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-34062

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for coordinating with local authorities and public bodies through the Scottish Government Resilience Room during emergencies.

During the response to a civil contingencies emergency, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) will usually engage with resilience partnerships formed by relevant categorised responder agencies (e.g. local authorities and other public bodies relevant to the response). SGORR engages with these resilience partnerships via liaison officers and/or through direct engagement with responders. Members of the Civil Contingencies Division Civil Contingencies Liaison Team and/or SGORR may deploy as Scottish Government Liaison Officers (SGLOs) to the partnerships, supporting the two-way flow of information and situational awareness so that emerging issues and trends are quickly identified and handled as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-34061

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often exercises or drills are conducted to test the effectiveness of the Scottish Government Resilience Room’s crisis response capabilities.

The Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) takes part in a number of exercises every year to test its response protocols and overall effectiveness, train its staff and ensure a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities with partners. These exercises range from Tier 1 exercises (organised by UK Government and simulating a UK-level response) to SGORR-internal training exercises. The number of exercises SGORR participates in varies from year to year. To date in 2025, SGORR has completed six SGORR training exercises, and is currently planning to participate in a Tier 1 exercise later this year.

Question reference: S6W-34164

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what penalties have been imposed following convictions for assaults on doctors in each year since 2018, broken down by the (a) type of penalty and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-34162

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many reported assaults on doctors have resulted in (a) charges being brought and (b) prosecutions, in each year since 2018, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-34141

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions for speeding on trunk roads led to a (a) conviction and (b) acquittal in each year since 2018, broken down by (i) trunk road and (ii) court location.

(a)The latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2022-23.

Number of people convicted for speeding offences on trunk roads, where main crime, in Scottish Courts, by court location (LA), 2018-19 to 2022-23.

	2018-19	2022-23
	West Lothian	East Ayrshire	Highland	Perth & Kinross	West Lothian
TRUNK ROADS (S) TEMP RESTRICT TRAFFIC & OVERTAKING 30,40,50MPH (S) ORDER 1992	-	-	1	-	-
TRUNK ROADS (S) TEMP RESTRICT TRAFFIC & OVERTAKING 30,40,50MPH (S) ORDER 1994	1	-	-	-	1
TRUNK ROADS IN SCOT (TEMP PROHIBITIONS & TEMP SPEED RESTRICTIONS) ORDER 1996	-	1	-	1	-

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Some speeding offences that occurred on trunk roads may have been prosecuted under more general speeding offence charges.

Please note: data for 2021-22 and 2022-23 are affected by the pandemic, subsequent court closures, reduced court capacity due to physical distancing measures and delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, and may not be considered indicative of long term trends.

(b) There were no cases resulting in acquittal not guilty or acquittal not proven verdict under the legislation related to speeding on trunk roads (where main crime), between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-34136

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many penalties were issued for drink or drug driving offences on each trunk road, in each year since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-34155

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many reported assaults on nurses have resulted in (a) charges being brought and (b) prosecutions, in each year since 2018, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-34147

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure the timely prosecution of speeding offences, and what improvements have been implemented since 2018.

Decisions relating to the investigation and prosecution of crime, including speeding offences, are a matter for Police Scotland and COPFS, who are operationally independent of the Scottish Ministers.

Restrictions brought in to reduce the spread of coronavirus in 2020 led to a significant increase in the length of time it took for cases to progress through the court system. However, there has been considerable progress in addressing backlogs in the summary court system, aided by investment provided by the Scottish Government, with the number of outstanding scheduled summary trials reducing from an average of 38,089 in 2021-22 to 19,848 as of December 2024.

Question reference: S6W-34133

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many road traffic offences have been recorded on each trunk road in each year since 2018, broken down by type of offence.

Question reference: S6W-34156

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions relating to assaults on nurses have resulted in (a) convictions and (b) other outcomes, in each year since 2018, broken down by NHS board.