Parliamentary questions
Daniel Johnson
1,103 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £5.7 million shortfall in the budget allocation for national cybercrime infrastructure/cyber security in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 Ma…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £4.2 million shortfall in the budget allocation for business change and management programme in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £4.2 million shortfall in the budget allocation for estates in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £16.9 million shortfall in the budget allocation for GDPR and data projects in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £1.2 million shortfall in the budget allocation for specialist policing equipment in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £2.4 million shortfall in the budget allocation for core operating solutions in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £5.4 million shortfall in the budget allocation for digital evidence platform in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £5.3 million shortfall in the budget allocation for custody and productions remodelling in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) is responsible for allocating the budget for the policing of Scotland, which includes allocations to the Chief Constable and also to the Director of the Forensics Service. The Scottish Government had a number of discussions…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £4.3 million shortfall in the budget allocation for ICT in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £300,000 shortfall in the budget allocation for mobility in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence it has had with Police Scotland regarding the operational impact of the £8.3 million shortfall in the budget allocation for fleet in 2019-20 as identified in the Scottish Police Authority Board Papers of 28 March 2019.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22550 on 3 May 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/288…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what dates since May 2016 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has requested that the Scottish Sentencing Council should prepare or review sentencing guidelines, broken down by offence.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Scottish Ministers have not exercised their powers under section 7 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 to formally request that the Scottish Sentencing Council prepare or review sentencing guidelines. Since the establishment of the Sent…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been for the contracts to run (a) HMP Addiewell and (b) HMP Kilmarnock in each year since 2010-11.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The following table shows the costs to SPS as per the annual accounts for each of the years since 2010-11 (the costs shown below are n…
2 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times in the last year an electronic tag was removed without authorisation on the grounds of medical emergency.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Information on the overall number of tags removed for emergency medical reasons is not routinely collated by the electronic monitoring service provider. However, in every case where the Electronic Monitoring service provider is notified that a tag has been r…
22 Mar 2019 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S5O-03051 by Kezia Dugdale on 21 March 2019, and the reference to its review of how it supports MSPs in their role as employers, what role it has in assisting MSPs engage and remunerate interns, and whether it would consider making fun…
Answer · Kezia Dugdale: MSPs are entitled to seek reimbursement of the cost of employing staff within the annual limit set for the Staff Cost Provision, and provided they do so on terms and conditions no less favourable than the minimums agreed by the SPCB. It is a matter for indi…
20 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the volume of (a) food and (b) clothing that is discarded from commercial premises each year.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency collects statistical information on waste generated by a variety of sectors, including the commercial and industrial sector. Statistics are broken down into a number of categories; including animal and mixed food was…
19 Mar 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the communities secretary has had with the justice secretary regarding the role that local authorities play in the delivery of drug treatment testing orders and the resources spent in this area.
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average annual cost is of a prison place (a) at HMP Addiewell, (b) at HMP Kilmarnock and (c) across the prison estate.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The SPS’s Key Performance Indicators are reported in the SPS Annual Report and Accounts 2017 – 2018 and show the average annual cost per prisoner place was £35,293. This is the total cost for SPS as cost per individual establishments are not calculated.
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-02689 by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2018, whether it will set out the options that have been considered by the justice secretary and the Deputy First Minister regarding secure unit availability, and whether any of these options are being taken forw…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Officials have met with representatives from COSLA and Scotland Excel to discuss how best to prioritise referrals to secure care from Scottish Local Authorities. A paper outlining the possible options has been drafted and further discussions are underway to e…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) remand and (b) sentenced prisoners have been sent to HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont since 2013 as a result of space being unavailable at secure care units.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: (a) Scottish Government does not gather or hold information on those cases as Scottish Ministers have no role in remand cases. Remand cases are a matter for local authorities and the courts, as per section 51 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. (b…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what dates since May 2016 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has instructed the Scottish Sentencing Council to prepare or review sentencing guidelines, broken down by offence.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Ministers cannot instruct the Sentencing Council to prepare or review sentencing guidelines. Under section 7 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, the Scottish Ministers may request the Council to prepare sentencing guidelin…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what dates since May 2016 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has met the Scottish Sentencing Council.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Since the establishment of the Sentencing Council in late 2015, there have been meetings and regular engagement both by the previous Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson MSP, and I with Lady Dorrian, the chair of the Sentencing Council, in her role…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers (a) nationally and (b) in each division have been issued with a taser in each of the last five years, also broken down by how many times the devices were deployed.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the chief constable regarding the use of tasers to ensure that their deployment does not become the norm for day-to-day policing,
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I meet the Chief Constable on a regular basis and discuss a range of topics. The use of Tasers is an operational matter for Police Scotland.
14 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of migrant tenants might being exploited for their labour in exchange for rent.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government has not carried out any analysis of migrant tenants who might be being exploited for their labour in exchange for rent. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the framework for identifying victims of human trafficking and exploitati…
14 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Police Scotland has not published a disaggregation of hate crime incidents since 2013-14, and when it will resume doing so.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Police Scotland have never published a regular disaggregation of hate crime incidents. When the Scottish Government last published Official Statistics on Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland [1] , we outlined for users our plan to investigate…
13 Mar 2019 · SPCB Oral Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its policy is regarding unpaid work and internships within the Parliament.
Answer · Kezia Dugdale: The SPCB supports short term paid internships with partners such as Career Ready and Inclusion Scotland. We also offer one 3-week paid placement within the Parliament’s legal team as part of a competition for law students run annually by the Law Society of S…
4 Mar 2019 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister whether the merger of Police Scotland and the British Transport Police has been permanently abandoned.
27 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the second supplementary to question S5T-01518 by Ash Denham on 26 February 2019 (Official Report, c. 8), in light of the minister's comment that "I agree that a review [of fatal accident inquiries] is required", whether it will confirm the scope, purpose and ti…
Answer · Ash Denham: As previously stated, the commitment given was that the issue of legal aid for families involved in fatal accident inquiries will be considered as part of wider planned reforms to legal aid legislation arising from the Independent Review of Legal Aid. Such c…
25 Feb 2019 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing legal aid to victims' families for fatal accident inquiries.