Liam McArthur

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), in relation to Scottish prisons, that “cumulatively a lack of access to association and activities meant that in practice segregated inmates were deprived of regular meaningful h…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The decision to remove any individual in our care from association is always done in accordance with Rule 95 of the Prisons and Young …

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest time spent on remand by individuals was in in each year since 2014-15.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information at present. As stated in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data capt…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions periods of remand have exceeded 110 days in each year since 2007-08.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information at present. As stated in the answer to S5W-20884 on 30 January 2019, the Scottish Government are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service to develop a shared approach to publishing the data capt…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20884 by Humza Yousaf on 30 January 2019, what progress it has made toward maintaining and publishing data on the hours spent by remand prisoners engaged in purposeful activity.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The question S5W-20884 does not relate to data on the hours spent by remand prisoners engaged in purposeful activity. The Scottish Government does not hold this information and, as stated in the answer to question S5W-20603 on 9 January 2019, hours of purpos…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture that in Scotland's prisons “in practice, recreation time was the exception rather than the norm. Overall, remand prisoners were getting, at best, two hours unlocked from their cells per…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The quote provided was made specifically in relation to HMP Barlinnie, not the wider SPS estate. On Friday 1 November 2019 HMP Barlin…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the finding by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) that there has been a considerable deterioration in the number of psychiatric sessions available to people in Scottish prisons since 2012, how many sessions there have been in each year since…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Mental health assessment, support and treatment is carried out in prisons by a range of different disciplines, including psychiatrists. The information requested on psychiatric sessions available to people in prison is not held centrally by the Scottish Gove…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the finding by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) that there has been a considerable deterioration in the presence of GPs in Scottish prisons, how many GPs have (a) been employed to work in or (b) attended prisons in each year since 2012-13.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as the responsibility for delivering prisoner healthcare, including GP services, rests with local NHS Boards.

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of hours per day convicted prisoners were engaged in purposeful activity (a) across the prison estate and (b) in each penal establishment in 2018-19, also broken down by month.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: SPS publishes the average number of Purposeful Activity (PA) Hours per week, per convicted prisoner, as part of our Key Performance In…

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it maintains data showing the number of hours that inmates spend in their cells, and whether it will publish any data collected.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: SPS does not record the number of hours that people in our care spend in their cells.

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the occupancy rate is of the separation and reintegration units operational in Scottish prisons, broken down by institution.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: On 30 October 2019 there were 121 people in our care temporarily residing in SPS’ Separation and Reintegration Units (SRUs). Prison …

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how frequently it believes that inmates of Scottish prisons spend “22 to 23 hours per day in their cells”, as reported by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: This quote from the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) report was made specifically in relation to HMP …

29 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the findings and recommendations made by NHS Chief Executives in relation to female pathways across the forensic mental health estate.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The report Women's Service and Pathways Across the Forensic Mental Health Estate has been prepared by the Forensic Mental Health Services Managed Care Network working with NHS Boards. It will be published in due course by the Forensic Network. The Independen…

28 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what role it will have in the summit to be held in Glasgow on methods to tackle drug-related deaths, which was announced by the UK Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: We welcome the UK Government's commitment to engage with us around what is a public health emergency but remain unclear of their willingness to take part in a summit in Glasgow, alongside our Drug Death Taskforce, people with lived experience, and others, in …

28 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding agreements have been put in place to facilitate Police Scotland support for policing demonstrations held in England.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The deployment of Scottish police officers to other UK police forces, on Mutual Aid, is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. The police force requesting Mutual Aid pays the supplying force on a cost recovery basis and Police Scotland utilise the Nat…

28 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 30,000 premises that will benefit from full direct fibre broadband via the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme are in Orkney.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: More than £400 million has been invested in the DSSB programme, which has provided access to fibre broadband to over 940,000 premises to date - over 100,000 more premises than originally estimated - with over 90% of those premises capable of accessing downloa…

28 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the extra £3 million of funding for the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme will be allocated in Orkney.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: More than £400 million has been invested in the DSSB programme, which has provided access to fibre broadband to over 940,000 premises to date - over 100,000 more premises than originally estimated - with over 90% of those premises capable of accessing downloa…

28 Oct 2019 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make in light of the recent report by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and its finding of an “emergency” in Scotland’s prisons.

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on funding low-carbon heat technologies in off-gas grid areas as part of the Warmer Homes Scotland programme rather than replacement fossil fuel boilers.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme makes available a number of low-carbon technologies where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro, Micro-wind and Micro-CHP systems. These …

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the take-up rate has been slow, how it will encourage and support people in installing low-carbon heating systems to help meet its target of 11% of non-electrical heat demand coming from renewable sources by 2020.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Scotland continues to attract more than its pro-rata share under the GB-wide Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) with around 19% of both domestic and non-domestic accredited installations being in Scotland. The Scottish Government currently provides two loan sche…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a list of the modes of communication used by (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) its officials for business purposes, and how it monitors the use of these.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The modes of communication used by (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) its officials for business purposes on Scottish Government devices are:Fixed Telephone linesMobile Phones (including text messaging and access to SmartPhone Apps)Government email i…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many responses to Freedom of Information requests that it has released in each of the last three years have included details of communications conducted via (a) WhatsApp, (b) Facebook, (c) Twitter, (d) Instagram, (e) Snapchat and (f) text message.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government has received around 8,500 Freedom of Information requests over the last three calendar years. The Scottish Government has not recorded how many of the responses to these requests included information originally communicated via specifi…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it issues to its staff guidance regarding the appropriate modes of communication that should be used for business purposes, and whether it will (a) publish or (b) place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) a copy of this guidance.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government’s IT Code of Conduct, Mobile Employee Agreement and guidance on the use of Social Media Tools are made available to employees and users of the Scottish Government computer services via our corporate web-site, Saltire. There is no issue…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its staff have completed training regarding their duties and responsibilities under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 in each of the last three years.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Following the Scottish Information Commissioner’s 2018 intervention, new training packages have recently been compiled for delivery to all business areas within the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government’s FOI Unit has designed these packages with input…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what limitations it places on the modes of communication used by its staff for business purposes, and how these are enforced.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government only applies limitations to modes of communication when the security or reputation of the organisation is at risk. All web, mail and social media usage from the Scottish Government’s network is monitored and protected by our Cyber Sec…

10 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on the use of (a) ProtonMail and (b) other encrypted messaging apps or services for business-related communications.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Officials who use the Scottish Government’s mobile telephony services may install third-party applications for business use, including encrypted messaging apps. There are a number of communications tools that staff can access via the web or download to mobile…

4 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25336 by Humza Yousaf on 30 September 2019, whether it will provide details of the reconfiguration of the prison estate that has been undertaken.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: SPS has currently implemented 5 separate phases of our population management plan. This allows SPS to safely manage a maximum of 8492 …

4 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many bottle recycling banks there are in each local authority area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: This information is not held centrally.

1 Oct 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to set out a clear timetable for the delivery of the R100 programme.

30 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what timetable and process has been agreed for the completion and publication of the Fuel Poverty Strategy.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Section 7(4) of the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy)(Scotland) Act 2019 requires Scottish Ministers to lay the first proposed Fuel Poverty Strategy before the expiry of the period of 1 year beginning with the day on which section 6 comes into f…

25 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to RSPB Scotland reporting that the population of corncrakes has decreased by more than 30% since 2014, and what (a) funding and (b) other support it offers to farmers and crofters to help them to manage land in ways that could improve corncrake habitat.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: While it is disappointing that the latest RSPB survey has reported that overall, corncrake numbers in Scotland are declining, however, it is encouraging to note they are increasing in some areas, especially in the Outer Hebrides and Orkney. The Scottish Gove…