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-07805

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the priority list that was agreed by the National Prioritisation Advisory Group that it chaired on flood risk management schemes.

Schemes proposed in the flood risk management strategies (now referred to as plans) published by SEPA in December 2015 were prioritised according to their cost benefit ratio and taking into account a series of additional criteria, encompassing the environmental and social impacts of flooding.

This list was agreed by the National Prioritisation Advisory Group which was chaired by the Scottish Government. A list of the prioritised (Cycle 1) schemes can be found on the SEPA website.

Discussions are taking place with SEPA and the local authorities on the prioritisation arrangements for the Cycle 2 schemes that will cover the period 2022 to 2028.

42 Flood Protection Schemes (sepa.org.uk) .

Question reference: S6W-07835

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of so-called Anglophobia have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 1999.

Information on cases of Anglophobia is not held centrally. Data is published on the number of police recorded hate crimes that include an aggravation for race. The characteristic of race in the hate crime legislative framework includes race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins. If an offence was motivated by prejudice based on Anglophobia (i.e. anti-English prejudice) it would therefore be recorded by the police as an offence aggravated by race.

The Scottish Government published a study on the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime in February 2021. This included: (i) information on the number of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland from 2014-15 to 2019-20 (shown in the following table), and (ii) a more detailed study of the characteristics of these cases in 2018-19 (based on a large scale review of crime records). Based on the findings of that more detailed study, Table 17 of the publication provides a breakdown of what prejudices were shown by the perpetrators. This suggested that 6% of racially aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 included an anti-English prejudice. This would equate to an estimated 210 crimes. Please note, some of these crimes may include multiple racial (or other aggravation) prejudices.

A second study into the characteristics of police recorded hate crime is due to be published later this year. This will provide the same type of detailed disaggregated data and information on police recorded hate crimes for the year 2020-21.

Table: The number 1 of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by police in Scotland, 2014-15 to 2019-20

Year	Number
2014-15	5,195
2015-16	4,927
2016-17	4,687
2017-18	4,765
2018-19	4,270
2019-20	4,172

1. The number of hate crimes with a race aggravation is slightly higher than the figures provided in the aforementioned study. This is because the table also includes hate crimes that have multiple aggravations (one of which is race).

Source: Scottish Government, characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime

Question reference: S6W-07678

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will issue revised guidance for the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013, in light of the opinion of Lady Carmichael regarding the petition for judicial review of 27 February 2020 (CSOH 22).

We currently have no plans to issue revised guidance for the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013. Application of the legislation and associated guidance is the responsibility of local authorities and my officials will continue to engage with them to ensure that the legislation (supported by the guidance) is being applied in the manner intended by Parliament when the law was passed whilst identifying current best practice. Lady Carmichael in her judgement endorsed the 2016 guidance (since fine-tuned in 2019) and application of the legislation.

Question reference: S6W-07573

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how self-declaration, in the context of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, may affect sex discrimination cases.

Question reference: S6O-01077

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made in closing the attainment gap among school pupils.

Question reference: S6O-01056

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering any reforms to the justice system in relation to convicted and incarcerated persons who own and control property in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01065

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the economy in East Kilbride.

Question reference: S6O-01059

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last corresponded with Poppyscotland regarding support for veterans.

Question reference: S6O-01066

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on implementing the delivery of its National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Question reference: S6O-01057

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest recorded crime statistics.