- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many updates highlighting the number of persistent young offenders, compared to the total number of young offenders, have ministers or their officials received from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration which have shown a drop in the number of persistent young offenders for the period since January 2005.
Answer
Quarterly updates on youth justiceare laid in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, covering the period of interestto the member.
Scottish Youth Justice Data– Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports have the following references - Quarter 4 2004-05 (Bib. number 37303), Quarter1 2005-06 (Bib. number 39893 ), Quarter 2 2005-06 (Bib. number 40108), Quarter 32005-06 (Bib. number 39894).
Scottish Youth Justice PerformanceReport 2003-04 to 2005-06 (Bib.number 40065).
These updates show the totalnumbers of young people referred to the Children’s Reporter on offence grounds,and the number of young people who qualified as Persistent Young Offenders in therelevant time period.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates its provisional media lines were prepared in relation to feedback and provisional figures being provided by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to ministers or their officials related to persistent young offenders.
Answer
Scottish Executive officialscontinuously update and revise briefing and advice to ministers in the light ofnew evidence and emerging trends.
Provisional media lines wereprepared for the publication of Quarter 3 2005-06 data on 31 March 2006 and theScottish Youth Justice Performance Report on 11 July 2006.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it now expects to reach the target set in August 2005 of reducing the number of persistent young offenders to 1,080 by March 2006.
Answer
The target to reduce the numberof persistent young offenders in Scotland by 10% was set in 2002 and the necessary reduction quantifiedin November 2004. Building a Better Scotland set a further target in 2004 to reducethe total number of persistent young offenders from the targeted levels for March2006 by a further 10% by end March 2008. That remains in place.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether PA Consulting Group was involved in the generation of figures on persistent young offenders included in the data published by the Executive and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on 11 July 2006.
Answer
No. The Scottish Children’s ReporterAdministration collated the data.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive why different agencies involved in tackling youth crime are still using different methods to define who is and is not a persistent young offender and when this situation will be ended.
Answer
The national definition of persistentyoung offender was set out in the national standards for Scotland’s youthjustice services and confirmed in the Scottish Youth Justice Performance Baseline2003-04 announced on 4 November 2004. This definition was accepted and publicly endorsed bykey agencies at that time.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of any connection between homelessness and offending or reoffending.
Answer
Research suggeststhat there is a complex interaction between homelessness and offending: experienceof homelessness is a risk factor for involvement in offending, and spending timein prison is a risk factor for homelessness: previously having been in prison isalso a risk factor for involvement in offending. In addition, there is evidencethat homeless people experience higher levels of crime than the general population.
Data on homelessnessapplications for 2004-05 show that around 10% of single men applying as homelesscited “discharge from prison” as the reasonfor applying as homeless. See:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1125/0018961.pdfp.31 Table A.
Asummary of relevant research can be found at Annex A of the document Criminal JusticeAccommodation Services – A review and Consultation Paper:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/cjar-15.asp.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the extent of its own investigations into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency or its proxies were involved in the transportation of individuals via airports in Scotland to destinations where it is alleged that they were subsequently tortured.
Answer
It is not for the Scottish Executiveto investigate these allegations. The initiation of a criminal investigation isa matter for the police. So far, the police have taken the view that there is insufficientcredible and reliable information to support such an investigation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were treated by the NHS for drug dependency in each year since 1999.
Answer
The number of people dischargedfrom general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland withan explicit diagnosis of drug dependency from 1999-2000 onwards is detailed in thefollowing table:
| Discharge Period | Number Discharged from General Acute Hospitals | Number Discharged from Psychiatric Hospitals |
| 1999-2000 | 1,285 | 543 |
| 2000-01 | 1,507 | 591 |
| 2001-02 | 1,424 | 555 |
| 2002-03 | 1,507 | 483P |
| 2003-04 | 1,478 | |
| 2004-05 | 1,610P | |
PProvisional.
Source: SMR01; SMR04.
Notes:
1. Includes Scottish residentsonly.
2. Figures in the table relateonly to those individuals who are treated as in-patients in acute hospitals or psychiatrichospitals. They do not include individuals managed as out-patients.
3. Information is on individualpatients within a year. If one patient is admitted in two different years, theywill be counted separately in each year.
4. Diagnostic information isdefined by using the World Health Organization’s International Classification ofDiseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Dependence syndrome uses a subset of drug misusecodes (F11.2, F12.2, F13.2, F14.2, F15.2, F16.2, F18.2, F19.2).
5. Caution is necessary wheninterpreting these figures. The recording of drug misuse may vary from hospitalto hospital and over time. Where drug dependency is suspected but unconfirmed itmay not be recorded by the hospital.
6. 2002-03 is the most recentyear for which complete SMR04 data is available.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what new targets it has set for reducing the numbers of persistent young offenders, in light of a 10% reduction by March 2006 not being achieved.
Answer
No new targets have yet beenset with regard to persistent young offenders – we have made it clear we expectall agencies to work to meet the target set for the end of March 2008.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many drivers were involved in road traffic accidents in each year since 1999, broken down by age group
Answer
Information on the number ofcar drivers involved in road traffic accidents resulting in an injury which werereported to the police from 1994 to 2004, broken down by age group, is given intable 18 of Road Accidents Scotland, 2004, publishedby the Scottish Executive in 2006. A copy is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 38777).
