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: S4F-02354

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2014

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

Question reference: S4F-02337

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2014

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

Question reference: S4O-03611

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the reported 11% fall in employment of people of working age in Dundee between 2011-12 and 2013-14 has had on women and young people.

Question reference: S4T-00797

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Police Scotland’s decision not to make details of the cost of policing the Commonwealth Games public.

Question reference: S4W-22091

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what limits there are to the Chief Constable’s power to issue a Standing Authority for the issue and carriage of firearms, and whether the Chief Constable could command that every police officer should be armed while undertaking routine duties.

As I made clear during my statement to Parliament on 5 August 2014, it is not the Scottish Government’s policy to have a fully armed police force but we accept the need for a small number of specialist trained officers to support day to day police operations and respond to particular events.

While the Chief Constable has operational independence, under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, there are a number of checks and balances in place to ensure that citizens’ rights are protected, including statutory scrutiny roles for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS). In addition, the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing is able to scrutinise all aspects of policing.

Police Scotland carries out a review of the Standing Firearms Authority on a quarterly basis with the next review scheduled to take place in September 2014. The Chief Constable has confirmed that, as well as assessing the threat, risk and intelligence available to him, he will also take on board views and representations that have been made.

I welcome the announcement made on 14 August 2014 by HMICS and the SPA about their complementary reviews of Police Scotland’s Standing Firearms Authority. This work follows a commitment from Police Scotland for independent assessment of the decision process around standing authorities and also my announcement during my statement on 5 August 2014 that the Chief Constable will, in future, inform the SPA, the Parliament’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing and me if the number of officers with standing firearms authority routinely exceeds 2% of the total number of officers.

Question reference: S4W-22090

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding the Standing Firearms Authority.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the Chief Constable and other senior officers from Police Scotland on a wide range of policing issues. I last met with the Chief Constable on 22 July 2014 and most recently met with Deputy Chief Constable Livingston on 13 August 2014 when the issue of Police Scotland’s Standing Firearms Authority was discussed.

While the decision on the granting of a Standing Firearms Authority is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, I welcome the announcement made on 14 August 2014 by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority about their complementary reviews of the Standing Firearms Authority.

Question reference: S4W-22101

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prisoners and (b) prison staff or police officers have been (i) incapacitated and (ii) hospitalised due to the use of incapacitant spray in each prison and young offenders institution in each year since 2006-07.

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

‘‘Pelargonic acid vanillyamide (PAVA) incapacitant spray was deployed for the first time by the Scottish Prison Service as part of the incident management tactical response to an incident in May 2014 at Her Majesty’s Prison & Young Offenders Institution Grampian. Neither SPS staff nor members of Police Scotland were incapacitated by PAVA during the incident. A total of nine prisoners were incapacitated by PAVA spray, all of whom were provided with the appropriate aftercare. No hospital treatment was required for any individual affected by the deployment of the substance.’’

Question reference: S4W-22099

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what records are kept regarding the use of incapacitant spray in prisons and young offenders institutions.

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

‘‘Pelargonic acid vanillyamide (PAVA) spray is deployed in line with SPS incident management procedures which prompt the creation of risk assessments and authorisation forms for which records are maintained. Logs recording personnel, time of issue and the weight of PAVA canisters both on issue and return are also maintained and the PAVA support officer produces an incident report.’’

Question reference: S4W-22100

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions incapacitant spray has been used in each prison and young offenders institution in each year since 2006-07 and who authorised its use.

Question reference: S4W-22088

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the non-statutory stop and search of people under the age of 18 to be consistent with its obligations under Articles 3 and 16 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Scotland Act 1998 require police officers to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when carrying out their duties. The ECHR contains similar provisions to those found in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and while the ECHR is applicable to all, children also benefit from its protection. Carrying out searches of people under the age of 18 in a manner compatible with the ECHR should ensure that the principles of the UNCRC are respected.

The Scottish Government welcomes the establishment by Police Scotland of a new Children and Young Persons Reference Group in order to better understand the views of young people and other relevant stakeholders in relation to stop and search.

Properly targeted, intelligence-led use of stop and search is an important tool to enable the police to prevent and detect crime and to protect individuals and keep people safe.