S6W-36442

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many violent incidents involving weapons have been recorded in schools in each year since 2020.

Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

Information is not held centrally on the total number of violent incidents within schools that involve the use of a weapon. Some information is available where any such use of a weapon resulted in either the exclusion of a pupil or the recording of a weapon possession (used) crime by the police.

Table One shows those exclusions from school in 2020-21 and 2022-23 which included the reasons of Physical assault using improvised weapon, physical assault using weapon and threat of physical violence using weapon or improvised weapon. This data is published biennially, with the next update covering the 2024-25 academic year. It should be noted that each exclusion can include more than one reason and figures for 2020-21 will have been impacted by the closure of the school estate as part of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Table Two shows the number of weapon possession crimes in school recorded by the police, where the weapon has been used against another person (for example to threaten or assault). This only covers cases that have been reported to the police, and again the relatively lower figures for the year ending December 2020 will likely reflect the pandemic related school closures.

Table One: Reasons for exclusion from school, 2020-21 and 2022-23

S6W-36460

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that non-harassment orders are effectively enforced in all circumstances, including when the offender has legal title to the shared home.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

A non-harassment order is an order requiring the person against whom it is made requiring them to refrain from such conduct in relation to another person as may be specified in the order. A civil court can make a non-harassment order under section 8 or section 8A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. A criminal court can make a non-harassment order under section 234A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and, in domestic abuse cases, section 234A as modified by section 234AZA of that Act.

Breach of a non-harassment order is a criminal offence and alleged breaches can be reported to Police Scotland.

S6W-36449

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the resilience of power supply infrastructure at Scottish airports, in light of the recent disruption at Heathrow Airport.

Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity

In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies.

Officials engaged regularly with Scottish airports during the disruption affecting Heathrow Airport in order to understand the impact on Scotland. Whilst no concerns were raised by Scottish airports in relation to power supply, we would of course be happy to engage further with the sector should any issues arise that directly affect Scotland.

S6W-36522

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the justification is for the reported 70% increase in civil service employment since 2013.

Answered by Robison, Shona - Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government

The Scottish Government expanded its workforce to deliver on the new powers devolved from the 2012 and 2016 Scotland Acts, including establishing the Social Security Agency, and to respond to EU Exit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

S6W-36434

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many public sector lease agreements it is currently reviewing as part of its property rationalisation programme, and what criteria are being used to determine value for money.

Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance

Under the Single Scottish Estate Programme, all leases that are in the name of Scottish Ministers are reviewed as they approach a break clause or lease end to ascertain whether renewal is necessary.

S6W-36661

Asked by: Dowey, Sharon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service about providing extra funding for the purchase of new equipment to fight wildfires, and, if so, what the outcome of any such discussions was.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

The Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) which is an increase of £18.8 million. This will enable SFRS to continue to deliver the high standard of services required to keep communities safe. This includes an increase from £43 million to £47 million in capital funding which will allow the service to invest more in property, fleet and equipment. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SFRS Board.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with SFRS to ensure continuing priority is given to the implementation of its wildfire strategy. The Service’s planned spend is circa £1.6 million over the course of the 3 year roll-out of its strategy. New equipment, vehicles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) continues to be rolled out and SFRS will fully implement its wildfire strategy during the course of 2025. As part of its strategy SFRS is adopting ‘burn suppression’ techniques such as those in use in the new Mediterranean-style specialist wildfire units. Due to extensive training and the use of new techniques, SFRS’s ability to tackle wildfires has never been so advanced.

S6W-36656

Asked by: Choudhury, Foysol (Scottish Labour - Lothian)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with NHS boards to better inform patients of how long they will be waiting after being referred to see a dermatologist.

Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

We expect Health Boards to write to patients when the patient is added to a waiting list for treatment to provide an estimation of their treatment date. In circumstances in which this cannot be provided, Boards are expected to signpost patients to an online platform where the patient can access further information about the waiting time for their agreed treatment in the responsible Health Board.

The revised Waiting Times Guidance, published in December 2023, includes a standard package of communications that all Health Boards should be providing. This ensures that patients are provided with clear communications throughout their care journey setting out what they should expect and their responsibilities while they are waiting for their appointment, test or treatment.

The guidance also makes clear that communications can be in any form that the patient has consented to, including via telephone, electronically or by post. It is important that patients are asked to confirm their needs at the beginning of their journey and their preferred format when receiving communication from the Health Board.

S6W-36781

Asked by: Wishart, Beatrice (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Shetland Islands)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider greater community control over established wind turbines to ensure that they are turned off to avoid instances of any negative health impacts from issues such as shadow flicker and low frequency noise emissions. 

Answered by Allan, Alasdair - Acting Minister for Climate Action

The grant of planning permission does not confer any right to ignore, or remove any responsibility to comply with, other legislation, such as noise and statutory nuisance legislation. This would be a matter for the relevant local authority to consider and for the environmental health department of that authority to act if there was determined to be a breach of the relevant legislation.

S6W-36663

Asked by: Dowey, Sharon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit more (a) on-call and (b) full-time firefighters.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

Decisions concerning the number and recruitment of both On-Call and Wholetime firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

S6W-36660

Asked by: Dowey, Sharon (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered reforms to the fitness test for new firefighters.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

The standard of fitness required for firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.