Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-12604

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the candidate selection process that took place in order to appoint a new permanent chair to the board of Ferguson Marine, and whether it provide details of (a) how the post was advertised, (b) how many candidates (i) applied and (ii) were shortlisted and (c) (i) how and (ii) for what reason the final appointment was made.

Between 14 January 2022 and 17 February 2022 the role of Chair of the Board Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) was publicly advertised. Two candidates applied but were not successful.

Following the unsuccessful public recruitment exercise, a recruitment agency was engaged via the framework agreement with the Crown Commercial Service. Three potential candidates were invited for formal interview. The formal interviews tested strong leadership, change management, knowledge of the Public Sector, governance, analysis and decision making as well as communication, networking, influencing, mediation and conflict resolution skills. A recommendation was made to Ministers based on the ranking at formal interview and a formal offer of appointment was made to the highest ranking candidate assessed against the stated criteria.

Question reference: S6W-12706

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of (a) 999 and (b) 101 calls have been abandoned or discontinued in each year since 2014.

Question reference: S6W-12871

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many drink-driving (a) incidents, (b) charges, and (c) convictions there have been in each year since 2014.

The latest available information is provided in the following tables.

(a) N umber of offences related to drink/drugs driving, recorded by the police 2014-15 to 2021-22.

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs	450	540	653	719	771	742	897	883
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs	54	71	123	137	148	159	138	147
Driving motor vehicle with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit	3,161	3,239	3,465	3,262	3,201	3,275	2,756	2,972
In charge of motor vehicle while blood alcohol content above limit	390	364	331	333	333	324	255	299
Failure to provide breath specimen at roadside	477	509	569	602	591	630	637	592
Failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station	686	735	776	810	803	848	923	906
Driving motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above prescribed limit	-	-	-	-	-	573	2,336	1,886
In charge of motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above prescribed limit	-	-	-	-	-	43	155	88
Total	5,218	5,458	5,917	5,863	5,847	6,594	8,097	7,773

(b) Driving under the influence charges reported to COPFS, 2014-15 to 2021-22.

2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
5,434	5,486	5,884	5,770	5,840	5,990	6,272	7,120

Source: COPFS.

(c) The latest available information on the number of people convicted for ‘driving under the influence’ is published in the ‘Criminal Proceedings in Scotland – 2020-21' statistical bulletin, table 4(b).

A breakdown of the various crime types that make up this category is provided in the following table, please note that we are unable to separate alcohol offences from drug related offences in some crime groups.

People convicted of offences related to driving under the influence, where main crime, by crime type, 2014-15 to 2020-21.

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Driving motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above	-	-	-	-	-	4	119
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs	203	196	239	255	315	304	145
Driving mv with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit	2,791	2,654	2,746	2,734	2,548	2,460	1,535
Failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station	382	406	352	368	404	368	231
Failure to provide breath specimen at the roadside	55	48	51	53	42	43	16
In charge of motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs	26	31	34	48	34	44	26
In charge of mv while blood alcohol content above limit	224	202	212	202	209	179	107
Total convicted	3,681	3,537	3,634	3,660	3,552	3,402	2,185

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Please note:

Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be indicative of long term trends.

The latest available data is for 2020-21. Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-12485

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) adults and (b) children have been admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of asthma in NHS (i) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (ii) Ayrshire and Arran in (A) 2011, (B) 2016, (C) 2020, (D) 2021 and (E) 2022 to date.

Question reference: S6O-01699

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport last met with CalMac representatives.

Question reference: S6W-12478

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the most recent Quarterly Fines Report from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

The independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has the operational responsibility for the collection of criminal fines in Scotland. On 17 October 2022, SCTS published their latest quarterly fines report. This report is an official statistics publication and uses a rolling three year collection rate which reflects that fines and financial penalties, by their nature, require time to pay. As such, using a full three year period containing both newer and older fines gives a more balanced view of collection rates.

The latest report indicated that the three year collection rate for all fine/penalty types showed improvement for both value and number when the figures as at 19 July 2022 are compared with 17 October 2022. For example, 86% of sheriff court fines were either paid or on track to be paid as at 17 October compared to 85% as at 19 July.

We welcome this improvement and support the efforts of SCTS to collect and enforce fines using all the available tools at their disposal.

Question reference: S6W-12472

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Justice Directorate's budget has been spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each year since 2016.

The Justice Portfolio has spent £11,610.31 on first class rail travel for civil servants since 2016. Ministerial travel costs are paid for from a separate budget. A breakdown of the total cost is provided in the following table:

Calendar year	Calendar year spend (£)
2016	£1860.55

2017	£3975.54

2018	£3392.43

2019	£1009.24

2020	£292.25

2021	£998.35

2022 to date	£81.95

The Scottish Government’s rail travel policy dictates that civil servants should use standard class for all rail journeys. Scottish Government staff are also encouraged to aim to buy reduced rail fares, including day returns, saver tickets and also avoid expensive flexible/anytime rail fares whenever possible.

Civil Servants are, however, allowed to make use of first class rail travel on overnight journeys such as the Caledonian Sleeper or Eurostar. These journeys are reflected in the costs noted above.

Question reference: S6W-12470

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much its Justice Directorate has spent on external management consultants in (a) 2012 and (b) each year since 2016.

The Justice portfolio has spent a total of £301,853.07 on external management consultants in 2012 and 2016-2019. This data relates to direct spend by the Scottish Government and does not include expenditure on consultancy services by public bodies. There was no spend on management consultancy services in the years 2020-2022. A breakdown of these costs is provided in the following table:

Year	Total	Business area
2012	£216,511.61	Police and Fire policy
2016	£3,904.60	Digital evidence sharing capability
2017	£26,973.46	Digital evidence sharing capability Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) job evaluation

	£2,000
2018	£51,168	Roadmap for transformation of the criminal justice sector
2019	£5,200	Independent Review into Police Complaints

Question reference: S6W-12487

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times Legionnaires' disease has been detected on the Police Scotland estate in each year since 2013.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information to answer this question. I have asked Police Scotland to write to you providing the information you have requested. However, Police Scotland has reassured me that they conduct regular legionella testing across the Police Estate and if legionella bacteria is detected an immediate mitigation plan is put in place. Police Scotland has confirmed that there have been no cases of Legionnaires disease reported since 2013.

The Member will be aware of the temporary closure of the Scottish Police Collage at Tulliallan from 6 December. This was the result of routine testing and, as a precaution, Police Scotland’s leadership team has decided to temporarily close Tulliallan to allow further investigations and action to be undertaken.

There are no confirmed cases and the risk to individuals remains extremely low. However, Police Scotland has been clear that the safety and wellbeing of officers and staff is paramount. The closure will allow for a full flush of all water systems to be carried out, and further testing done to ensure there is no trace of bacteria remaining. There will be no impact on operational policing as a result of this.

Responsibility for the management of the police estate sits with Police Scotland, which is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority.

Question reference: S6W-12592

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the current (a) timescales, (b) plans and (c) legislative changes it plans to propose to reform the dual role of the Lord Advocate, in their capacity as head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and as a minister in the Scottish Government and its principal legal adviser, in line with its commitments to do so.

The Programme for Government published in September 2021 covered this Parliamentary session running up to March 2026. Within it, there is a commitment as follows:

'The Scottish Government’s law officers, amongst other roles, act as the head of the independent prosecution service and as members of the Scottish Government. We will consult on whether the prosecution and government functions of the law officers should be separated.'

Work is continuing to progress towards a Scottish Government consultation. Development of the consultation will be informed by an initial phase of expert research, which is currently underway. This research will ensure a detailed baseline understanding of the many distinct roles and functions of the Law Officers and will provide information on how the functions of Law Officers operate in other countries.

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