Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-31071

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its budget underspend has been for financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, broken down by (i) portfolio and (ii) line item.

Annual outturn against budget is provided in the Scottish Government’s Consolidated Accounts. Results on a portfolio basis are reported within the Summary of Total Outturn section, and more detailed portfolio information is included within the relevant Consolidated Portfolio Outturn Statement.

In 2023-24, the Scottish Government reported an overall underspend of £277 million, representing 0.5% of the total budget. The underspend in 2022-23 was £509 million, 1% of that year’s total budget.

The underspends do not represent a loss of spending power to the Scottish Government. Under the current devolution settlement, the Scottish Government must manage spending within fixed limits. It is not allowed to overspend its budget and has limited powers to carry forward funding through the Scotland Reserve. As a consequence, the Scottish Government has consistently adopted a position of controlling public expenditure to ensure we live within the budget limits that apply, whilst remaining able to carry forward any fiscal underspends for use in a future year within the current Scotland Reserve Limits.

The Scottish Government’s Consolidated Accounts are published annually and are available on the Scottish Government’s website.

2023-24:

scottish-government-consolidated-accounts-year-ended-31-march-2024.pdf (www.gov.scot)

2022-23:

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-30972

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the capacity reduction on Caithness–Orkney routes (a) in absolute terms and (b) per capita resulting from the chartering of the MV Alfred.

Question reference: S6W-30971

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the capacity increase on Arran ferry routes (a) in absolute terms and (b) per capita resulting from the chartering of the MV Alfred.

Question reference: S6O-03953

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure appropriate oversight of the police use of facial recognition technology.

Question reference: S6W-30512

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, what its position is on what any differences in principle are between the proposed domestic homicide and suicide reviews and existing fatal accident inquiries.

Part two of the Criminal Justice Modernisation & Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 24 September 2024, includes provisions to create the statutory framework for what will be Scotland’s first national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model.

The purpose of domestic homicide and suicide reviews is to learn lessons following a death where domestic abuse is suspected to improve services and help prevent further deaths. The reviews will be undertaken by a review panel which will include an independent chair with a review oversight committee overseeing the completing of a review.

The Lord Advocate, is the Head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and is also responsible for investigating all sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths. Supported by Procurator’s Fiscal, in circumstances where a death is sudden, suspicious or unexplained, the Lord Advocate will investigate the death and seek to establish the cause of death and the circumstances of the death. A death investigation may lead to a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI.) The legislative framework which governs the holding of an FAI is the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016.

The purpose of a Fatal Accident Inquiry is to establish:

• where and when the death took place;

• the cause of the death;

• reasonable precautions whereby the death might have been avoided;

• the defects, if any, in any system of working that contributed to the death or any accident resulting in the death; and

• other facts relevant to the circumstances of the death.

As with the aims of a domestic homicide and suicide review, to prevent future deaths from happening in similar circumstances. However, unlike a domestic homicide and suicide review, FAI’s are a judicial process and a public examination of the circumstances of a death conducted before a Sheriff with the Sheriff issuing a determination at the conclusion of the Inquiry.

A domestic homicide and suicide review will take place where domestic abuse is suspected. An FAI is broader and can either be ‘mandatory’ in terms of Section 2 of the Act, and conducted where the death occurred (i) as the result of an accident when the deceased was acting in the course of their employment or occupation or (ii) when the deceased was in legal custody or was a child detained in secure accommodation at the time of the death or ‘Discretionary’ in terms of Section 4 of the Act, or ‘discretionary’ and conducted, on the Authority of the Lord Advocate, where the Lord Advocate considers that the death was sudden, suspicious or unexplained or that it occurred in circumstances that give rise to serious public concern and it is decided that it is in the public interest for an Inquiry to be held in to the circumstances of the death.

It is anticipated that the majority of cases likely to be reviewed under the domestic homicide and suicide review model, would not result in a FAI. The information gathered as part of a domestic homicide and suicide review will be information rather than ‘evidence’ and the reviews will have a specific focus on domestic abuse which will follow through to the learning and recommendations made from a review which will likely have a broader reach to safeguarding victims of domestic abuse in addition to the prevent of deaths.

Question reference: S6W-30611

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Orkney Ferries Task Force, including a list of all of the occasions when the Task Force has met in 2024.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the Orkney Ferry Replacement Task Force, which is supporting the Council address its fleet replacement challenges.

The Task Force has met twice in 2024, on Thursday 18 April and on Wednesday 2 October and meeting minutes will be published on the Transport Scotland website in due course.

Through the work of the Task Force we have confirmed that £3 million additional funding will be allocated to the Council. This funding will support the Council's electric ferry trial, design work for a North Isles ferry and desk top based work on the proposed port upgrades. These are all important steps in the development of a robust business case.

Question reference: S6W-30339

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported low incidence of violent and criminal behaviour among the public at large, what its understanding is regarding how the risk of base rate neglect will be factored into the operational use of live facial recognition technology, under the reported proposals by Police Scotland's Chief Constable.

Question reference: S6W-30329

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

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 of AI in confidential medical settings for the detection of cancer.

Question reference: S6W-30311

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

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.

Question reference: S6W-30315

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024

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.

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