Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37396

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 16 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency beds were used within secure care accommodation for young people in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and 2025 to date.

The information is not available in the format requested. Information on the use of emergency beds for 2023 and 2024 can be found in Table 2 of the Children's Social Work Statistics: Secure Care 2023-24.

In December 2024, the Care Inspectorate published a protocol and procedures for secure accommodation services on the use of registered emergency beds. (Secure Emergency Bedroom Protocol November 2024.pdf).

Question reference: S6W-37486

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address any need to balance the reported operational pressures and budget constraints of Police Scotland with the need to maintain a visible and adequate security presence in courtrooms to ensure safety.

Question reference: S6W-37489

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to adapt to any shift in standard police case submissions from the occasional CCTV reference to routine body-worn video evidence.

Question reference: S6W-37487

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any additional resource requirements for court services resulting from any increase in the volume of body-worn camera footage submitted as evidence by Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37490

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will support the provision of additional training or guidance for staff involved in custody hearings and early case processing, in light of any increased reliance on body-worn video evidence.

Question reference: S6W-37491

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner regarding any implications of any increased use of body-worn cameras for its case preparation workload, and whether any operational support is being considered.

Question reference: S6W-37488

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated any impact on the processing times for case marking and prosecution decisions as a result of any need to review body-worn camera footage.

Question reference: S6O-04694

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support dental practices.

Question reference: S6W-37290

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many self-catering accommodation operators have been removed from the non-domestic rates register in each of the last five years.

The maintenance of the valuation roll, including the collection of evidence, valuation of properties, and decisions on the removal of properties, are the responsibility of the independent Scottish Assessors, in accordance with the legislative framework established by the Scottish Government.

Table 1 shows the number of self-catering properties removed from the non-domestic rates valuation roll since 2020-2021, by the financial year from which the decision was made effective. The Scottish Government does not have information relating to how many operators were the ratepayers for these subjects.

Decisions to remove a property from the valuation roll are generally retrospective, and the financial year from which a property is retrospectively removed from the valuation roll may precede the year in which this decision is made.

This table may also include some properties which were later reinstated to the valuation roll, and may count them more than once, for example if a property was removed, re-added, and removed again.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Table 1: Self-catering properties removed from the valuation roll, by year for which the deletion was effective

Year effective	Properties removed from the valuation roll
2020-2021	1,370
2021-2022	1,250
2022-2023	1,540
2023-2024	3,810
2024-2025	570

Question reference: S6O-04670

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle any violence against teachers and school staff in South Ayrshire.

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