- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of (i) dropping litter and (ii) fly tipping in 2002 and 2003, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The available information is given in the table. Data for 2003 are not expected to be available until the autumn of 2004.
Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts Where The Main Offence Was a Litter or Fly-Tipping Offence, by Local Authority Area 2002
| Local Authority Area | Total(1) | Number with Charge Proved |
| Litter Offence(2) | Fly-tipping Offence(3) | Litter Offence(2) | Fly-Tipping Offence(3) |
| Aberdeen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Angus | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dundee City | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| East Ayrshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Glasgow City | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Highland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Inverclyde | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Moray | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| North Ayrshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| North Lanarkshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Renfrewshire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Scottish Borders | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Shetland Islands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| South Ayrshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| South Lanarkshire | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Stirling | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| West Lothian | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 32 | 7 | 31 | 7 |
Notes:
1. Number of persons acquitted may be under-stated in the totals for persons proceeded against due to recording delays.
2. Offences categorised as litter offences in the Scottish Executive Justice Department’s classification of crimes and offences.
3. Offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 33.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 11 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners who had served sentences of six months or less requested a social work service within 12 months of their release, as referred to in the annual report of the Chief Social Work Inspector, Progress with Complexity: The 2003 National Overview Report.
Answer
I shall reply to the member as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to initiatives with regard to (a) reducing the amount of discarded fast food containers in the street and (b) imposing a levy on (i) plastic bag and (ii) fast food container use.
Answer
A consultation paper for aCode of Practice on litter and waste for the Fast Food Industry in Scotland iscurrently being prepared. In the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland)Bill the Executive is proposing to extend the power to issue fixed penaltynotices for littering to police officers.
There are no proposals tointroduce a levy on fast food container use at present. On plastic bags, MikePringle MSP has issued a consultation paper about the possible introduction ofa levy. The Executive is currently giving consideration to this paper. We arealso having discussions with the Scottish Retail Consortium about retailerstaking voluntary steps to reduce the use of plastic bags.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many notices under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 have been served on railway authorities as occupiers of premises since May 1999 and, of these, how many have been complied with, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally. This is a matter for the local authorities concerned.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10761 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 November 2000, what financial allocation was made to local authorities in total and to each individual local authority in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2002-03 for (i) probation, (ii) community service, (iii) social enquiry reports, (iv) throughcare, (v) home circumstances reports and (vi) supervised attendance orders.
Answer
I have arranged for theinformation on the allocations to be placed in the Parliament’s ReferenceCentre (Bib. numbers 31368, 31369 and 31370). The information for financialyears 2000-01 and 2001-02 is based on audited financial statements. The data inrespect of 2002-03 is based on revised grant allocations provided to groupingsin December 2002. Auditing of financial statements for 2002-03 has still to becompleted.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the increase in demand for (a) social enquiry reports, (b) probation orders and (c) community service orders, as referred to in the annual report of the Chief Social Work Inspector, Progress with Complexity: The 2003 National Overview Report.
Answer
Scottish Executive policy is to promote the use of community disposalsand to continue to improve the range and quality of community sentencesavailable to the courts, so as to encourage the punishment of offenders in thecommunity rather than in custody wherever appropriate and consistent withpublic safety. Whilst sentencing decisions are a matter for the judiciary, theincreases show that the courts are making greater use of probation andcommunity service. The court must seek a social enquiry report when consideringa community sentence or when considering custody for a young offender or aperson who has not previously served such a sentence. A rise in such requestsreflects an increase in demand by the courts.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10760 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 November 2000, what the service out-turns were for each local authority for (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2002-03 for (i) probation, (ii) community service, (iii) social enquiry reports, (iv) throughcare (v) home circumstances reports and (vi) supervised attendance orders.
Answer
Information on the serviceout-turns by local authority is published in statistical bulletins, CriminalJustice Social Work Statistics, 2000-01 (Bib. number 17695), 2001-02 (Bib. number27370) and 2002-03 (Bib. number 30274). Information in relation to StatutoryPost Release Supervision (Throughcare and home circumstances reports) was firstintroduced in the 2001-02 bulletin.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many social enquiry reports were submitted to the courts in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area, and how many such reports were submitted on time, expressed also as a percentage.
Answer
Information on the number ofsocial enquiry reports (SERs) by local authority is published in Table 4 ofstatistical bulletin, Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics, 2002-03, a copyof which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30274).Information on the numbers of SERs expressed as a percentage submitted on timeand broken down by local authority is available on the Audit Scotland website,pages 97-98, at the following address
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/performance/documents/2003Report/servicespdf/SW.pdf.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the “limitations in terms of our resources and negotiating flexibility”, referred to in its European strategy, are.
Answer
As with all administrations,the Executive’s resources are not limitless. We will therefore focus ourattention on the key EU issues for Scotland, rather than try and deal with every EU initiative thatcould have an impact on Scotland.
In a European Union of 15 –soon to be 25 – member states, compromises are essential in order to reach conclusionsor take decisions. This necessarily implies limitations in our negotiatingflexibility.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to the judgement of the Court of Appeal in the case of Angela Cannings and what implications it will have for similar cases in Scotland.
Answer
Crown Counsel haveconsidered the decision of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales in R vAngela Cannings in the context of criminal proceedings in Scotland.Steps are being taken by the Crown Office to identify and examine all pendingcases involving the murder and culpable homicide of a child under two years ofage and all cases over the past 10 years where a person was convicted of themurder or culpable homicide of a child under the two years of age in order toascertain whether the issues raised by the Court of Appeal arise in anyparticular cases in Scotland.
