Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-39181

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 5 August 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider reviewing and updating the cross-compliance requirements for semi-natural grasslands, in light of new cross-compliance requirements coming into effect for peatlands and wetlands under the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions standards.

Question reference: S6W-38830

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-38221 and S6W-38222 by Marie Todd on 17 June 2025, whether its answer means that fewer than five people under 18 have been subject to a place of safety order in each of the last five years, and, if this is not the case, in which of the last five years there were more than five people under 18 who were made subject to a place of safety order.

The Mental Welfare Commission publish an annual monitoring report on the use of the Mental Health Act which breaks down the percentage of individuals subject to a place of safety order by age. The publication does not provide the number of people subject to a place of safety order by age.

The requested information is not held by the Scottish Government. As it is a matter for the Mental Welfare Commission, you may wish to contact them directly at: [email protected].

Question reference: S6W-38831

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 4 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38220 by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025, what analysis it has carried out of whether missing data may reflect a failure to fulfil the legal obligations set out in section 298 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, and, in the event that these legal obligations are not being fulfilled, what action the Scottish Government plans to take to address this.

Question reference: S6W-38834

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38218 by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025, what analysis it has undertaken to explore to what extent the reported reduction in the number of people detained in police stations under a place of safety order may simply reflect missing data, rather than an actual reduction.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of individuals detained in police custody under place of safety orders. This data is collected and held by Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government is taking steps to strengthen data collection and evaluation within the mental health and policing space. The development of a proportionate performance framework will support ongoing monitoring and help distinguish between actual improvements and issues related to data completeness. This reflects the broader commitments set out in the Framework for Collaboration and Collaborative Commitments to ensure that data is robust and suitable to support informed decision-making, and to improve pathways for people in mental health crisis.

Question reference: S6W-38833

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-38218 by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025, whether it has attempted to estimate the "true" proportion of people detained in police stations under a place of safety order, adjusting for any missing data and data collection practices, and, if so, what estimates it has made.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of individuals detained in police custody under place of safety orders. This data is collected and held by Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government is taking steps to strengthen data collection and evaluation within the mental health and policing space. The development of a proportionate performance framework will support ongoing monitoring and help distinguish between actual improvements and issues related to data completeness. This reflects the broader commitments set out in the Framework for Collaboration and Collaborative Commitments to ensure that data is robust and suitable to support informed decision-making, and to improve pathways for people in mental health crisis.

Question reference: S6W-38688

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 July 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding virtual attendance at criminal court, whether it remains its position that "all stakeholders are of the view that the provisions…work well as currently framed", in light of the comments by the (a) Faculty of Advocates that "valuable court time is regularly lost due to delays in establishing remote links and re-establishing failed remote links", (b) Law Society of Scotland that "the virtual systems that we have had so far have tended to be pretty inflexible" and (c) Scottish Solicitors Bar Association that the pilot scheme for a virtual custody court at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court was "a singular failure".

The provisions of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill will make permanent the legislative framework for virtual attendance at criminal courts first introduced over five years ago. This approach has been extensively consulted on including through the Scottish Government’s pre-legislative consultation. The responses of the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland to that consultation supported making these provisions permanent. The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association’s written evidence to the Criminal Justice Committee also supported the use of virtual hearings in specific circumstances such as intermediate diets and preliminary hearings.

As with any aspect of service delivery, the greater use of technology may cause difficulties to arise from time to time and justice agencies and partners engage with each other on those as they would about any matter of operational practice.

By its very nature, that is an ongoing and continuous process. Through repeated use and refinement of the technology over the last five years since the emergency legislation was introduced, practice has improved and there are adequate checks in place to minimise disruption caused by technical difficulties.

The comments by Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association were both made in the context of feedback around virtual custodies rather than the functioning of virtual provisions generally. Delivery partners have recognised concerns and virtual custodies have been paused pending a review including on the technological challenges experienced to date in implementation. A revised model will be explored through a working group established by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service which includes justice partners such as the Law Society of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-38686

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported criminal trials backlog had been cleared as of March 2025, and, if it does not consider it has been cleared, when it anticipates it will be.

The total number of scheduled trials outstanding peaked at 43,606 in January 2022 (from c18,000 pre-pandemic) and had reduced to 18,355 in the most current SCTS publication (May 2025). This significantly reduces the waiting time in which victims, witnesses and the accused await their trial.

While this positive picture demonstrates the success of the criminal court recovery programme in terms of backlogs, the court modelling undertaken by SCTS shows that the level of business entering Scotland’s criminal courts has changed since before the pandemic. There has been an increase in in relation to the most serious criminal cases. Justice agencies have been clear that the recovery programme will take time to address this, and we will continue to support that work.

Question reference: S6W-38697

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to include any provisions in the proposed Heat in Buildings Bill specifically relating to buildings in rural and island areas.

In April, Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, former Minister for Climate Action, made a statement to Parliament that set out the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill later this session. He outlined that the Bill would include provisions for all buildings to end their use of polluting heat by 2045 (where reasonable / practicable), provisions designed to boost the growth of heat networks and powers to make regulations introducing minimum energy efficiency standards across owner-occupied and non-domestic buildings.

We recognise it may be more challenging for some homes and buildings to decarbonise, especially those in a rural or island setting. We will work with stakeholders to develop approaches and solutions that allow homes in Scotland to transition to greater energy efficiency and cleaner heating systems. Any legislation will be accompanied by the required impact assessments and designed in a way that is fair, proportionate and considers the requirements of buildings in rural and island areas.

Question reference: S6W-38684

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the definition of "backlog" as referring to "the outstanding scheduled trials that are above the normal operating capacity of 20,000", as set out in the 2023 Auditor General report, Criminal courts backlog.

The definition of “backlog” in this context is referred to by the Auditor General report as the increase in criminal court cases waiting to be heard during the Covid 19 pandemic. At its peak, this reached 43,606 cases in January 2022.

The number of scheduled trials across all criminal business types has now returned to below 20,000. This is considered a manageable level of workload by Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service for the justice system.

Question reference: S6W-38685

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what metric it would use to determine (a) whether and (b) when any criminal trials backlog has been cleared.

Court scheduling is a matter for SCTS and as a result there is no metric set by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service publish monthly criminal case data, including volumes, trends, and outstanding trials. They also publish information on criminal court modelling. The latest report can be found here.

Scottish Government continue to support the criminal court recovery programme so that our justice agencies continue to make progress in increasing efficiencies and effectiveness of our courts. It is pleasing to see that significant progress has been made in criminal courts.

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