Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-02425

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to determination in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.

Question reference: S3W-02426

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were designated by the Crown Office to administer fatal accident inquiries in each year since 1999, broken down by specific role.

Statistics are notcollated for the number and roles of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service(COPFS) staff involved in the administration of fatal accident inquiries (FAI).

Experienced legalstaff within COPFS investigate all sudden, suspicious, unexplained, unexpected oraccidental deaths and present evidence at FAIs.

In July 2007 the IndependentInspector of Prosecution published A Thematic Report on Liaison in DeathCases. The Inspector reports, at page 89, that he “found no evidence that thework was treated in a second class or secondary way’ and that ‘it tended to be seniorstaff who dealt with the work.”

Question reference: S3W-02422

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatal accident inquiries have been handled by the Crown Office in each year since 1999, broken down by sherffidom.

The number of fatalaccident inquiries (FAIs) recorded as completed in the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service’s case management database in each sheriffdom for each of the lastfive financial years is shown in the following table.

Fatal AccidentInquiries Completed: 2002-07

Sheriffdom	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	16	11	7	8	5
Grampian Highland and Islands	12	12	17	22	12
Lothian and Borders	3	7	12	7	2
North Strathclyde	6	3	11	3	1
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	10	9	11	15	6
Tayside, Central and Fife	11	13	15	16	9

Note: The Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case managementsystem in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain completedata which is capable of electronic analysis.

Question reference: S3W-02427

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of administering fatal accident inquiries in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-02421

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for a fatal accident inquiry there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom and also showing the number of refused requests.

Question reference: S3W-02428

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the longest period has been between authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to the determination and report in the last 10 years.

Question reference: S3W-02423

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from receipt of a request for a fatal accident inquiry to authorisation in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.

Question reference: S3W-03074

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20071 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2005, how many bankruptcies there have been in each year since 2005-06, broken down by sheriff court district.

The Accountant inBankruptcy (AiB) maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of the numbers of bankruptcies awarded by sheriffdomsby financial year are compiled by AiB and included in the annual report.

The following tablegives the number of bankruptcies for the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Further informationon bankruptcies is available in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s AnnualReport which is available at www.aib.gov.uk.

Sheriffdom (Sheriff Court)	Awards per Sheriff Court
	2005-06	2006-07
Tayside, Central and Fife
Alloa	55	69
Arbroath	44	54
Cupar	76	65
Dundee	459	429
Dunfermline	198	191
Falkirk	229	231
Forfar	27	45
Kirkcaldy	264	247
Perth	179	170
Stirling	76	75
Total awards for Sheriffdom	1,607	1,576
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway
Airdrie	324	313
Ayr	124	147
Dumfries	77	85
Hamilton	367	408
Kirkcudbright	25	34
Lanark	54	64
Stranraer	34	39
Total awards for Sheriffdom	1,005	1,090
North Strathclyde
Campbeltown	13	22
Dumbarton	132	176
Dunoon	13	22
Greenock	77	82
Kilmarnock	185	247
Oban	17	22
Paisley	198	162
Rothesay	8	7
Total awards for Sheriffdom	643	740
Grampian, Highland and Islands
Aberdeen	315	252
Banff	20	16
Dingwall	28	32
Dornoch	6	3
Elgin	76	106
Fort William	29	28
Inverness	60	92
Kirkwall	18	20
Lerwick	9	12
Lochmaddy	7	4
Peterhead	64	76
Portree	11	22
Stonehaven	36	36
Stornoway	26	18
Tain	14	22
Wick	25	14
Total awards for Sheriffdom	744	753
Lothian and Borders
Duns	11	19
Edinburgh	364	467
Haddington	108	117
Jedburgh	36	27
Linlithgow	193	184
Peebles	4	18
Selkirk	37	34
Total awards for Sheriffdom	753	866
Glasgow and Strathkelvin
Glasgow	671	860
Total Awards	5,423	5,885

Source: Accountantin Bankruptcy.

Question reference: S3W-03075

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20070 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2005, how many debt arrangement schemes there have been in each year since 2005.

Question reference: S3W-03060

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to establish an advisory panel on sentencing and, if so, within what timescale.