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-09714

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07442 by Annabelle Ewing on 13 March 2017, for what reason (a) it and (b) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service does not hold information on the faith group, gender, race, or country of origin of victims of racist or religious hate crime, and what its position is on collecting such information when implementing the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Government’s statistics on court proceedings are derived from IT systems designed to facilitate operational needs of reporting crime and prosecuting individuals. These systems were not primarily designed for the reporting of the characteristics of victims of hate crime.

Dr Morrow’s independent advisory group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion reported in September 2016 and recommended that the SG works with partners to improve the monitoring and data collection in relation to hate crime, and to develop methods to include qualitative indices of improvement in community cohesion for minorities.

We are currently working with Police Scotland as they develop the data they hold on their Vulnerable Persons Database with a view to producing new analysis on police recorded Hate Incidents (which would include incidents with a race or religious element). We anticipate a further update for users on the development of this work later in the year.

Question reference: S5W-09713

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07442 by Annabelle Ewing on 13 March 2017, whether it is possible to gather information on racist hate crime from the recorded crime database.

It is not possible to gather information on all racist offending from the recorded crime database. Information is available on the offences of racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct, however this does not include cases where racism was considered an aggravator to the main crime or offence. Statistics for racially aggravated offences (racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct) from 2006-07 to 2015-16 are shown in the following table.

We are currently working with Police Scotland as they develop the data they hold on their Vulnerable Persons Database with a view to producing new analysis on police recorded Hate Incidents (which would include incidents with a race element). We anticipate a further update for users on the development of this work later in the year.

Number of racially aggravated offences recorded by the police in Scotland, 2006-07 to 2015-16:

Year	Racially aggravated offences
2006-07	4,474
2007-08	4,543
2008-09	4,564
2009-10	4,513
2010-11	4,173
2011-12	3,486
2012-13	2,903
2013-14	2,712
2014-15	2,456
2015-16	2,132

Question reference: S5O-01145

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde were not treated within the legally guaranteed treatment waiting time in 2016.

Question reference: S5O-01126

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-09241

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), when it acted on the alert issued by Microsoft in March 2017; whether it will publish any warnings that it subsequently issued to departments and agencies for which it has responsibility, and which of those failed to respond.

The Scottish Government installs Microsoft updates across its core infrastructure as a minimum on a monthly basis. All Microsoft-based devices connected to the Scottish Government’s ICT network (SCOTS) before May’s Wannacrypt attack had this update applied.

The Scottish Government’s Information and Technology Services (iTECS) division does not have responsibility for alerting other departments and agencies to Microsoft security bulletins. These organisations will receive the alerts and updates direct from Microsoft.

Question reference: S5W-09245

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), whether it will publish details of any action it has taken in response to warnings issued by the National Cyber Security Centre regarding the need to protect services from hackers.

The Scottish Government’s Cyber Security Operations Centre (C-SOC) monitors guidance and threat reports issued by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and takes appropriate action on relevant warnings. These actions include: taking relevant additional precautionary steps to protect Scottish Government systems and infrastructure; sharing threat information with other bodies; sharing relevant information back with NCSC.

Question reference: S5W-09242

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), what contractual arrangements it put in place with Microsoft to provide customised support for Windows XP after Microsoft stopped issuing updates.

Question reference: S5W-09243

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), whether it will list the departments and agencies for which it has responsibility that continue to use unsupported software systems.

Question reference: S5W-09236

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), for what reason it did not take pre-emptive action, similar to that taken in Wales, which might have prevented the recent cyber-attack affecting the NHS in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-09238

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), whether it is responsible for NHS Scotland not taking sufficient action to prevent the recent cyber-attacks.

NHS Scotland have a rolling programme of system replacement (hardware and software) along with robust policies and procedures which include local patching regimes at each board. The Scottish Government provides £100 million per annum to Health boards for IT investment and cyber security resilience. Health boards spend at least the same amount per annum however we know that in 2016-17 total spend was around £257 million.