Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-02027

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of sentence for crimes of indecency has been in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) main offence and (b) sheriff court district.

The available information isgiven in the following table. Average sentence lengths based on relativelysmall total number of cases can be expected to fluctuate from year to year.

Persons Convictedof Crimes of Indecency in Scottish courts, by Main Offence and Sheriffdom,2001-02 to 2005-06

Sheriffdom and main offence (total convicted)	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Glasgow and Strathkelvin
Indecent assault¹	6	8	14	17	12
Lewd and indecent behaviour	27	34	42	51	46
Offences related to prostitution	104	90	99	205	249
Other crimes of indecency	17	8	4	2	2
Total	154	140	159	275	309

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	11	9	9	6	7
Lewd and indecent behaviour	40	31	51	62	61
Offences related to prostitution	-	4	10	11	13
Other crimes of indecency	16	8	20	28	36
Total	67	52	90	107	117

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	18	18	19	30
Lewd and indecent behaviour	47	43	45	42	56
Offences related to prostitution	3	3	13	6	6
Other crimes of indecency	9	8	4	12	15
Total	61	72	80	79	107

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	7	5	11	13	6
Lewd and indecent behaviour	31	29	32	39	27
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	5	5	4	5	2
Total	43	39	47	57	35

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	4	3	11	10	10
Lewd and indecent behaviour	59	37	36	46	41
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	9	13	9	17	7
Total	72	53	56	73	58

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	11	16	13	13	17
Lewd and indecent behaviour	55	56	56	50	63
Offences related to prostitution	3	2	4	3	8
Other crimes of indecency	12	8	20	7	15
Total	81	82	93	73	103

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	46	38	38	45	38
Indecent assault¹	28	22	36	32	23
Lewd and indecent behaviour	38	42	34	30	20
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	23	20	31	32	27
Total	135	122	139	139	108

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	46	38	38	45	38
Indecent assault¹	69	81	112	110	105
Lewd and indecent behaviour	297	272	296	320	314
Offences related to prostitution	110	99	126	225	276
Other crimes of indecency	91	70	92	103	104
Total	613	560	664	803	837

Number of CustodialSentences

Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	2	4	-	3
Lewd and indecent behaviour	9	11	15	13	11
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	2	-	-	2
Total	13	15	19	13	16

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	1	2	4	2
Lewd and indecent behaviour	19	4	17	13	23
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	-	3	4	8
Total

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	1	5	5	4	7
Lewd and indecent behaviour	18	12	17	9	19
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	-	-	2	4
Total	20	17	22	15	30

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	-	3	3	1
Lewd and indecent behaviour	10	11	11	8	10
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	2	1	2	2
Total	14	13	15	13	13

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	1	3	1	2
Lewd and indecent behaviour	18	9	9	13	14
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2	3	-	3	2
Total	23	13	12	17	18

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	3	5	6	6
Lewd and indecent behaviour	8	15	12	9	17
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2	2	1	1	3
Total	12	20	18	16	26

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	40	35	33	44	34
Indecent assault¹	22	21	25	26	16
Lewd and indecent behaviour	31	39	27	24	17
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	19	15	19	25	18
Total	112	110	104	119	85

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	40	35	33	44	34
Indecent assault¹	36	33	47	44	37
Lewd and indecent behaviour	113	101	108	89	111
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	27	24	24	37	39
Total	216	193	212	214	221

Average Lengthof Custodial Sentence (Days)²

Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	547	471	388	-	1,025
Lewd and indecent behaviour	513	390	483	386	572
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	365	502	-	-	320
Total	510	416	463	386	626

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	91	365	502	342	594
Lewd and indecent behaviour	307	411	308	573	402
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	61	-	284	144	175
Total	276	402	323	447	358

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	61	280	292	700	247
Lewd and indecent behaviour	392	337	539	378	536
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1,096	-	-	730	550
Total	411	320	483	511	470

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	254	-	324	396	1,096
Lewd and indecent behaviour	532	420	467	472	672
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	365	61	547	776	76
Total	461	365	444	501	613

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	913	274	243	1,096	1,004
Lewd and indecent behaviour	319	568	412	730	476
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	548	365	-	770	456
Total	417	499	370	759	532

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	274	443	621	1,035	319
Lewd and indecent behaviour	557	554	586	814	521
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	107	472	456	182	446
Total	434	529	588	857	466

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	2,452	2,319	2,080	2,188	2,425
Indecent assault¹	1,349	1,600	1,533	1,674	1,701
Lewd and indecent behaviour	1,608	1,601	1,488	1,613	1,509
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2,115	1,936	1,784	1,738	1,583
Total	1,944	1,875	1,741	1,865	1,927

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	2,452	2,319	2,080	2,188	2,425
Indecent assault¹	989	1,149	1,003	1,277	1,033
Lewd and indecent behaviour	734	896	719	845	663
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1,606	1,342	1,490	1,339	901
Total	1,203	1,253	1,081	1,295	1,038

Notes:

1. Includesattempted rape.

2. Excludeslife sentences: 2 in 2001-02, 3 in 2002-03, 4 in 2003-04, 3 in 2004-05 and 4 in2005-06.

Question reference: S3W-02007

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been notified of any funding surpluses in the operation of the concessionary fares scheme and, if so, what the surpluses have been for each year since the scheme came into operation, broken down by local authority area.

In the first year ofoperation (2006-07) the concessionary fares scheme for older and disabled peopleexperienced a surplus of £6.2 million. The surplus for bus travel was £5 millionand the ferry surplus was £1.2 million.

These surpluses wereactively managed as they came to light and were subsequently reapplied acrossthe transport prtfolio as part of our financial management of the 2006-07budget.

As this ntional sheme is nowadministered centrally by Transport Scotland and because journeys can be takenacross many lcal athority boundaries we are unable to breakdown the figures by localauthority.

Question reference: S3W-02013

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in the environment sections of its Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years, broken down by responsibility.

The following table showsstaff numbers by area of responsibility in Divisions covering Environment whichare parts of the Environmental Quality Directorate and Climate Change and WaterIndustry Directorates, in each of the last three years.

Duties	Number of Staff
Area	2005	2006	2007
Environmental Futures	0	0	5
Noise and Nuisance	8	9	9
Climate Change	14	14	18
Waste and Pollution Reduction	24	25	22
Water	35	32	20
Sustainable Development and Biodiversity	13	13	15
Drinking Water Quality	5	3	6
Group Head and PS	2	2	2
Division Heads	4	5	6
Total	105	103	103

Question reference: S3W-02006

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the police clear-up rate has been in each year since 1999 for serious violent crimes, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008, expressed also as a percentage of all serious violent crimes and broken down by local authority area.

The requested information isgiven in the following table.

Clear Up Rate for Serious ViolentCrime by Local Authority Area, 1999-2000 to 2005-06

Local Authority Area	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Aberdeen City	48.2	47.1	51.6	49.8	59.5	59.0	57.6
Aberdeenshire	66.9	60.2	70.5	62.6	64.9	66.8	70.7
Angus	92.5	100.0	86.2	97.8	94.4	90.0	95.1
Argyll and Bute	79.3	84.4	77.3	74.0	75.4	69.3	80.5
Clackmannanshire	89.8	81.1	99.2	97.3	99.1	94.5	96.2
Dumfries and Galloway	83.7	86.4	82.8	79.9	79.6	85.3	84.7
Dundee City	80.6	77.5	68.0	89.8	92.0	85.4	80.3
East Ayrshire	67.4	70.8	64.5	75.1	79.9	73.4	68.9
East Dunbartonshire	60.5	58.1	64.5	61.7	64.0	59.3	59.1
East Lothian	70.5	86.1	75.0	75.8	75.3	65.7	77.3
East Renfrewshire	57.0	56.8	50.0	47.9	55.8	43.7	55.8
Edinburgh	56.5	54.9	54.0	59.0	49.4	53.5	51.3
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	100.0	100.0	100.0	89.7	97.5	105.1	94.3
Falkirk	86.4	91.0	90.4	91.0	93.1	94.5	97.2
Fife	76.0	74.3	74.8	70.2	73.9	76.9	78.0
Glasgow	44.3	45.6	43.5	39.8	42.2	43.0	42.4
Highland	90.3	91.7	89.5	91.4	87.4	88.7	90.0
Inverclyde	60.6	60.4	64.7	55.1	58.4	54.9	52.4
Midlothian	79.3	70.9	76.5	72.0	68.3	73.2	73.7
Moray	76.5	63.2	82.5	74.5	71.3	71.7	79.5
North Ayrshire	63.6	60.4	59.9	65.7	67.8	66.6	65.1
North Lanarkshire	58.2	64.5	64.8	70.0	62.9	62.5	59.8
Orkney Islands	100.0	100.0	82.4	83.3	100.0	100.0	94.1
Perth and Kinross	86.6	95.5	82.9	81.4	94.9	88.4	90.6
Renfrewshire	51.2	47.4	51.2	50.3	49.5	47.6	52.8
Scottish Borders	85.2	93.4	91.8	93.5	85.3	90.2	87.1
Shetland Islands	109.1	96.0	100.0	90.9	100.0	93.9	82.4
South Ayrshire	76.2	76.7	68.8	78.9	80.4	78.2	74.1
South Lanarkshire	55.4	53.8	50.5	54.2	52.1	52.6	55.1
Stirling	79.1	91.3	89.5	87.5	95.5	93.6	99.4
West Dunbartonshire	62.0	63.1	58.2	57.1	56.9	55.6	51.3
West Lothian	67.7	69.2	69.8	63.9	68.3	60.6	59.2
All Scotland	58.9	59.7	58.7	58.8	59.0	59.4	59.8

Question reference: S3W-02044

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many detoxification beds for drug misusers have been available in each NHS board area in each year since 1999.

The specific informationrequested is not available routinely.

Some information on thenumber of detoxification beds for drugmisusers may be contained within alcoholand drug action team corporate action plans. These can be accessed on the DrugMisuse Information Scotland website:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/dat.htm.

Specific information on thenumber of detoxification beds for drugs misusers may also be available directlyfrom NHS boards.

Question reference: S3W-02033

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists have provided NHS dental services in each year since 1999, expressed also as a percentage of all dentists and broken down by NHS board.

The number of dentists(headcount) who have provided NHS general dental services, broken down by NHSboard, is shown in the following table. It is not possible to express thesenumbers as a percentage of all dentists, as information on dentists who provideonly private treatment is not held centrally.

Number of Dentists^1,2,3 who have Provided NHS General DentalServices in the Years Ending 31 March 1999-2006

NHS Board	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland	1,958	1,982	1,991	2,037	2,078	2,105	2,153	2,301
Argyll and Clyde	183	176	180	183	179	186	182	199
Ayrshire and Arran	141	135	133	131	134	143	147	150
Borders	42	42	43	45	43	39	39	42
Dumfries and Galloway	43	47	43	40	42	44	43	44
Fife	143	142	145	143	147	138	140	171
Forth Valley	96	98	100	105	108	104	112	119
Grampian	173	174	169	171	177	182	191	198
Greater Glasgow	409	416	416	430	438	445	474	489
Highland	82	83	82	87	85	85	92	100
Lanarkshire	202	207	205	209	217	229	234	237
Lothian	356	364	364	372	383	384	384	395
Orkney	4	6	6	7	6	9	9	11
Shetland	7	8	7	11	11	12	12	13
Tayside	172	175	180	179	184	179	183	211
Western Isles	12	12	12	7	10	9	10	14

Source: Management Information and DentalAccounting System.

Notes

1. Includes non-salaried principal dentists, GDSsalaried dentists, assistants and vocational trainees.

2. Data for years prior to the year ending 31 March2006 have been revised. Double/triple counting within the General DentalService (GDS) has been eliminated.

3. Due to improvements in the collection of information onGDS salaried dentists, figures from September 2005 include some GDS salaried dentistsnot previously recorded. There are a number of cases where a salaried post willbe recorded under a generic name and not under the name of a specific dentist.Numerous dentists may work in this post at any given time. For years prior toSeptember 2005 it was assumed that, since there was no named individualrecorded, a permanent dentist was not in post. As a result, all posts recordedwithout a named individual were previously excluded from GDS salaried dentistcounts. However, information is now available on the individuals who fill theseposts. These dentists can now be included in the GDS salaried dentist count,which has resulted in a significant increase in the number of salarieddentists.

Question reference: S3W-02008

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been notified of any funding deficits in the operation of the concessionary fares scheme and, if so, what the deficits have been each year since the scheme came into operation, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-02072

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided for commemorative purposes, such as medals and plaques, in each year since 1999, giving the reason for each commemoration.

Veteran’s issues such ascommemorative events are a reserved matter for the Westminstergovernment and to the Ministry of Defence, including the striking and awardingof military campaign medals which is in the preserve of Her Majesty The Queen.Scottish Ministers however are open to consider formal applications for fundingfrom groups and organisations on a case-by-case basis.

Between 1999-00 and 2001-02our records show that the Government received no formal applications forfunding for either war memorials or commemorations. In 2002-03 an applicationfor funding for a war memorial from the Normandy Veteran’s Association wasreceived but was declined. In 2003-04 the Executive received no formalapplications for funding.

In 2004-05 the Governmentreceived two applications for funding. The McCrae’s Battalion Trust received acontribution of £5,000 for the Great Hearts War Memorial at Contalmaison inNorthern France, and the 51st Highland Division Veterans Pilgrimage Associationreceived £1,000 towards the erection of their memorial in Normandy.

In 2005-06 the Governmentprovided funding totalling £34,168.10 to Veterans Scotland for a series ofcommemorative celebrations marking the 60^th anniversary of the endof World War II. In 2006-07 the Government contributed £9,910.93 to the DundeeCombined Ex-Services Association for the inaugural National Veterans Daycommemorations and this year has made up to £5,000 available to theAssociation.

In addition, in 2007-08 the Government’sEuropean Office agreed to a contribution of £5,000 towards the commemorativeevents to take place in Zonnebeke, Belgium in August this year to mark the contribution ofScottish soldiers during the First World War.

In addition, as part oftheir regular programme of repair and maintenance of historic monuments,Historic Scotland have carried out works and repairs during this period to the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle and to the Argyll andSutherland Memorial at Stirling Castle totalling approximately £70,000.

Question reference: S3W-02073

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for commemorative purposes.

Veterans’ issues, includingcommemorative events and paying for memorials, are a reserved matter for theWestminster Government and the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.Consequently the Scottish Government has no dedicated budget for commemorativeevents or memorials. However, all requests for funding are considered on theirown merits and in recent years the Scottish Government has made significantcontributions to events commemorating Scottish veterans, including NationalVeterans Day and the commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of theend of the Second World War.

Question reference: S3W-02040

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of applications to Disclosure Scotland have fallen outwith the turnaround times stipulated by each service agreement for (a) basic, (b) standard and (c) enhanced disclosures in (i) each year since its establishment and (ii) each of the last six months.

Disclosure Scotlandmeasures performance for Basic applications, and for standard and enhancedapplications against a service level agreement target of 14 calendar days.

The information requested isset out in the following table.

Period	% of Applications Outwith SLA
Period	Basic	Standard/Enhanced
2002-03	1.0%	7.9%
2003-04	2.0%	24.6%
2004-05	1.2%	22.8%
2005-06	0.1%	6.0%
2006-07	0.0%	0.1%
January 2007	0.0%	0.0%
February 2007	0.0%	0.0%
March 2007	0.0%	0.0%
April 2007	0.0%	0.0%
May 2007	0.0%	0.1%
June 2007	0.0%	0.1%

Chamber and committees