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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1855 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-33121

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce levels of serious violent crime, in light of the Police Scotland quarterly data recording that, in the last decade, incidents have nearly doubled to over 1,000 per month, and what data it has collected as to the reasons for the increase, including data on the reasons for any variation between (a) each city, (b) urbans areas and (c) rural and island areas.

Question reference: S6W-33136

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Lord Advocate on 22 September 2021 regarding diversion from prosecution, how many recorded police warnings were issued for possession of drugs for the three years (a) before and (b) after the statement, broken down by (i) type and (ii) class of drug involved, and what the impact has been on police time spent on dealing with people experiencing harmful substance use.

Question reference: S6W-32829

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what specific action it has taken to implement recommendation (a) 2, (b) 3 and (c) 4 of the Policy Report: Sexual exploitation of children involved in the Children’s Hearings System by Barnardo's and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA), and what results it has achieved.

Question reference: S6W-32831

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 44 action points set out in the July 2020 publication, National Action Plan to Prevent and Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation 2016-2020, have been (a) delivered and (b) fulfilled.

Question reference: S6W-32830

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the National Child Sexual Exploitation Group became inactive; on what date it became inactive, who or which agency decided that it should become inactive, and which of its aims were achieved prior to making it inactive.

Question reference: S6W-32827

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the recommendations set out in the Policy Report: Sexual exploitation of children involved in the Children's Hearings System by Barnardo's Scotland and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) in 2020 have been acted upon, and if they have been actioned, what has been done and achieved.

Question reference: S6W-32828

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 20 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has commenced and/or commissioned a full multi-agency prevalence study as set out in recommendation 2 in the Policy Report: Sexual exploitation of children involved in the Children's Hearings System by Barnardo's Scotland and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) in 2020.

Question reference: S6W-32792

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the provision for rail services in its draft Budget 2025-26 contains anything for new stations at Cove and Newtonhill, in light of the reportedly large number of positive respondents to a local petition on this matter.

Question reference: S6W-32794

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 January 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 31 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Travel Demand Management Options Study, prepared for Transport Scotland, was not published before 11 December 2024, in light of being dated and copyrighted March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-32054

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31040 by Siobhian Brown on 13 November 2024, whether it will provide the information requested regarding for what reason there has been a reported reduction in the number of criminal legal aid solicitors, since 2007, from 1,459 to 966.

Patterns of business in the criminal justice system have changed fundamentally since 2007 due to reductions in crime, the increasing availability and use of alternatives to prosecution and trends towards earlier resolution of cases. This means that the demand for criminal legal aid - and so for the services of criminal defence solicitors - has also changed fundamentally.

Comparing the 12 months ending March 2007 with the 12 months ending March 2024, the number of grants of legal aid in relation to summary matters fell by 37%, for solemn legal aid by 13%, for appeals by 86% and the number of accused requiring representation by a duty solicitor fell by 81%. Over the same period, the number of registered solicitors fell by 34%, broadly reflecting the reduction in demand.

The criminal courts are not reporting people unable to get representation, anyone who needs a solicitor at a police station or to appear in court from custody gets access to a solicitor.