- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to build a metal security fence around its offices at Victoria Quay in the run-up to the G8 summit.
Answer
For security reasons, the Scottish Executive does not divulge any details relating to counter measures being adopted within its estate but I can confirm that Victoria Quay currently has a surrounding perimeter fence.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many children have been detained at Dungavel House immigration removal centre since September 2001, broken down by month, on how many of these children were referred to the Reporter to the Children's Panel and, of those referred, on how many were deported before the reporter had concluded his investigations.
Answer
The operation of Dungavel is a matter for the Home Office. As such, the Scottish Executive does not collect information on the number of children held in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre.
I understand that six children who were resident in Dungavel have been referred to the Principal Reporter under section 52 of the Children (Scotland) Act. None of these were subsequently referred onto a hearing. All six children were deported before the Reporter had completed his investigations.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports have been recorded to the police involving racism in each year from 1999 to date, broken down by police force.
Answer
The information is as follows
Number of Racist Incidents
| Force | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 24 | 57 | 54 | 62 | 53 |
| Fife | 186 | 166 | 405 | 438 | 541 |
| Grampian | 103 | 180 | 236 | 303 | 125 |
| Lothian and Borders | 552 | 551 | 594 | 676 | 601 |
| Northern | 25 | 75 | 82 | 98 | 116 |
| Strathclyde | 866 | 1,241 | 1,495 | 1,615 | 1,833 |
| Tayside | 302 | 308 | 254 | 212 | 305 |
| Central | 184 | 153 | 235 | 189 | 227 |
| Total | 2,242 | 2,731 | 3,355 | 3,593 | 3,801 |
Source: Annual Statistical Returns from forces to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 3 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend section 20 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to allow a third-party to request a review of a refusal to disclose information where the applicant does not seek such a review and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
The Executive does not intend to make such an amendment to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The act has been in operation for only four months and the Executive is not aware of any evidence suggesting that its operation would be improved by an amendment of that nature.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 28 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments by the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care in the debate on dental health services on 21 April 2005 anent "200 extra dentists by 2008, which means 200 more than we already have" (Official Report c. 16274), how many NHS dentists there are currently; how many there will be, counted on the same basis, by 2008, and how many dentists (a) retiring and (b) otherwise removing themselves from NHS provision have been taken into account to support the comments.
Answer
The report Workforce Planning for Dentistry in Scotland (June 2004), estimated a shortfall of 215 general dental practitioners, based on a total of 2,614 NHS dentists. From this baseline we plan to have at least 2,814 NHS dentists by 2008 and these figures take account of joiners and leavers.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 28 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments by the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care in the debate on dental health services on 21 April 2005 anent "200 extra dentists by 2008, which means 200 more than we already have" (Official Report c. 16274), whether the Executive's stated target that all adults will have free dental checks by 2007 will be met if there is not a net increase in dentists by 200 in 2007.
Answer
The partnership commitment to systematically introduce free dental checks for all before 2007 will be challenging but is one we fully intend to meet.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of antisocial behaviour orders granted to local authorities have been breached in each year since 1999.
Answer
Tentative data on breaches of antisocial behaviour orders granted in local authority areas is available for 2003-04. During this period, 213 orders were in force and 144 (67%) were allegedly breached during the year. However, the independent researchers who collated this data for the Scottish Executive have advised that confusion over the term “breach” during the research means that this finding must be treated with extreme caution. The lack of robust data means that it is not possible to provide a reliable breakdown on a local authority basis for 2003-04. A further survey will be undertaken this summer which should clarify the position for 2004-05.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which parties, other than local authorities, have applied for antisocial behaviour orders.
Answer
Before June 2003 only local authorities had the power to apply for antisocial behaviour orders in Scotland. Registered Social Landlords (housing associations) were given the power in June 2003 by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.
Registered Social Landlords were responsible for 25 antisocial behaviour orders in 2003-04 which is 11% of the total applied for during this period.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of antisocial behaviour orders have been breached in each (a) local authority area and (b) sheriff court district in each year since 1999.
Answer
(a) I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-15528 on 21 April 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search. (b) Information on convictions where the offence involved breach of an antisocial behaviour order is provided by court area in the following table. 1The figures refer to numbers of cases3.
Breach of Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Charges Proved in Scottish Courts - 1999 to 2003
| Sheriff Court | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 20032 |
| Aberdeen | - | - | 4 | 18 | 17 |
| Airdrie | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
| Arbroath | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Ayr | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Cupar | - | - | 1 | 5 | - |
| Dumbarton | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Dundee | - | - | - | 6 | 2 |
| Dunfermline | - | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Edinburgh | 1 | 5 | 20 | 4 | 4 |
| Glasgow | - | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Hamilton | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| Kirkcaldy | - | - | - | 5 | 5 |
| Oban | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Peebles | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Peterhead | - | - | 1 | 1 | - |
| Selkirk | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 |
| Stirling | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Tain | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Total1 | 1 | 15 | 37 | 51 | 51 |
Notes:
1. Includes a small number of High Court and District Court cases.
2. Provisional data.
3. It is not possible to calculate the percentage of orders breached from this data as ASBOs may be breached more than once in an individual case and/or an ASBO may be breached and not lead to court action.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will consult on the draft guidance referred to in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill; when it expects the consultation period to end, and whether the Parliament will be able to consider the draft guidance before it is finalised.
Answer
Section 9 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill provides that the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) must, after consulting such persons as it thinks fit, produce guidance on how it determines whether a body meets the charity test. The guidance cannot be adopted until OSCR is set up in the form envisaged under the bill and those sections have been commenced. However, in preparation for this, OSCR will consult on the guidance before the charity test comes into force. The guidance will not be formally laid before the Parliament but the Communities Committee will be included in the consultation and OSCR will lay its annual report before the Parliament.
