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: S4W-26099

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 25 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-03981 by Annabelle Ewing on 4 February 2015 (Official Report, c. 10) how much it has invested in tackling the underrepresentation of disabled young people across its employability programmes in each year since 2011-12, also broken down by programme.

A number of our employability programmes support disabled young people. Specific support includes:

Community Jobs Scotland, which since 2013-14 has included 100 opportunities targeted for young people with disabilities or long-term health problems;

Targeted Employer Recruitment Incentive, which since 2012 has supported young people, including those with a disability with the transition into sustainable employment;

A £100,000 discretionary Additional Support Needs Access Fund was introduced as part of the Employability Fund in 2015.

In addition to existing programme provision the Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training recently announced the allocation of £500,000 to Skills Development Scotland (SDS) specifically to support the final development and early delivery of an equalities action plan. This work will establish a more accurate picture of disabled participation in the Modern Apprenticeship programme and allow SDS to work with key partners to ensure that our processes are fully inclusive.

Question reference: S4T-01079

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new women’s prison will comply with the recommendations of the Commission on Women Offenders.

Question reference: S4F-02897

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the finding by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research that in 2014-15 Police Scotland's use of stop and search remained "unduly high".

Question reference: S4W-26101

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much it expects to save through reform of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme and whether this will be reinvested into frontline enforcement activity.

The primary objective of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme review was to maximise the programme’s capability in contributing to casualty reductions, ensuring delivery of the most effective and efficient outcomes and that best use is being made of existing resources.

The grant funding available for the delivery of the programme will be maintained at current levels, and any efficiencies delivered through the review’s proposals, including structural savings through reductions in management costs, will be reinvested into frontline enforcement activity.

Question reference: S4W-26102

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 17 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of those recommendations of the Infant Cremation Commission for which it is responsible.

The Scottish Government has established the National Committee on Infant Cremation to ensure, through a combination of oversight and direct tasks, that the 64 recommendations from the Infant Cremation Commission are fully implemented in Scotland.

Recommendation 60 of the Infant Cremation Commission is that 'The National Committee should report to Scottish Ministers annually on progress against the recommendations made by this commission. That annual report should be published on the Scottish Government website.' The first such annual collated report will be submitted to Scottish Ministers and published on the website in the autumn of 2015. Additionally, however, regular updates on the committee's progress, including approved meeting minutes, an updated work plan and key outputs from its working groups are published on its dedicated webpages within the Scottish Government website, available here:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Policy/BurialsCremation/NCIC

The committee last met in 15 June 2015 where, amongst other matters, members welcomed the publication of a high level code of practice for all organisations involved in infant cremation and also the appointment of Robert Swanson QPM as the first holder of the statutory role of Inspector of Crematoria for Scotland.

In addition to implementing the 64 Commission recommendations, the Scottish Government also established Dame Elish Angiolini's National Cremation Investigation, which is working independently of Scottish Government to provide answers to bereaved parents outwith those already investigated as part of her Mortonhall Investigation. Information on the National Investigation is available here: http://www.gov.scot/About/Review/national-cremation-investigation.

Question reference: S4W-25901

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what average number of hours per week convicted prisoners have been engaged in purposeful activity (a) across the prison estate and (b) in each penal establishment, broken down by gender, in each year since 2012-13.

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

The Prison and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011, Rule 84 sets out the definition and range of activities that can be recorded as Purposeful Activity. This definition includes:-

Work; education of any kind, including physical education; counselling and rehabilitative programmes; vocational training and work placements outside the prison.

All convicted prisoners are required to work, and Prison Rules 82, 83 and 85 details the conditions under which prisoner type is required to work and the maximum number of hours and numbers of days that they must work, therefore based on these definitions, the average number of hours of purposeful activity per week per convicted prisoner broken down by (b) in each penal establishment and (a) in total across the prison estate, in each year since 2012-13 is recorded in the following table.

Unfortunately we do not record this information by gender, as HMP Greenock, HMP Edinburgh, HMP Grampian and HMP Inverness have or may have had female prisoners located in their establishment over the period in question, who contributed to the number of purposeful activity hours for their establishment.

HMP & YOI Cornton Vale is the only all-female establishment, whose purposeful activity hours can be accurately annotated as purposeful activity hours attributable to female prisoners.

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Establishment	average PA hours	average PA hours	average PA hours
Aberdeen (1)	27	27	n/a
Barlinnie	19	17	17
Cornton Vale	22	27	25
Dumfries	18	19	17
Edinburgh	15	15	17
Glenochil	19	22	23
Grampian (2)	n/a	n/a	32
Greenock	21	21	21
Inverness	18	21	23
Low Moss	28	34	32
Open Estate	23	22	21
Perth	16	18	22
Peterhead (3)	24	26	n/a
Polmont	16	18	20
Shotts	16	19	20
Average for SPS	20	22	22

(1) HMP Aberdeen closed on 6 December 2013

(2) HMP Grampian opened on 3 March 2014

(3) HMP Peterhead closed on 10 January 2014

The average number of hours per convicted prisoner is calculated by recording the number of hours attended for each establishment and dividing this by the average number of convicted prisoners that has been recorded as being in custody for each week for that establishment. This is then averaged over each calendar month and then averaged over the reporting year as reported.

Question reference: S4W-25900

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have been imprisoned at HMP Edinburgh in each year since 2011-12.

Question reference: S4W-25902

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to cease imprisoning women at HMP Edinburgh.

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

“There are currently no plans to cease the imprisonment of women in HMP Edinburgh. This establishment is currently the only secure facility for women in the east of Scotland and the advantages of closer proximity to the communities from which the women come is important to them – particularly in relation to visits. The prison has close links with local statutory and third sector partners – for example the Willow project and with the Shine mentoring service and these links work well for the women both during their sentence and on release.”

Question reference: S4W-25903

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how HMP Edinburgh has been adapted to accommodate female prisoners.

Question reference: S4O-04431

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve access to child and adolescent mental health services in North East Scotland.

Year	Average Women Population
2011	45
2012	108
2013	106
2014	94
2015*	78