Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37158

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that only around a quarter of assaults on shop workers in 2023 have resulted in a conviction.

Assaults committed against anyone including retail workers are unacceptable and law enforcement has a range of powers available in dealing with such behaviour.

Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics define a conviction rate as the proportion of people prosecuted in court that are subsequently convicted and are recorded in the financial year in which the case concluded in court. Where the main charge (the most serious offence) was under section 1 of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-Restricted Products) (Scotland) Act 2021, the latest official data relates to the period 2022-23 and this showed a conviction rate of 95%, with 163 convictions out of 172 prosecuted persons.

More generally, the number of charges reported to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of offences under the 2021 Act in the period since it was introduced in August 2021 is 6,577. This is for the period up to March 2025. Please note it takes time for criminal cases to flow through the justice system from being recorded by the police through to reporting to prosecutors, decisions being made whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute and a prosecution proceeding through to conviction and sentence. In addition, a single case may include multiple charges and in general counts of charges, cases and people are distinct and provide different perspectives on the justice system. As such, care must be taken in use of data which seeks to assess the rate at which reports made and recorded by the police lead to prosecution and conviction.

The next set of criminal proceedings data for the period 2023-24 is currently being processed and will be available later in the year. This will contain conviction rates for 2023-24, including the second full year under the 2021 Act.

Question reference: S6W-36676

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have accessed cancer drug trials in each NHS board area in each year since 1999.

Directly comparable data is available from Financial Year 2014-2015 onwards corresponding to the introduction of the EDGE clinical research management system across the territorial NHS Boards and this data has been provided in the table below.

Patient recruitment figures by Financial Year are provided for 11/14 territorial NHS Boards. NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland patients are routinely treated as part of the NHS Grampian service and patients from these boards are included in the NHS Grampian recruitment figures below. A similar arrangement exists between NHS Western Isles and NHS Highland and is reflected in the recruitment figures below.

Accessed has been interpreted as patients who have been consented and recruited into a trial.

Drug trials has been interpreted as a Clinical Trial of an Investigative Medicinal Product as defined in the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trial) regulations 2004.

	FY14-15	FY15-16	FY16-17	FY17-18	FY18-19	FY19-20	FY20-21	FY21-22	FY22-23	FY23-24	FY24-25
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	26	15	14	14	9	15	1	8	4	1	4
NHS Borders	2	10	3	8	5	7	7	4	0	11	14
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	5	3	1	7	3	0	1	12	18	19	9
NHS Fife	11	14	13	29	28	25	6	12	4	10	15
NHS Forth Valley	21	21	28	23	34	8	3	10	2	30	10
NHS GGC	472	419	418	451	451	424	210	303	271	301	272
NHS Grampian	118	104	88	68	93	78	38	69	84	74	38
NHS Highland	38	40	67	71	73	63	22	60	40	5	8
NHS Lanarkshire	46	22	19	36	39	15	2	5	8	23	20
NHS Lothian	164	174	238	317	329	291	167	242	133	145	139
NHS Tayside	64	42	57	51	57	39	23	63	34	33	29

Question reference: S6O-04624

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting and encouraging diversity in Scotland's businesses, including who leads, owns and works within them.

Question reference: S6O-04609

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, when authorising fishing licences, what process it follows to comply with any legal duty under section 15 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, and the judgement in case, The Open Seas Trust v The Scottish Ministers, to act in accordance with the National Marine Plan.

Question reference: S6O-04615

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on implementing the "Land use and agriculture" measures set out in its Climate change action: policy package published in April 2024.

Question reference: S6O-04636

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what further action it can take to increase the stock of accessible housing.

Question reference: S6O-04620

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what pathways are available to obtain a child ADHD assessment for those who do not have a co-existing mental health disorder that meets the CAMHS mental health criteria and who cannot afford a private assessment.

Question reference: S6O-04616

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to improve outcomes for people with brain tumours.

Question reference: S6O-04614

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding whether anaerobic digestion facilities can support the decarbonisation of the agricultural sector by providing low-carbon fertiliser and the creation of biogas.

Question reference: S6O-04639

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on its own reported assessment that its target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 is at risk.

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