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-40886

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the implementation of its 2019 Restorative Justice Action Plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on achieving the actions and outcomes set out in the 2019 Restorative Justice Action Plan. Many of the people involved – including stakeholders, support organisations (e.g. Victim Support Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, etc), partners within local government, and officials had to pivot and focus on emerging and critical issues. The same people were also involved in supporting the justice system to recover once restrictions started to relax.

However, with the hard work and support of stakeholders and partners involved, progress was made on developing and testing restorative justice services, despite the restrictions and challenges. Details on this are provided in the answer to S6W-40887 on 17 October 2025.

More information is available in the quarterly and annual report published by Community Justice Scotland and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-40884

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to the principles of its 2019 Restorative Justice Action Plan, and whether it will update the plan.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the vision of having restorative justice (RJ) available across Scotland to all those who wish to access it, and at a time that is appropriate to the people and case involved.

Test cases have been funded over the last 18 months. The findings from these cases will add to the option appraisal work already carried out and will be used to inform next steps and priorities.

The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice is organising a restorative Justice workshop in November 2025, with a focus on the use of RJ that involves children and young people. Key stakeholders are invited, and the outputs from this workshop will also be used to identify priorities and next steps in developing the vision for RJ in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-40888

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed Restorative Justice Champions Network has been established, and whether it will confirm its remit.

Community Justice Scotland and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice have set up and chair the Restorative Justice Development Forum, which meets bi-monthly. The first meeting of this forum took place on 6 May 2025. The remit of this forum is the exchange of knowledge practice regarding the development of RJ for those in a leadership role from both statutory and voluntary sectors across Scotland in their local areas.

Question reference: S6W-40889

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with its national restorative justice communications strategy.

Question reference: S6W-40882

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to promote restorative justice (a) in each financial year since 2019-20 and (b) since April 2025.

Question reference: S6O-04998

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the agriculture minister has had with the justice secretary regarding support for farmers in relation to rural crime.

Question reference: S6W-40389

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government (a) what the cost has been of and (b) how much time has been spent on inspection and repair work between the St Ann’s and Keithock junctions of the A90 near Brechin, (i) in each year since 2015 and (ii) since April 2025.

The cost of repair work on the A90 between St Ann’s and Keithock junctions near Brechin is not available. This is because expenditure is not recorded for specific sections of the trunk road. Instead, costs are collated and reported as a total spend for the A90 as a whole. The following table shows the expenditure breakdown for the A90 as a whole for the years 2015-2025.

Year	Expenditure
2015-16	£7,217,750
2016-17	£8,434,733
2017-18	£11,991,347
2018-19	£12,963,705
2019-20	£12,486,316
2020-21	£20,673,965
2021-22	£23,045,538
2022-23	£22,553,979
2023-24	£21,685,051
2024-25	£25,717,305
Total	£166,769,689

The Operating Company for the A90, Amey, undertake two driven safety inspections weekly and an annual walked survey. Any defects identified are repaired in accordance with contractual requirements.

Question reference: S6W-40456

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains its policy that anyone caught possessing a knife for the purpose of crime should be prosecuted before a sheriff and jury.

Question reference: S6W-40455

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that it has abandoned its zero tolerance policy on knife crime.

In 2016, Scottish Government legislation came into force that increased the maximum sentence for weapons possession from four years to five years. The average length of custodial sentence for weapons possession in 2022-23 was 332 days; this compares with 218 days in 2007-08 and represents an increase of 52%.

The investigation of knife crime is an independent operational matter for Police Scotland. The prosecution of knife crime is an independent operational matter for COPFS. Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework.

Question reference: S6W-40454

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of people convicted of knife crime possession in each of the last four years have received the maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.

Section 49 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for a custodial sentence of up to 5 years for the offence of having an article with a blade or point in a public place. In any given case, sentencing is a matter for the independent court. They take into account all the facts and circumstances of a case before imposing a sentence within the legal framework. It is not possible to disaggregate these figures by the specific type of weapon involved (e.g. knife).

Over the last four financial years, for which data is available, there was only one custodial sentence of 5 years or more under this section of the Act, in 2019-20.

This sentence exceeds the statutory maximum and may reflect either additional charges being dealt with concurrently or an aggravation, rather than a sentence based solely on the possession offence alone. This represented approximately 0.09% of all (1,141) convictions under this section of the Act in that financial year. Please note that the latest criminal proceedings data is for 2022-23.