court, and how it will ensure that similar conditions are not present at other courts.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that public services are high quality, continually improving, efficient and responsive to local people's needs.

The maintenance of court buildings is the responsibility of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) who are currently undertaking cell redecoration work in Glasgow Sheriff Court as part of a programme of planned maintenance, which is expected to be completed by the end of March 2016. SCTS will also write to the member with further details regarding the custody facilities at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Question reference: S4W-30148

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that Police Scotland might cancel its contract with Accenture to deliver its new operational policing IT system.

The i6 programme, which will deliver significant benefits across Police Scotland is currently under review between Police Scotland, Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Accenture.

Further work has been commissioned on a range of options for reconfiguring the programme and no decisions have yet been made on those options.

The issues identified were a result of the scrutiny applied by the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland and a robust contract that has held the supplier to account. The i6 Programme has been robustly managed by SPA; Audit Scotland has commented favourably on the contract management arrangements Police Scotland has in place for i6.

Question reference: S4W-30150

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many number plate records registered by automatic number plate recognition cameras are available to public bodies in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-30143

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-30070 by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2016, what its position is on the chief inspector’s comment in the HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland’s report on Cornton Vale prison that the issue with access to toilets "needs to be remedied immediately".

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

On 11 February 2016, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice announced plans to relocate more than half of the women from HMP and YOI Cornton Vale to suitable accommodation within HMYOI Polmont over the summer.

Project teams are already in place and work is underway to scope out the activities required and the various work streams to support the relocation of women to HMYOI Polmont.

This timescale allows appropriate planning to take place to ensure that there is a full regime of purposeful activities in place that will meet the women’s needs. There will also be a requirement to support the ongoing work to develop a trauma informed approach and ensure any gender specific changes to the environment within HMYOI Polmont are made.

Once the move to HMYOI Polmont is complete, all women remaining at HMP and YOI Cornton Vale will have access to appropriate night sanitation arrangements.