Liam Kerr

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to train facilitators of restorative justice centrally, and how much this will cost.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Our Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, sets a desired outcome of having high quality restorative justice services delivered by trained facilitators. The Plan also sets out…

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the level of policing service that has been provided to rural areas in the last year.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The day to day delivery of policing, and operational decisions about the allocation of policing resources across Scotland, are a matter for the Chief Constable, under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA). However, the Scottish Government is as…

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers are funded by each local authority.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority. The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the Victim Surcharge Fund, and when it will become operational.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: As set out in my answer to questions S5W-22749 on 2 May 2019 and S5W-19571 on 7 November 2018, we were seeking an Order under section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998 to facilitate recovery of the surcharge via deduction from benefits and bring Scotland into line…

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what restorative justice services are offered by each local authority, and what analysis it has carried out of the effectiveness of these.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21680 on 1 March 2019. In addition, the Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , published in June, sets out in more detail the analysis which under…

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported claim by the General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation that it is underfunding the police service.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Police Scotland’s revenue budget during this Parliament to deliver a £100 million boost by 2021. The Scottish Budget 2019-20 shows that the total Scottish Government funding for the Scottish Police Authority …

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that the restorative justice services offered by some local authorities are suitable only for young people.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: As part of the development of our Restorative Justice Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/restorative-justice-action-plan/ , which was published in June 2019, we undertook a survey seeking evidence on the current use of restorative justice across …

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Justice last met the Scottish Prison Service to discuss physical restraint techniques.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has regular discussions with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to discuss a range of prison policy and operational matters.

18 Jun 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent of the £308 million that it plans to allocate to social security by 2022-23.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Financial Memorandum made it clear that the £308 million was an initial estimate for a four year programme which could change materially. The costs of implementing the Social Security programme for financial year 17-18 were published as part of the Scott…

12 Jun 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consultations it has had with tourism businesses in the north east regarding factors that can impact on the effectiveness of their operation.

5 Jun 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the SPA regarding the police estate.

29 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23146 by Humza Yousaf on 28 May 2019, whether it was aware that the Scottish Police Authority reportedly did not meet its commitment to move 100 officers from support roles to the front line in 2018-19, and, if it is not aware of such issues, whethe…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not collect data on the number of police officers and staff in workforce categories. The deployment of police officers and staff is a matter for the Chief Constable and it is for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to hold the Chi…

28 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on its review of the National Transport Strategy, and when it expects to (a) publish a consultation on and (b) complete this review.

Answer · Michael Matheson: We are continuing our collaborative approach to the National Transport Strategy (NTS) review and we will launch our public consultation this summer. This will allow even more citizens, businesses and partners to have their say on the draft strategy. We will f…

28 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done with all of the materials recovered from the Aberdeen to Inverness rail improvements project.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Network Rail is responsible for delivering the Aberdeen to Inverness Improvement Project (A-I) on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Network Rail advise they are committed to recovering, re-using and recycling materials as much as possible. An example of this on t…

22 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to reduce the amount of meat containing nitrites being served in hospitals.

15 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether prison officers receive formal training for dealing with prisoners with mental health problems and, if so, what form this takes.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: Responsibility for the delivery of clinical mental health services transferred from SPS to the NHS on 1 November 2011. NHS Health Boar…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has surveyed awareness of serious organised crime in the private, public and third sectors since June 2015, and whether it will provide the data from any such surveys.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government published a report on public perceptions of organised crime in Scotland on 4 June 2018, a copy of which can be found on the Scottish Government's website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-perceptions-organised-crime-scotland…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it has monitored the use of serious crime prevention orders since their introduction, and whether it will provide any data or reports produced from this.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Since the introduction of serious crime prevention orders (SCPOs) in 2016, the Scottish Government has met and corresponded regularly with relevant stakeholders including Police Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service to monitor their use and to consider iss…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to divert individuals from serious organised crime in (a) schools, (b) communities and (c) prisons since June 2015; how it has evaluated this activity’s effectiveness, and what the result of this evaluation was.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce have supported a wide range of activities in schools, communities and prisons since June 2015. These activities include The Slide education resource about a young person's invol…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been (a) charged and (b) convicted under sections 28 to 31 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 in each year since its commencement.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Sections 28 to 31 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 commenced on 13th December 2010. Section 29 relates to the recording of aggravators and is not an offence in itself so there are no charges or convictions under this section of the Ac…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many credit unions have received anti-money laundering training from the Scottish Business Resilience Centre since June 2015.

Answer · John Swinney: Since June 2015 there have been 14 specific training sessions on Anti-Money Laundering delivered by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre to six credit unions. This training is offered to other credit unions via the Association of British Credit Unions. Th…

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last published an annual report on its serious organised crime strategy.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce published an annual report on 3 November 2016 and plan to publish a further update on progress in implementing Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy later this year.

14 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Police Authority met its commitment to move 100 officers from support roles to frontline in 2018-19, and, if not, how many officers were moved.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not collect data on the number of police officers in support roles. The deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable and it is for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to hold the Chief Constable to account for…

13 May 2019 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to prison officers balloting on industrial action.

8 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22756 by Ash Denham on 7 May 2019, in light of the confirmation that the Scottish Prison Service has the capacity to use mobile phone detection technology that can pinpoint phone signals to specific cells, whether it will confirm if it uses this and…

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 the capability to deploy mobile detection technology across all Scottish prisons in order to identify the illicit use of perso…

7 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will bring forward measures to improve the input that victims and their families have into the temporary release process.

1 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to protect the jobs of people employed in the North Sea oil and gas sector as the industry changes.

24 Apr 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it next expects to publish a local government finance circular.

23 Apr 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Prison Service uses mobile detection technology that allows officers to pinpoint mobile phone signals to specific cells.

Answer · Ash Denham: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: SPS has the capability to deploy mobile detection technology across all prisons to identify the illicit use of personal communication …

16 Apr 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to tourism businesses in the north-east.