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-29531

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to (a) complete and (b) submit its report into the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell in July 2015, and when it will publish its response to the commissioner.

Question reference: S4W-29527

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29322 by Michael Matheson on 27 January 2016, whether it will provide a full breakdown of the orders that are available to the Crown Office.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29322 on 27 January 2016. The court can make the following orders in relation to a person convicted of being involved in organized crime:

Confiscation order – an order requiring a person convicted of a criminal offence(s) to pay a sum of money representing their benefit from crime. Confiscation procedures are mandatory and the court must go through them when asked to do so by the prosecutor.

Restraint order – an order prohibiting a specific individual from dealing with any property that he or she holds which may be realized to pay any subsequent confiscation order, and can be made against the person accused, under investigation or any other person holding realizable property.

Compliance order – this order will come into force on 1 March 2016 by virtue of Scottish Statutory Instrument 2016-11. It is an order made by the court to ensure the payment of a confiscation order.

Financial reporting order (FRO) – an order that requires the individual to set out particulars of their financial affairs as specified by the order. The FRO regime will be subsumed into the SCPO as of 1 March 2016.

Serious crime prevention order (SCPO) – a civil order that allows the court to impose conditions or restrictions on an individual's movements and transactions to prevent their involvement in organized crime and to protect the public. It is expected that SCPOs will come into force in Scotland on 1 March 2016 subject to provisions in the Serious Crime Act 2015 being commenced by the Home Secretary on that date.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-29530

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland QC on 8 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Lord Advocate has had with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner regarding the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell in July 2015.

Question reference: S4W-29469

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 3 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been changes to the funding arrangements for Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive and, if so, whether this relates to EU funding.

Question reference: S4W-29321

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many Orders for Lifelong Restriction have been issued since they were introduced.

Question reference: S4O-05506

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the effect of the reduction in fuel poverty and energy efficiency funding in the Draft Budget 2016-17 on its ability to meet its statutory fuel poverty and housing climate change targets.

Question reference: S4W-29322

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are available to Scottish courts to monitor the finances of someone convicted of being involved in organised crime.

Question reference: S4W-29270

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many illegal drug seizures there were in prisons between 1999 and 2015, broken down by drug classification; how many were reported to the police, and how many convictions there were.

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

“The following table illustrates the number of drug finds recorded each financial year from April 2001; suspected substances recovered are believed to include: heroin, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and miscellaneous tablets. However, all substances recovered within Scottish prisons are transferred to Police Scotland for further investigation or disposal as appropriate; the SPS are seldom made aware of any outcome. The SPS did not hold incident information prior to this date.”

Year	Total Number of Drug Finds
2001-02	1,043
2002-03	1,109
2003-04	1,278
2004-05	1,520
2005-06	1,987
2006-07	1,768
2007-08	1,729
2008-09	1,814
2009-10	1,865
2010-11	2,062
2011-12	1,755
2012-13	1,702
2013-14	1,943
2014-15	1,784
2015-16	1,584

Question reference: S4W-29250

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many punishments have been imposed on prisoners in each prison in each year since 1999, also broken down by punishment.

Question reference: S4W-28958

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-28751 by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2015, how many Scottish Prison Service staff have been employed in the qualified instructor group in each year since 2011, broken down by prison.

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

“I refer to the responses to S4W-28746 and S4W-28750 where the number of staff employed in the qualified instructor group in each year since 2011, broken down by prison was given.

Qualified instructors are defined as individuals employed by the SPS either in the role of civilian instructor or officer instructor whose duties are associated with the delivery of activities which engage prisoners in work based activity. Providing instruction and guidance in relation to performing tasks while maintaining control and discipline within the environment.”

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.