- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 28 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what annual funding is provided to the Crofters Commission to enable it to undertake its role of developing crofting.
Answer
The planned administrative budget for the Crofters Commission for 2008-09 amounted to some £3.5 million. It is estimated that around £250,000 of this annual budget will be available for the purpose of crofting community development. The Scottish Government has also agreed to augment the budget by £100,000 to enable the Crofters Commission to deliver Rural Direct in the Highlands and Islands.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 28 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects responsibility for development of crofting to transfer from the Crofters Commission to Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Answer
Discussions are under way between the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Crofters Commission about arrangements for the transfer of crofting community development. A transfer date has yet to be confirmed.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take action to ensure that sex offenders in prison who have been convicted of serious offences such as rape and have failed to participate in programmes that address their offending behaviour are not released into the community without completing their sentence.
Answer
Offenders who are convicted of an offence that requires them to register under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and sentenced to imprisonment for 6 months or more are on licence for the entire portion of their sentence that is served in the community.
Supervision is a mandatory licence condition. Other conditions can also be imposed such as requiring the offender to undertake work to address their offending behaviour. Failure to comply with any licence condition can result in recall to custody for the remainder of the sentence.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that all sex offenders in prison who have been convicted of serious offences such as rape are involved in programmes that address their offending behaviour.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The SPS is currently developing a national strategy for the management of sex offenders. The strategy will set out how the SPS intends to develop and improve the services it provides for sexual offenders in order to reduce their risk of reoffending and also prepare them for release. An element of this strategy will specifically focus on helping individuals to engage and effectively participate in the SOTP.
Simply delivering a Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) to an individual will not be effective, it is essential that the individual is motivated, ready to engage in the intervention and ready to modify their behaviour.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what sanctions can be taken against managers of off-sales premises and their employees who sell alcohol to individuals who are inebriated.
Answer
Under section 76 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, it is an offence for a licence-holder or his employee or agent to sell or supply in licensed premises any alcoholic liqueur to a drunken person. The maximum penalty is a fine of level 5 with the licence-holder vicariously liable for the offence and both the holder and the premises liable to disqualification.
This provision will be replaced from 1 September 2009 by section 113 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 which provides that any responsible person who, on any relevant premises, sells alcohol to a person who is drunk commits an offence. A person guilty of such an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what sanctions can be taken against managers of licensed premises and their employees who sell alcohol to individuals who are inebriated.
Answer
Under section 76 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, it is an offence for a licence-holder or his employee or agent to sell or supply in licensed premises any alcoholic liqueur to a drunken person. The maximum penalty is a fine of level 3 with the licence-holder vicariously liable for the offence and both the holder and the premises liable to disqualification.
This provision will be replaced from 1 September 2009 by section 113 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 which provides that any responsible person who, on any relevant premises, sells alcohol to a person who is drunk commits an offence. A person guilty of such an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
The following is the original answer (published on 21 October 2008); see below
Under section 76 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, it is an offence for a licence-holder or his employee or agent to sell or supply in licensed premises any alcoholic liqueur to a drunken person. The maximum penalty is a fine of level 5 with the licence-holder vicariously liable for the offence and both the holder and the premises liable to disqualification.
This provision will be replaced from 1 September 2009 by section 113 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 which provides that any responsible person who, on any relevant premises, sells alcohol to a person who is drunk commits an offence. A person guilty of such an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes there have been to the eligibility criteria for a free bus pass for people suffering from epilepsy since the free bus travel scheme for older and disabled people was introduced.
Answer
There have been no changes to the eligibility criteria for people suffering from epilepsy. However, the application process has been made easier for epilepsy sufferers applying on the grounds that, for medical reasons, they have been refused a driving licence or their licence has been revoked.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has published, or intends to publish, the responses to its consultation on the use of electric shock collars.
Answer
The responses to the Scottish Government consultation on The Use, Sale, Distribution and Possession of Electronic Training Aids have, where the respondents have agreed to their responses being made public, been placed in the Scottish Government library. A summary of these responses will be published on the Scottish Government website as soon as it is prepared.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 17 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any statutory reason why deliveries of less than 500 litres of oil to residential homes are not permitted.
Answer
The minimum volume of heating oil that can legally be delivered by road tanker, using a mechanical meter, is 500 litres. This is specified by national weights and measures regulations in Statutory Instrument No. 1269:2006. The Measuring Instruments (Liquid Fuel delivered from Road Tankers) Regulations 2006.
The specification of a minimum delivery volume is due to the accuracy of the meter, below this volume the meter is not sufficiently accurate to meet the requirements in the regulations.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 8 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are made on horses travelling between Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure that they have been issued with equine passports.
Answer
Animal Health carry out random checks on all livestock moving from Scotland to Northern Ireland through the port at Stranraer. When these involve horses, transporters are asked to produce the passports. On occasions when the passport has not accompanied the horse, the enforcement authority for the consigning address has been contacted to confirm the presence of a passport for the animal concerned.
