- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits have been made to the (a) Roxburgh and Berwickshire and (b) Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale parliamentary constituencies by ministers in each year from 1999 to date and how many are planned until the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament, detailing the ministers involved.
Answer
Information on the number of visits made by ministers since 1999 is not held centrally. With respect to future meetings, I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30344 on 22 October 2002. 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/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many parliamentary questions on prison issues are currently awaiting a substantive answer and when each question will receive such an answer.
Answer
There are currently no parliamentary questions on prison issues for which a substantive answer is outstanding.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 12 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government on the impact on the environment of CO2 emissions and, in particular, on publicity given to regulations relating to reductions on vehicle excise duty levied on private vehicles to reflect reduced CO2 emissions, on whether garages selling second-hand vehicles or issuing MOT certificates have been made aware of these regulations and on whether these regulations should apply retrospectively.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including emissions of CO2.CO2emissions are widely recognised as the main contributor to climate change. The UK strategy for tackling emissions of greenhouse gases, including CO2, is the UK Climate Change Programme of which the Executive's Scottish Climate Change Programme forms a part. The Executive is working in partnership with the UK Government to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol and in moving toward the domestic goal of a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010. Whilst recent reforms to encourage the use of less polluting vehicles support our environmental objectives, Vehicle Excise Duty is a matter reserved to the UK Government. Any publicity on this is therefore a matter for the Department for Transport.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30079 by Mr Jim Wallace on 16 October 2002, whether it supports the conclusion of the Secure Accommodation Advisory Group that there is no evidence to support the claims of a lack of secure accommodation given that it cannot provide data on the number of 14- to 16-year-olds held in adult prisons and what action it plans to take to compile such data.
Answer
A wide range of information is collected each time a 14- to 16-year-old is held in a penal establishment, as listed in the answer given to question S1W-30452 on 24 October 2002. 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/search_wa. The only information which cannot meaningfully be supplied is a distinction between young offenders in adult prisons and those in Young Offender Institutions. This is because many young offenders will pass through an adult prison on their way to reception in a Young Offenders Institution or may be transferred to a Young Offenders Institution after reception in an adult prison. As Young Offenders Institutions and adult prisons are all penal establishments in the Scottish Prison Service, this distinction is not relevant to the consideration of the need for secure accommodation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29481 by Mr Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002, whether it is concerned that it does not have comprehensive data on the (a) prevalence and (b) incidence of new cases of hepatitis C in each prison in each of the last three years and, if so, what action it plans to take to compile such information.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The aim of health care within SPS is to provide prisoner patients with access to the same quality and range of health services to which they would be eligible within the community, but subject to the constraints that custody imposes. Prisoners have the opportunity to be tested for hepatitis C which includes pre- and post-test counselling. Those known to be infected with hepatitis C are offered immunisation against hepatitis A. All prisoners on admission are offered hepatitis B immunisation.Specialist treatment for those prisoners known to be hepatitis C positive is provided by the NHS.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29261 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 October 2002, whether it will, as part of the costing of the proposed new 700-place private prison, include costings for all aspects involved in the transportation of remand prisoners to the prison.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:We do not anticipate that the contract for the new prison will include transport of prisoners, as that will be subject to our separate contractual arrangements for prisoner escorts.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27655 by Mr Jim Wallace on 29 October 2002, what the grounds were for each financial penalty incurred by Medacs and what the value of each such financial penalty was since the beginning of the contract.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The annual value of financial penalties imposed was provided in answer to question S1W-27655. The value of each individual penalty is commercially confidential. The data on performance specification will be made available when the Medacs contract is published in due course following discussion with the company.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27655 by Mr Jim Wallace on 29 October 2002, what the proportion of the financial penalty incurred by Medacs was to the value of the contract for each financial year since the contract with Medacs was made.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The cost of the contract in each year is commercially confidential. It is therefore not possible to provide the proportion to that figure of the amounts given in reply to question S1W-27655.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 7 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned an audit of sheriff courts on the cost to them of conforming to the requirements under disability legislation for access by disabled people to public buildings; when this audit was commissioned; whether it has published or will publish the audit on completion; what funding the Scottish Courts Administration has received to enable access to sheriff courts to comply with the legislation; how much has been allocated to each court, and when such allocation was made.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Court Service commissioned access consultants to undertake an audit of the court estate to determine the scale and extent of work required throughout the estate to ensure compliance with Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act. That process identified a number of areas where the consultants believed that modification of the court estate could be beneficial to courts users with a disability. These recommendations are currently being examined to determine their feasibility and cost of implementation. There are no plans to publish the audit results. Details of the resources for the Scottish Court Service were published in the Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-2006: What the Money Buys. Additional funds have been made available to enable the Scottish Court Service to accommodate pressures on its capital programme. This funding will, in part, be used to provide improved facilities for the disabled in the court estate. The cost of the programme of works required is being assessed. Funds have not been specifically allocated to individual court buildings as the programme of works will be developed and implemented on an estate wide basis.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30213 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 October 2002, why it has no survey data more recent than 1998 on young people held in secure accommodation.
Answer
The 1998 survey collected detailed information on each resident in secure accommodation and the care they received. This census has been repeated during October 2002, and the results will be made available in due course. In addition, the Executive collects and publishes basic information annually from secure care providers on the characteristics of children and their care. The last figures were published on 2 September covering the year 2000-01 at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00191-00.asp. This information was another source used to consider the supply and demand for secure care places.
