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: S5W-20482

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how “catfishing” could be appropriately punished as a crime.

While there is no specific criminal offence of ‘catfishing’, there are a number of offences that may be used to prosecute someone who engages in the practice of ‘catfishing’, depending on the individual facts and circumstances of each case.

For example, our criminal law of fraud may offer protection to victims who have been induced by a ‘catfisher’ to do something they would not otherwise have done for a practical result, as a consequence of the false pretence of ‘catfisher.’

More generally, there are a number of offences which can be used to prosecute someone who engages in bullying, harassment or predatory behaviour, which may be associated with ‘catfishing.’ These include the offence of ‘threatening or abusive behaviour’ under section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 and the offence of ‘improper use of public electronic communications network’ under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Where someone uses the internet to send unwanted sexual communications, this may be prosecuted using the offences of communicating indecently or coercing a person to view a sexual image, by virtue of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S5W-20481

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make “catfishing” illegal.

We will monitor the effectiveness of legislation on an on-going basis in conjunction with criminal justice partners.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-20478

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to protect children and adults from being “catfished”.

Question reference: S5W-20480

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has undertaken on how “catfishing” takes place.

Question reference: S5W-20479

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update the Child Protection Improvement Programme to include strategies to prevent children from being victims of “catfishing”.

Question reference: S5O-02754

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to ensure that all public bodies are fulfilling their public sector equality duty with regard specifically to the protected characteristic of “sex” as represented in the Equality Act 2010.

Question reference: S5F-02907

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2018

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the outcome of the recent European Council summit.

Question reference: S5O-02684

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the financial implications would be for the NHS in Scotland of a no deal Brexit.

The ongoing uncertainty around the UK’s departure from the EU continues to constrain our ability to fully assess the potential cost implications to NHS Scotland. Indeed the Chancellor of the Exchequer has raised the prospect of a new UK Budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Current analysis by the Bank of England shows that a no-deal scenario could potentially reduce UK GDP by up to 10.5% by the end of 2023. It is more important than ever, therefore, that we are not faced with a false choice between a bad deal and no deal.

Question reference: S5W-19769

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the UK Government has engaged with it regarding its reported plan to keep the whole of the UK in a temporary customs union.

The UK Government has not engaged with the Scottish Government in regards to the reported plan to seek a UK-wide temporary customs union as part of withdrawal negotiations.

The Scottish Government put forward compromise proposals in Scotland’s Place in Europe in December 2016 that would keep Scotland and the UK in the Single Market and Customs Union. We have been frustrated by the quality of engagement from the UK Government on these proposals, and on EU exit more broadly, despite commitments to the full involvement of the devolved administrations as set out in the terms of reference for the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations.

Question reference: S5O-02540

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the Rural Parliament, which is being held in Stranraer.