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: S6O-01814

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of hospice beds available in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

Question reference: S6O-01798

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Bairns' Hoose for young people within the justice system.

Question reference: S6O-01758

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether parents should have the right to appeal on school placement decisions.

Question reference: S6O-01704

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of The Promise Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-12734

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the outcome of its public consultation on legislative proposals from the Dame Elish Angiolini report of the Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the independent analysis report of responses to the consultation on police complaints, investigation and misconduct - legislation. The full report is available here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805251668 . A summary report is also available here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805251651

The consultation received 55 responses, 33 of which came from individuals and 22 on behalf of organisations. The responses will be published today where we have permission to do so at https://consult.gov.scot/safer-communities/police-legislative-reforms/ .

The Scottish Government is giving careful consideration to the range of views received. The findings from the consultation analysis, along with our continuing engagement with stakeholders will help inform how the changes that Dame Elish recommended can be implemented as preparations for introducing a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary session continue.

Question reference: S6W-12314

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the (a) number and (b) percentage of voluntary resignations among police officers in Scotland in each of the last five years, and how this compares with England and Wales.

From data provided by Police Scotland, the Scottish Government can confirm that as a proportion of the workforce in 2021-22 the rate of voluntary resignation among officers in Scotland was less than half that in England and Wales.

The following tables show that, as a proportion of the workforce, rates of voluntary resignations among police officers have been consistently lower in Scotland over the last five years compared to England and Wales

Leavers and Leaver Rates (excluding transfers)- Scotland
Leavers (excluding transfers)	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Normal retirement	418	480	494	576	421	689
Voluntary resignation	211	192	181	163	106	177
Other (medical retirement, dismissal, death in service)	115	94	114	85	52	41
Total	744	766	789	824	579	907
Officer numbers at start of year (31-03-2021 for 2021-22)	17,317	17,256	17,170	17,251	17,431	17,283
Leaver rates
Normal retirement	2.4%	2.8%	2.9%	3.3%	2.4%	4.0%
Voluntary resignation	1.2%	1.1%	1.1%	0.9%	0.6%	1.0%
other	0.7%	0.5%	0.7%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%
Total Leaver rate	4.3%	4.4%	4.6%	4.8%	3.3%	5.2%

Leavers and Leaver Rates (excluding transfers) - England and Wales
Leavers (excluding transfers)	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Normal retirement	4,507	4,747	4,492	4,169	3,429	4,134
Voluntary resignation	2,035	1,995	2,175	2,363	1,996	3,433
Other (medical retirement, dismissal, death in service)	933	762	721	609	593	550
Total	7,475	7,504	7,388	7,141	6,018	8,117
Officer numbers at start of year (31-03-2021 for 2021-22)	124,066	123,142	122,405	123,189	129,110	135,301
Leaver rates
Normal retirement	3.6%	3.9%	3.7%	3.4%	2.7%	3.1%
Voluntary resignation	1.6%	1.6%	1.8%	1.9%	1.5%	2.5%
other	0.8%	0.6%	0.6%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%
Total Leaver rate	6.0%	6.1%	6.0%	5.8%	4.7%	6.0%

Question reference: S6W-11294

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that the final report of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, chaired by Lord Scott, and whose work has been ongoing for three years, will be published.

This independent Review was tasked with reviewing our mental health and incapacity legislation in light of developments in international human rights, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and to consider where improvements could be made.

The final report will be published on the Review’s website on 30 September; https://mentalhealthlawreview.scot/

The Scottish Government will then carefully consider the recommendations within the report to ascertain how to better fulfil our obligation to promote and protect human rights within mental health settings and to ensure that rights and protections for those that need it most are upheld.

Question reference: S6O-01380

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the rolling out of citizens' assemblies.

Question reference: S6W-09768

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 July 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the treatment options available to women who have experienced mesh complications.

We fully understand that women want mesh removal surgery undertaken by surgeons who enjoy their full confidence and a range of measures are now in place to ensure that this happens.

The Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service has been established in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC). This service assesses needs and where appropriate, and subject to shared decision making and informed consent, performs mesh removal surgery. The Service has undertaken a number of mesh removal surgeries since its designation, despite the impact of the pandemic on activity levels across the Health Service. To complement Scottish services women can also, if they so wish, request to be treated at one of the NHS England Specialist Centres.

In addition, and exceptionally, women now have the option to request to be referred on to one of two independent providers. A contract with Spire Healthcare, where Professor Hashim operates, was agreed earlier this year and arrangements for the first patients to travel to Bristol are underway. Furthermore, I am pleased to be able to announce today that a contract has been agreed with Gynaecologic and Reconstructive Surgery Ltd, Missouri, USA, where Dr Veronikis operates. NHS National Services Scotland will now work closely with NHS GGC and local Health Boards to facilitate the arrangements for those who wish to travel to the USA for mesh removal surgery.

It is expected that anyone seeking mesh removal from either Professor Hashim or Dr Veronikis first discuss this with their local clinicians within their own Health Board. If considered appropriate at that stage, and in line with a process agreed with the independent providers, they would then be referred to the Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in NHS GGC for consideration by a full multi-disciplinary team (MDT). If it is agreed that surgery is appropriate, the patient can choose to be treated by the service already available in NHS Scotland or to be referred to a specialist NHS centre in England or to one of the independent providers. Each of these options will be available free of charge. I would encourage anyone who wishes referral to one of these services to make their wishes known to their clinical team, if they have not already done so.

Question reference: S6W-09425

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the progress of implementation of recommendations from Dame Elish Angiolini’s report of the Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing.

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s third thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report.

The thematic progress report shows that 44 recommendations are now complete which represents more than half of the non-legislative recommendations. This demonstrates that partners’ collective actions are laying foundations to deliver transformative change of the complaints, investigations and misconduct framework. This is supplemented by our current live consultation on legislative proposals which is another step in that journey.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their continuing efforts and progress to date.