Parliamentary questions
Liam McArthur
3,644 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government remains committed to the legal, ethical and proportionate use of new technologies in policing, which takes account of ethical and human rights obligations, to ensure that the adoption of any new technology for policing purposes is done…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding any expected risks of using the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any legal advice about the potential equalities impacts of using live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes, in light of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can guarantee that any companies implicated in human rights abuses will not be used to provide the live facial recognition technology services to Police Scotland under reported proposals outlined by the Chief Constable.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has spoken to Police Scotland regarding the reported proposals from the Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what Police Scotland's response was to the recommendations in the 2023 report, Review of emerging technologies in policing.
Answer · Angela Constance: Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority put their joint response into the public domain in June 2023 item-2-3-1-police-scotland-spa-joint-response-to-the-iag-on-new-and-emerging-te-_.pdf. The Scottish Government published its response to the report …
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which companies would provide any live facial recognition technology services to Police Scotland under the reported proposals outlined by the Chief Constable.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards will be in place to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported comments by Police Scotland's Chief Constable while proposing the use of live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, whether Police Scotland has shared with it any evidence that would support the claim that "AI will help us take violent perpetrators of…
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received a reliable estimate of the false negative rate of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it was informed by Police Scotland about the reported proposals to use live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes before they were recently referred to by the Chief Constable.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported comments by Police Scotland's Chief Constable while proposing the use of live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes, what its position is on whether the non-consensual use of AI in public for live facial recognition is "parallel" to the consensual use …
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any correspondence from Police Scotland regarding the reported proposals from the Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how people will be able to access data on whether they have been subjected to the use of live facial recognition technology, under the reported proposals outlined by the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether live facial recognition technology could disproportionately misidentify the faces of ethnic minority people, and what implications this might have for the use of the technology.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received a reliable estimate of the false positive rate of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its understanding is regarding how images used by live facial recognition systems will be stored, under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the overall accuracy of the live facial recognition technology that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland has reportedly proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that Police Scotland deletes and does not retain any images or video used for live facial recognition under the reported proposals outlined by the Chief Constable, and, if so, how it will ensure this.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when its last correspondence with Police Scotland was regarding the contents of the 2023 report, Review of emerging technologies in policing.
Answer · Angela Constance: The adoption of any new technology for policing purposes must be done in a way that secures public confidence. It is important to have clear governance frameworks which take account of ethical and human rights obligations in this area, which is why the Scotti…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the live facial recognition systems that Police Scotland's Chief Constable has proposed deploying for law enforcement purposes could be used to corroborate other pieces of evidence in criminal proceedings.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards will be in place to minimise any incidences of wrongful arrests under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable to deploy live facial recognition for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Police Scotland can sufficiently monitor the workings of live facial recognition systems, as proposed by the Chief Constable, in relation to any stereotyping or harmful assumptions, in light of the so-called black box problem affecting some AI systems.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the potential behavioural impact on officers would be of the reported proposals from the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to deploy live facial recognition technology for law enforcement purposes.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the use of live facial recognition systems, as reportedly proposed by Police Scotland's Chief Constable, will result in fewer officers on duty on Scotland's streets.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
1 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government where the training data for live facial recognition systems will come from under the reported proposals outlined by the Police Scotland Chief Constable.
Answer · Angela Constance: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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-co…
19 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29797 by Angela Constance on 19 September 2024, whether there have been any recorded instances of requests that were unknowingly or inadvertently made in conflict with what was recorded in the Cell Sharing Risk Assessment, and what policy governs t…
Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:A Cell Sharing Risk Assessment (CSRA) must be completed before any individual is allocated to share a cell. SPS has no recorded instance…
18 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27663 by Fiona Hyslop on 3 June 2024, whether it is committed to retaining the 2035 deadline for the removal of diesel passenger trains in any refreshed Decarbonisation Action Plan.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The refresh of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan will examine how and when the traction elements of rail transport can best be achieved. The order and programme in which decarbonisation can be achieved is and remains dependent on business cases an…
18 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29541 by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2024, when it expects the present refresh of the Decarbonisation Action Plan to be concluded.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: A refresh of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, informed by current progress with rolling stock procurement, is currently expected to conclude in early 2025.
17 Sep 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29408 by Gillian Martin on 17 September 2024, when it anticipates that it will resolve the technical issues impacting the Scottish Energy Statistics Hub, and when these technical issues were first identified.
Answer · Gillian Martin: In November 2023 Scottish Government statisticians identified technical issues with the automatic data processing and updating of some of the data sources on the Energy Statistics Hub. This affected the formatted display of some of the figures and charts on t…