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: S6W-27832

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have been invited for their breast screening appointment outwith the 36-month round length standard, in each year since 2019.

The Scottish Breast Screening Programme Statistics 2022-23 published by PHS confirm that uptake of breast screening is at its highest level. This means that more women with breast cancer are diagnosed at an early stage when it is more easily treatable and survivable.

Secondary data from this report shows the following number of women seen from 37 months in the respective years.

Year	>37 months screening round
2019	61,091
2020	81,021
2021	188,081
2022	198,981
2023	138,120

The programme pause between March and August 2020, and the continued impacts of COVID-19, including the measures designed to control its spread, made it particularly challenging for the programme to run at full capacity. This resulted in a significant backlog. Screening organisations worked closely with the breast screening centres to increase the number of available appointments, including introducing more mobile units and extending opening hours.

Significant progress has been made on reducing the average round length, the interval between the date of a woman’s previous screening mammogram and the date of her next first offered appointment, as it has fallen from 41 months in 2021 to 37 months in the first quarter of 2024. We will continue to monitor progress and work with the organisations responsible for breast screening to ensure as many women are invited within 36 months (up to one day less than 37 months) as possible.

Question reference: S6W-27797

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what temporary facilities are available for critical policing facilities in the event that Police Scotland's Edinburgh Division Fettes headquarters are closed, and what assurances it can provide that any such facilities do not contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), unsafe cladding or any other unsafe materials.

The location of critical policing facilities is an operational decision for the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland is currently in discussions with a number of partners around possible locations in Edinburgh, to ensure it can continue to provide a policing service that meets the needs of communities across the city, in the event that the Divisional headquarters at Fettes are closed.

It is for Police Scotland to assure itself on the condition of its estate, and to ensure it meets all health and safety statutory requirements, to support the wellbeing of officers, staff and the public.

Question reference: S6W-27789

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which police stations in the (a) Lothian region and (b) Edinburgh Division area have been identified as containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Question reference: S6W-27459

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any legal advice that it has received regarding the potential for any action in the Scottish courts against (a) it and (b) Police Scotland resulting from any disclosure of a non-crime hate incident.

Question reference: S6W-27791

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has ever corresponded with the Divisional Commander of Police Scotland's Edinburgh Division regarding the operational distribution of officers.

Scottish Government ministers and officials liaise with Police Scotland officers of various ranks on a regular basis. I and accompanying officials met the then Divisional Commander for Edinburgh in August 2023 as part of a short visit to the joint Police Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council operation overseeing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The operational deployment of officers is however a matter for the Chief Constable. The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 is very clear on this point, and that Police Scotland is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly. These arrangements are in place to ensure public confidence that the police act independently, free from unwarranted Ministerial interference.

Question reference: S6W-27806

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ruth Charteris on 6 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of hate crime charges or hate crime aggravations have been recorded in Lothian region, to date, under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical purposes and the information within it is structured accordingly. Information provided is at date of extract and may therefore be subject to change as data and systems are updated for operational reasons.

From 1 April to 28 May 2024, 170 hate crime charges and 615 charges with one or more hate crime aggravations in terms of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 have been reported to COPFS for the whole of Scotland. The total, therefore, is 785 charges.

From 1 April to 28 May 2024, 33 hate crime charges and 98 charges with one or more hate crime aggravations in terms of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 have been reported to COPFS in the Lothian region. For the purposes of this answer, the ‘Lothian region’ been restricted to charges reported to COPFS from the Edinburgh and Livingston Sheriff Court Districts. The total 131 hate crime charges and aggravations for Lothian region represents 16.7% of the total for the whole of Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-03573

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will end the reported practice of children and young people being admitted to adult services for treatment, rather than an NHS specialist child and adolescent mental health ward.

Question reference: S6W-27656

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recently published Police Scotland interim guidance on the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), which states that a report would happen in "exceptional circumstances", what are defined as "exceptional circumstances" in which a party allegedly at fault in a reported incident could have their details recorded.

Question reference: S6W-27657

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 4 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government in what system Police Scotland is currently mandated to record non-crime hate incidents; whether this is a distinctly different system to the system for recording arrest records or formal charges, and, if this is not the case, whether there are strict Chinese wall protocols in place to mitigate the risk of deliberate or accidental disclosure.

Question reference: S6W-27425

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 4 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to any reports that it has received regarding the implementation of the new repairing standards on fire and electrical safety, whether it has been made aware of any adverse personal and/or professional circumstances that have resulted from the new standards.

In the course of correspondence that the Scottish Government receives from the public and professional bodies on a range of matters, a few of those correspondence has highlighted the challenges of meeting some of the obligations that have come into effect from March 2024. Scottish Government officials are in contact where that is the case to explain the obligations and provide further clarification as may be required.

There are no new Repairing Standard requirements on fire safety.