- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 9 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many people in (a) Inverclyde, (b) North Ayrshire and (c) Scotland have made use of the Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme, and what the financial value of that usage has been.
Answer
Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) is delivering 30,000 cycle repairs or services to people in Scotland, focusing on those that need the support the most. Repairs and servicing are provided through a network of over 300 shops, retailers, community organisations and sole traders. The scheme has run since August 2020 and delivered a total of 64,945 repairs to date. The specific figures you have requested since May 2021 are as follows:
Inverclyde – 560 repairs at a financial value of £28,000
North Ayrshire – 2,060 repairs at a financial value of £103,000
Scotland – 70,070 at a financial value of £3,503,500
It is worth noting there is a time delay in reporting and not all participants provide their postcode, so all of these figures will be higher.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 9 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the planned action in its Bairns’ Hoose project plan to "engage with key stakeholders to identify the potential number of Bairns' Hoose' required to ensure access for all children in line with our Programme for Government commitment", whether it has carried out this work, and, if so, what the required number is.
Answer
Scottish Government officials, in conjunction with the Chair of the National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group, have carried out extensive engagement with key partners from across children’s services, health, justice, and the third sector. This includes Chief Officers’ Public Protection Groups (COGs), who will play a key role in the delivery of Bairns’ Hoose.
We are currently working with our partners to develop a phased approach to implementation of Bairns’ Hoose across Scotland, with a Pathfinder phase beginning in 2023. We will publish further information on our plans for delivery in the coming months.
The design and delivery of Bairns’ Hoose will be between partners at a local level and though local structures. It is anticipated that COGs will collaborate regionally, according to their needs and proximity to local resources, to identify the number of Bairns’ Hooses required in their area.
Bairns’ Hooses will build on the Scottish Child Interview Model for Joint Investigative Interviews, which is being introduced nationally from 2021 to 2024 and will be seen as the ‘justice room’ of the Bairns’ Hoose.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 5 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much public money has been given to suicide bereavement support services, such as Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide and Papyrus UK, in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of providing compassionate, person-centred support for people who have been bereaved by suicide. This is reflected in the Scottish Government and COSLA’s new suicide prevention strategy and action plan, Creating Hope Together, which published in September. The strategy is supported by the Programme for Government commitment to double funding for suicide prevention to £2.8m per annum by the end of this Parliamentary term.
The new action plan includes a commitment to roll out bereavement support across Scotland, drawing on the evaluation of the current Suicide Bereavement Support Service pilot. The Scottish Government funds this pilot in two Health Board areas; Penumbra leads delivery of the pilot in Ayrshire and Arran and Change Mental Health (formerly Support in Mind Scotland) leads delivery in Highland. The total cost of the pilot service is £255,000 per annum, and this funding, split between the two organisations, has been allocated in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Additionally, we have allocated Cruse Scotland a total of £16,780 for 2021-22 and £33,560 in 2022-23 to provide bereavement support in workplaces which have been affected by the suicide of a colleague.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 5 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the (a) 805 probable suicides registered in 2020 and (b) 753 probable suicides registered in 2021, in how many cases were (i) non-prescription and (ii) illegal drugs (A) detected in the deceased (such as revealed from the toxicology report), and (B) believed to be an influencing factor in the individual’s death.
Answer
Table 1. Probable suicides, by whether substances found in the body | |
| | | |
| | 2020 | 2021 |
all probable suicides | 805 | 753 |
no substances found | 581 | 542 |
only uncontrolled substances found | 93 | 76 |
controlled substances implicated in the death | 101 | 102 |
controlled substances present but not implicated | 30 | 33 |
Source: National Records of Scotland (NRS)
Notes:
Where no substances were found this means that no substances were reported to NRS. We do not know whether toxicology tests were carried out in all of these cases.
Controlled substances defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 23 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the annual targets for increasing the number of body cameras available to Police Scotland officers, in light of the recent reported announcement that £20 million will be spent over the next five years on making almost 18,000 body cameras available.
Answer
The introduction of body-worn cameras is an operational decision for Police Scotland, acting under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).
As outlined in the answer to S6W-12605 on 12 December 2022, the SPA Resources Committee approved Police Scotland’s Initial Business Case for the Introduction of National Body Worn Video on 10 November 2022, ahead of consideration by the SPA Board. Police Scotland are expected to undertake a full procurement exercise in 2023 which will provide costs for 2023-24 and future years.
In 2023-24, the Scottish Government will invest £1.45 billion in policing. This includes a 6.3% increase to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) resource budget.
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
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 23 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to deaths in custody determined to be suicides, in how many instances were (a) non-prescription and (b) illegal drugs found or suspected to be present in the deceased, including in cases where this was detected following a toxicology report, in each year since 2016.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service publish information regarding all deaths in SPS custody on a quarterly basis, which includes the ‘medical certificate of cause of death’ (MCCD). However, data is not held by either the Scottish Government or the Scottish Prison Service on the number of instances of deaths in prison custody determined to be suicides involved non-prescription or illegal drugs found or suspected to be present in the deceased.
Steps are being taken through the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody to improve availability of data relating to deaths in prison custody.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 22 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) money and (b) time was spent on translating the series of papers entitled, Building a new Scotland, into other languages, including the summaries and supporting documents, and for what reasons any specific languages were chosen.
Answer
The Scottish Government seeks to meet statutory requirements and deploy best practice in the ways in which it communicates information with people in Scotland, and wider audiences. We regularly translate key advice and information into other languages and formats. The Building a New Scotland prospectus series has been designed to be as accessible as possible to ensure that communities across Scotland are able to access the information. Languages were selected on the basis of their frequency of use and experience of usage of translations of previous Scottish Government publications. Audio and Easy Read versions make the Building a New Scotland prospectus series more accessible to more people.
The costs associated with the series are published proactively and the costs for the first three papers can be found on the Scottish Parliament website at –
Written question and answer: S6W-11001 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-11002 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-13303 | Scottish Parliament Website
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Gumtree, Pets4Homes, Facebook and other relevant online platforms regarding the illegal trade and sale of puppies, and when it last discussed this matter with Police Scotland.
Answer
The Puppy Trade Working Group (PTWG), of which the Scottish Government is a member, seeks to disrupt the unlicensed puppy trade, including online sales of low welfare puppies. We work closely with other members of the PTWG, which includes Gumtree and Pets4Homes, to address the advertising of illegally bred puppies on online platforms. As a consequence of this collaborative working, Gumtree and Pets4Homes continue to adapt their advertising practices in order to address online selling by unscrupulous breeders.
At this time Facebook are not members of the PTWG. The PTWG and the Scottish SPCA continue to seek to engage with Facebook on this matter.
The Scottish Government has regular discussions with Police Scotland on the threats from organised crime, including criminal activities associated with the illegal puppy trade. While it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail of those discussions, we know that Police Scotland continue to work in partnership with the Scottish SPCA to disrupt the activities of those involved in this abhorrent trade.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service estate.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2023
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported statistics showing that the level of unpaid work that offenders need to carry out has risen to more than 700,000 hours.
Answer
We are confident in local authorities’ ability to deliver unpaid work and other community orders but we recognise the huge impact which the pandemic had on justice social work and the ongoing efforts to ensure an effective and sustainable recovery.
We continue to work with key partners including Social Work Scotland, COSLA, and Community Justice Scotland to monitor recovery work, including measuring the level of outstanding unpaid work hours regularly and exploring any issues arising.
At present, management information indicates that the number of outstanding unpaid work hours across Scotland is close to pre-pandemic levels, at around 720,000 hours in November 2022 compared to around 690,000 hours in April 2020. Having some outstanding hours in the system is normal, as it takes time for individuals to undertake the unpaid work they have been sentenced to.
The ongoing recovery work is also supported through the draft budget for 2023-24, which maintains the additional funding of £15m provided in 2022-23 for justice social work services.
