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-24921

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to (a) investigate the potential for and (b) establish or maintain a facial recognition database for use by Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not provided any funding specifically for a facial recognition database.

Facial recognition is one element of the Police National Database services, the national information management system for police services across the UK to share intelligence to help prevent and detect crime to make communities safer.

Prior to the formation of Police Scotland in April 2013, the Scottish Government met the cost of the Police National Database services for legacy forces in Scotland. The costs are now met by Police Scotland directly to the Home Office, which is responsible for managing the system.

Question reference: S4W-24924

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have had their image taken by the police in each year since 2007, broken down by legacy force or division; how many were never (a) subsequently charged with and (b) convicted of an offence, and what information it has on what happened to the images.

Question reference: S4W-24922

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding police use of facial recognition technology.

Question reference: S4W-24916

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland maintains a database of images that it uses for facial recognition purposes.

Question reference: S4W-24855

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedules 4 and 5 and Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 2015 has the effect of extending the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament to include Section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 in respect of people aged 16 and 17 who are in prison.

The Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedules 4 and 5 and Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 2015 does not extend the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament to alter Section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. It therefore remains outwith legislative competence for the Scottish Parliament to make provision in respect of participation in elections for people of any age who are in prison in pursuance of a sentence.

Question reference: S4O-04082

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances it considers it appropriate for a guardianship order to be granted.

Question reference: S4F-02619

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to claims that its officials and Police Scotland sought to influence the content and publication of Kath Murray's PhD research into the use of stop and search.

Question reference: S4W-24135

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of public appointments made since 2007 went to (a) women, (b) people under 40, (c) people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, (d) disabled people and (e) LGBT people.

The numbers of public appointments, and the breakdown by the listed protected characteristics, are published in the annual reports of the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland (previously the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland), available at the following link:

http://www.publicappointments.org/publications/108/annual-reports

Due to a change in reporting, figures for 2013 cover the calendar year; figures for prior years cover the period 1 April to 31 March.

Figures for 2014 are currently being finalised.

Question reference: S4W-24132

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23099 by Alex Neil on 25 November 2014, how it is monitoring the success of its Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme and how this work has increased (a) the number of applications from and (b) representation of (i) people from minority ethnic backgrounds, (ii) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and (iii) women.

The progress of our Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme in relation to improving the diversity of ministerial appointments to the boards of Scotland’s public bodies is currently monitored through the tracking of applications received and appointments made. We also record the attrition rates of applicants from underrepresented groups, where possible, at different stages of the process.

The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, responsible for regulating the public appointments process in Scotland, carries out an annual applicant survey and is currently undertaking a thematic review of appointment rounds carried out under the 2013 Code of Practice. We will use this qualitative feedback to complement the data gathered through our systems to inform future action to further improve diversity.

The main focus of the programme is gender initially. We are, however, monitoring data and looking for specific opportunities to improve representation of underrepresented groups through the overall programme.

We will be publishing baseline information in the next few months of 2015, which will be followed by an annual progress reporting cycle. Using the powers we currently have, we will amend the Scottish Specific Duties Regulations to impose a new duty on public bodies to publish the composition of their boards, produce an action plan to increase diversity and gender balance on their boards and to publicly report on progress.

Question reference: S4O-03981

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve access to modern apprenticeships for disabled young people.