- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21070, S2W-21071 and S2W-21072 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 December 2005, whether it will now consider instructing the Scottish Prison Service to keep historical data in respect of prisoners held in a regular prison who should be held in an open prison.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21529 on 22 December 2005. 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/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21070, S2W-21071 and S2W-21072 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 December 2005, why historical data is not retained in respect of prisoners held in a regular prison who should be held in an open prison.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21529 on 22 December 2005. 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/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the traffic capacity is of the A80 through Cumbernauld.
Answer
There is not a definitive capacity for the A80 through Cumbernauld. However, given the current flows of around 70,000 vehicles each day and operational conditions currently experienced on the A80, it is considered that at certain times of the day, the flow is approaching the operational capacity for the existing road.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the new Auchenkilns interchange has had on the traffic capacity of the A80.
Answer
The new Auchenkilns grade-separated junction, which previously existed as an at-grade roundabout, will improve the journey time and journey time reliability for travellers by removing a specific constraint on the road. Performance of the route is still constrained by conditions on the A80 between Stepps and Haggs.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20890 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 December 2005, who is responsible for co-ordinating the external independent audit of the annual competency tests and continuous professional development programme that Scottish fingerprint officers must undertake and how frequently this audit takes place.
Answer
The Quality Assurance and Training Officers in each bureau of the Scottish Fingerprint Service co-ordinate the annual competency testing of the experts within their bureau. The competency tests are set and the results evaluated by an independent forensic testing company, Collaborative Testing Service, of the USA.
The Continuous Professional Development programme for experts within the Scottish Fingerprint Service is managed by the SFS Training Manager in collaboration with the Quality Assurance and Training Officers in each bureau.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20890 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 December 2005, why it considers that the disagreement referred to has no implications for any current or future court cases where fingerprint evidence is used.
Answer
The case in question arises from an opinion published in 2005 about a criminal case concluded in 1999. Since then more than 2,000 identifications made by officers in Glasgow have been verified by experts from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In addition, fingerprint officers now have annual competency tests and are subject to a Continuous Professional Development Programme. The processes used are subject to internal quality assurance and to external independent audit under the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate to which the Scottish Fingerprint Service is accredited.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20865 by Cathy Jamieson on 29 November 2005, who would be responsible for payment of damages to the family of James Barclay if the family was awarded damages by the court.
Answer
The responsibility for the payment of any damages would depend on the terms of any court judgement.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is putting in place to prevent deaths from hypothermia this winter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is implementing a number of measures including the central heating and Warm Deal Programmes, the Chief Medical Officer’s Wrap Up for Winter Campaign and the annual influenza campaign.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20246 by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2005, whether this indicates that fingerprint identification is ultimately a matter of opinion of the experts examining the specific fingerprint in question.
Answer
The Scottish Fingerprint Service agrees with the internationally accepted definition that fingerprint evidence is expert opinion of identification based on the scientific fact that fingerprints are unique to every individual. An identification is made when the fingerprint expert is personally satisfied that the order, relationships and unique properties of the features within any two prints are in agreement with no features in disagreement which cannot be explained.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-20244 and S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, whether it is able to comment on the proposition that the ongoing publicity in respect of the case referred to in these answers is causing damage to its own reputation and that of the Scottish Criminal Record Office and the Scottish Fingerprint Service, as well as the wider justice system.
Answer
The case in question arises from an identification made in 1997. Since then more than 2,000 identifications made by officers in Glasgow have been verified by experts from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In addition, fingerprint officers now have annual competency tests and are subject to a Continuous Professional Development Programme. The processes used are subject to internal quality assurance and to external independent audit under the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate to which the Scottish Fingerprint Service is accredited.
