Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-09561

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has provided towards the development of a Borderlands growth deal.

Scotland's strong ties with the North of England flourish. We continue to develop and strengthen these, identifying opportunities for greater practical co-operation. In 2013, we launched the Borderlands Initiative to facilitate cross border council discussions between Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Northumberland County Council and Scottish Borders Council. The Initiative has help to cement social and economic links. We welcome the work being taken forward by the five councils to develop the initiative with proposals for a Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. We look forward to exploring those further with the councils to identify how we can support those ambitions and ensure that they support the inclusive growth and competitiveness of the South of Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-01069

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it made to the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer and National Museums Scotland regarding the acquisition and display of the Galloway Viking hoard.

Question reference: S5W-09005

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether only people with a specialist qualification in clinical behaviour should provide behavioural advice on the use of electronic training collars for dogs.

The Scottish Government is in discussion with a wide range of stakeholders from the pet industry, animal training and veterinary profession about the format and content of the tough new regulations on the use of electronic training collars, including the training and qualifications required by trainers who may approve their use in defined circumstances. Regulations will be presented to the Scottish Parliament for approval in due course.

Question reference: S5W-09006

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations it has met to discuss proposed regulations on static pulse, sonic and spray collars used on dogs, since it announced its plans to regulate their use in September 2016.

Question reference: S5O-00863

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the criteria used to assess potentially vulnerable areas.

SEPA has begun to review the National Flood Risk Assessment and the designation of potentially vulnerable areas (PVAs) for the Flood Risk Management planning cycle 2016-2022. As part of this work, SEPA will revisit the underlying methodology used to designate PVAs and they will also be considering new evidence and information that has emerged since the previous designation. SEPA will continue to work closely with all local authorities to ensure that the review uses the best evidence currently available.

Question reference: S5W-07922

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the role of a community link worker is, and how many have been recruited to work in GP surgeries since September 2016, broken down by NHS board.

Community Link Working is an approach for connecting people to non-medical sources of support or resources in the community which are likely to help with the health problems they are experiencing. The twin objectives of the Scottish Government's Links Worker Programme is to enable people to live well within their community and also help to ease pressure on General Practices.

The Scottish Government has committed to recruiting 250 Links Workers during the lifetime of this parliament, with at least 40 being recruited by September this year. Recruitment will begin from April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-07924

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many employers have signed-up to the Carer Positive scheme since September 2016.

Question reference: S5O-00798

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to raise the incomes of families with children living in poverty.

Question reference: S5W-07855

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that vets have sufficient training to provide appropriate advice and guidance on the use of electronic training collars under its plans to regulate the static pulse, sonic and spray collars used on dogs.

Question reference: S5W-07202

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions under (a) section 19 and (b) the rest of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 there (i) were in (A) 2014, (B) 2015 and (C) 2016 and (ii) have been in 2017; how many led to a conviction, broken down by type of disposal, and how much was collected in fines.

The available information is provided in the following tables by financial year.

People prosecuted for offences under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) 2006¹, 2013-14 to 2015-16

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Section 19	98	117	88
all sections except 19	26	33	16
Total prosecutions	124	150	104

People convicted of offences under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) 2006¹, by disposal, 2013-14 to 2015-16

Main result of proceedings	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Section 19	79	94	69
Custody	2	6	8
Community sentence	23	25	13
Financial²	37	50	36
Other	17	13	12
all sections except 19	20	26	14
Custody	-	1	-
Community sentence	7	8	2
Financial²	9	13	6
Other	4	4	6
Total convictions	99	120	83

Amount of fines issued for convictions under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) 2006¹, 2013-14 to 2015-16

Amount of Fine	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Section 19	37	49	34
up to £200	12	18	7
£201-£500	20	23	22
£501-£1000	5	6	5
£2501-£5000	-	1	-
£5001-£10000	-	1	-
all sections except 19	9	13	6
up to £200	2	4	1
£201-£500	7	4	4
£501-£1000	-	1	1
£1001-£2500	-	2	-
£2501-£5000	-	1	-
over £10000	-	1	-
Total number of fines	46	62	40

1. Where main charge.

2. Includes fines and compensation orders.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Fines imposed under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006¹

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

Value imposed during period

Value paid in relation to fines imposed during period

Value imposed during period

Value paid in relation to fines imposed during period

Value imposed during period

Value paid in relation to fines imposed during period

£15,155

£13,728

£29,410

£27,797

£15,843

£14,828

1. Once a case is disposed, financial penalties from each charge within the case are amalgamated into one fine account. A fine account may contain fines in relation to multiple charges and in this instance other charges other than the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 which we are unable to filter out. Therefore we are unable to distinguish the value paid to individual charges. The values shown in the table are in relation to fine accounts where at least one of the charges relating to the Animal and Welfare (S)Act 2006 are present.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service uses a live operational case management system for the processing of court business. The information held on the system is structured for these operational needs, rather than for statistical reporting or research purposes. The information provided is based on the best information available from the case management system as at 21-02-2017.

Data produced by the SCTS Management Information Analysis Team.

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