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-05262

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what contingencies it has if the Scottish people vote against independence.

The Scottish Government set out its proposals for the referendum to be held in Autumn 2014 in Your Scotland, Your Referendum. As part of the process the Government will set out full details of its prospectus to the people of Scotland in a comprehensive white paper on independence in November 2013. The people of Scotland will make the decision about Scotland’s future and the Government is confident that they will choose independence.

Question reference: S4W-05263

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, if Scotland becomes independent, whether it will subsequently be possible to rejoin the United Kingdom if a majority of the Scottish people demands it.

Question reference: S4W-05136

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it is proposing to abolish prison visiting committees.

Question reference: S4W-05138

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to tackle possible increases in human trafficking to Scotland that might arise from the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the police and other law enforcement agencies on security planning for the London 2012 Olympics and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Intelligence gathering mechanisms are in place and being monitored continually. There is currently no intelligence to indicate that human trafficking will be an issue for Scotland from either games. However, should the current intelligence position change or any instances of human trafficking arise, partner agencies will co-ordinate positive enforcement action and provide support to victims.

Question reference: S4O-00649

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what support has been provided to help employees of Remploy find alternative employment.

Question reference: S4W-04967

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 20 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the commissioning dates were for each of the 330 school building or renovation projects completed in the last parliamentary session.

Question reference: S4W-04386

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is transferring (a) short and (b) long-term prisoners from HMP Barlinnie in order to reduce overcrowding and, if so, whether it is considering taking action to speed up this process.

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

The current level of overcrowding in Scottish Prisons requires the SPS to monitor occupancy levels across all prisons daily. Where particular pressure requires action, the SPS looks to distribute the population across the estate in a balanced manner which takes account of operational pressures and the prisoner population profile. The opening of HMP Low Moss in March 2012 is expected to alleviate the current numbers pressures across the estate and reduce the overcrowding level in
HMP Barlinnie.

Question reference: S4W-04390

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to fund improvements to the reception area at HMP Barlinnie.

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

This was one of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons recommendations in his generally very favourable Inspection Report following his inspection of Barlinnie in May 2011.

The Chief Inspector recommended that a new reception facility for prisoners should be created given as he said the poor physical conditions and the large number of prisoner movements at Barlinnie. Whilst SPS accepts that the position in the reception area is far from ideal, the opening of Low Moss in 2012 will help to alleviate some of issues identified and our view is that there are other higher priority areas for investment within Barlinnie to which resources should be directed.

The Chief inspector also recommended that in the light of the opening of HMP Low Moss, SPS should review the long-term future of HMP Barlinnie and then plan and implement the re-development of the prison as soon as possible. We have committed to taking forward work to plan the replacement of HMP Barlinnie facilities beyond the current spending review period.

Question reference: S4W-04388

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on reports that 70.4% of prisoners at HMP Barlinnie do not have access to vocational or educational classes and whether it considers that this contributes to 42.4% prisoners from that establishment re-offending within two years of release.

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

A significant number of Barlinnie’s prisoner population (around one-third) includes remand prisoners who are not legally obliged to undertake work or participate in vocational or educational classes and this has an impact on the numbers of prisoners undertaking purposeful activity at any one time.

However, most sentenced prisoners in Barlinnie do take part in some form of purposeful activity during the day. While it is not possible to say whether there is a direct correlation between the number of prisoners in Barlinnie undertaking purposeful activity and the reconviction rate mentioned, the Scottish Prison Service has repeatedly said we are limited in what we can do with prisoners serving very short sentences, of which Barlinnie houses significant numbers, given the current overall high prison population.

Question reference: S4W-04389

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to reduce the number of remand prisoners.