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-24588

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) paragraphs or (b) sections of the Scottish Ferries Services: Ferries Plan (2013-2022) will form the basis of the 2016 to 2024 contract for Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services.

Question reference: S4W-24584

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the estimated value of the contract for a harbour operating agreement on Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services from 2016 to 2024 in terms of (a) contract payments, (b) vessel and infrastructure investment and (c) total annual public subsidy paid by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd to the successful bidder.

Information on contract payments, vessel and infrastructure investment, and annual public subsidy will form part of tender submissions and considerations. In order not to prejudice bids, this information is considered commercially sensitive until baseline figures for vessel and infrastructure investment are included in the invitation to tender documentation.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd. does not provide public subsidy to the operator.

Question reference: S4W-24655

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on how many instances involving children under 16 police officers have (a) drawn and (b) discharged a Taser in each of the last three years.

The recording of this information is a matter for Police Scotland. The Chief Constable must refer any incident where a firearm has been used (including handguns, Tasers and CS Sprays) to the independent Police Investigations and Review Commissioner who will assess the incident and may investigate. The commissioner has confirmed that there has been one instance where a Taser has been discharged against a child under the age of 16 since 1 April 2013. In that investigation, the commissioner found Police Scotland’s use to be proportionate and justified.

Question reference: S4W-24582

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of translators in Mandarin in the civil or criminal justice court system.

Question reference: S4W-24580

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place to ensure that the civil or criminal justice court system does not place at a disadvantage people who do not have a sufficient understanding of English.

Where a person is the subject of criminal proceedings, interpretation and translation assistance is statutorily required by the Right to Interpretation and Translation in Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Regulations 2014. The court hearing those proceedings must take all reasonable steps to determine whether the person requires interpretation or translation assistance. Where the court determines that a person requires such assistance it must ensure that arrangements are made for the person to be provided it.

The Regulations may be found at:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/95/contents/made

In the case of civil proceedings, ordinarily this would be a matter for the parties, with payment becoming an expense in the cause. However, I am advised by the Scottish Court Service that, as an exception, it will provide and pay for an interpreter in civil proceedings where a party requiring these services is unrepresented.

Question reference: S4W-24581

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether people accessing the civil or criminal justice court system who require a translator have equal access to such a service regardless of location, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-24412

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency regarding the reported increase in marine mammal strandings off the west coast and the factors that might have contributed to these.

Question reference: S4W-24411

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has had discussions with the Ministry of Defence regarding whether military traffic levels have contributed to the reported increase of marine mammal strandings off the west coast.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has no role in relation to marine mammal strandings. We are not aware of any discussions between them and the Ministry of Defence.

The Scottish Government does however fund the Scottish Rural College in Inverness to investigate marine mammal strandings around Scotland. During December 2014 and January 2015 they recorded five strandings of Cuvier’s Beaked Whale on the west coast of Scotland during. It was however not possible to determine the cause of death in any of these cases due to the advanced state of decomposition of the carcasses, which meant that any further investigation would have been inconclusive.

Question reference: S4O-04045

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much compensation was paid out by Police Scotland and its predecessor service in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S4W-24305

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Pentland on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S4O-03697 by David Stewart on 13 November 2014 (Official Report, c.33), whether it has now received a response from the trustees of the pension scheme and, if so, whether it will publish this.