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-22837

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many arrests were made in (a) October and (b) November 2023 to date, in connection with fireworks-related disorder, and how these figures compare to the same period in 2022.

There were 16* detected firework related crimes in Scotland in October 2023. As of 15 November there has been 22* detected firework related crimes for November 2023. This figure is expected to rise as Police Scotland continue their investigations.

This compares with 6* detected firework related crimes in October 2022. And 33* from November 2022.

*Please note that this figure includes both arrested or charged individuals.

Question reference: S6W-22835

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the implementation timetable is for the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022, and on what date the licensing scheme provided for in the Act will come into effect.

Four of the six key provisions in the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 have been implemented to date.

The prohibition on supply to children came into effect on 10 October 2022 alongside the aggravation of offences for emergency workers. New offences relating to pyrotechnic articles in public places and at designated venues and events came into force on 6 June 2023, and firework control zones provisions commenced on 22 June 2023. For the remaining measures:

Our ambition is to have the firework licensing scheme operational ahead of Bonfire Night next year. A specific date has not yet been identified for this.
The implementation of the restricted days of supply and use provisions is paused to a future financial year. This includes the compensation regulation making power, which is attached specifically to restricted days of supply.

Question reference: S6W-22836

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what correspondence it has had with and (b) what representations have been made to it by the City of Edinburgh Council regarding firework control zones in Edinburgh.

The City of Edinburgh Council formed a part of the Firework Control Zones Working Group, which co-developed the Guidance for Local Authorities.

Representatives from City of Edinburgh Council attended information sharing sessions for local authorities held by the Scottish Government, in partnership with the Scottish Community Safety Network.

Formal representations have been made by the City of Edinburgh Council to the Scottish Government to express interest in availing themselves of the funding for firework control zones.

Question reference: S6W-18646

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Scottish Prison Service's gender identity and gender reassignment policy, which potentially allows for males who have been convicted of violent offences against other males to be placed in a female establishment, what evidence it has regarding whether males who commit violent offences against other males only commit such offences against males.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS’s approach to the placement and management of all transgender individuals seeks to protect the rights and safety of everyone in prison custody.

Decisions regarding the management and placement of transgender prisoners are taken at a multi-disciplinary case conference where evidence of any risks the individual may present to others and vulnerabilities they may face, are fully considered.

Question reference: S6W-18557

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a detailed breakdown of how much the Scottish Prison Service gender identity and gender reassignment policy review has cost to date.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Apart from costs of a transcription service used to transcribe interviews and surveys during the engagement phase of the review, all costs relating to the Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment (2014) policy review have been absorbed as part of the overall annual SPS Delivery Plan resourcing budget.

For information, the cost of the transcription service was £2,153 including VAT.

Question reference: S6O-02418

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the visual recorded interviews pilot, which involves Police Scotland recording the witness statements of adult and 16- and 17-year-old complainers involving allegations of rape and attempted rape, including any learning from the cases involved as they progressed through the courts.

Question reference: S6W-18553

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the commissioning of research into the so-called Tinker Experiment.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertaking independent research to understand the impact of 20 th century policies on the Gypsy/Traveller community in Scotland. We developed specifications for two research projects to gather further information, with one focussing on archival analysis and the other on community engagement and lived experience. We successfully appointed an appropriate contractor to take forward the archival project, and are working to re-tender the community engagement and lived experience project as no compliant bids were received for this. We expect to receive initial findings from the research next year, at which point we will consider next steps and respond.

Question reference: S6W-18554

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many women in prison have been sectioned under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 in each of the last five years.

Section 136 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) provides for the transfer of prisoners to hospital for treatment for mental disorder by way of a transfer for treatment direction (TTD). A TTD cannot be applied to prisoners on remand (those who have not been convicted and/or sentenced yet).

Where a remand prisoner requires mental health assessment or treatment in hospital this would likely be done by way of an assessment order, treatment order, interim compulsion order or temporary compulsion order which are provided for under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act). Data has been provided for females who have transferred to hospital under the 2003 Act or the 1995 Act.

Female MH Transfers
Year	Total No. of Transfers
2019	8
2020	8
2021	12
2022	8
2023	X

Data for 2023 not able to be disclosed as this is part year data and the number is less than 5.

Please note that these figures are the number of transfers and not the number of people as someone may have been transferred to a Mental Health hospital more than once during the reporting period.

Question reference: S6W-18555

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many women in prison were registered as having a disability in each of the last five years, and, of those, how many had a (a) physical and (b) learning disability.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The information is not held in the format requested.

The following table provides information on the number of women who have disclosed on admission into custody that they consider themselves as disabled.

Year	Number of Women who disclosed a disability
2018	130
2019	129
2020	102
2021	100
2022	121
2023	71

SPS do not hold medical information about individuals in its care. This information is held by NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18556

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many women currently in prison have mental health issues.

This is a matter for individual health boards who are responsible for providing prisoner healthcare. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

To ensure that changes to prison mental health services are evidence-based and person-centred, the Scottish Government commissioned a Mental Health Needs Assessment of Scotland’s prison population which was published in September 2022. It includes estimates of the likely prevalence of several mental health problems in Scotland’s prison population using academic research and modelling from the non-prison population. It estimated that the prevalence of these problems is generally higher for women relative to men, except for alcohol use disorder and depression.