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: S2W-15555

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued any guidelines on how long a fatal accident inquiry can, or should, take to report; if so, what the guidelines are, and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-15557

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements are in respect of publishing fatal accident inquiry reports.

I have asked Eleanor Emberson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. Her response is as follows:

In some cases the judicial determination will be delivered orally in open court at the conclusion of the inquiry.

When, instead, a written determination is issued, the sheriff clerk will forward a copy to all parties who were represented at the Inquiry. Copies are also made available for the press.

When the sheriff considers that the determination is likely to be of wider interest, he/she may instruct that a copy be made available on the Scottish Courts website.

Question reference: S2W-15569

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive who appointed Professor Kevin Power to review the internal investigation into Premier Prison Services' operating procedures at HM Prison Kilmarnock; who will pay his fee; what his fee is; what the terms of reference of the review are; what the timescale is, and whether his conclusions will be made public.

Question reference: S2W-15570

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the light of the findings by the fatal accident inquiry by Sheriff Colin McKay on the death of James Barclay in HM Prison Kilmarnock in January 2002, the Executive will now carry out an independent inquiry into the running of the prison, in particular its procedures for suicide watches, or whether it will request or require HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) to carry out such an investigation.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

HMCIP has recently completed an inspection of HM Prison Kilmarnock which is due for publication on 26 April 2005.

I refer the member to the answers to S2W-15552 and S2W-15194, answered 14 April 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.

Question reference: S2W-15571

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the staff turnover figures for each prison in each of the last six years.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Figures are not available before 2000.

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen	5	11	9	15	14
Barlinnie	32	38	28	32	31
Castle Huntly	4	1	2	4	1
Cornton Vale	20	24	16	19	17
Dumfries	6	7	9	7	9
Edinburgh	29	44	30	23	26
Glenochil	12	23	9	12	10
Greenock	14	10	12	12	9
Inverness	5	14	6	6	8
Low Moss	3	12	10	7	3
Noranside	3	3	4	1	1
Perth	17	30	25	18	24
Peterhead	17	31	12	9	12
Polmont	14	21	19	15	14
Shotts	14	35	14	19	23”

Question reference: S2W-15572

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many officers have been dismissed for disciplinary offences in each prison in each of the last five years.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The figures shown in the table reflect dismissals in the establishments stated.

Establishment	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Aberdeen	0	0	0	0
Barlinnie	2	0	0	3
Castle Huntly	1	0	0	0
Cornton Vale	0	1	0	1
Dumfries	0	0	0	2
Edinburgh	0	1	1	0
Glenochil	0	0	0	0
Greenock	1	4	0	0
Inverness	0	0	0	0
Low Moss	1	1	0	0
Noranside	0	0	0	0
Perth	0	1	1	2
Peterhead	1	0	0	0
Polmont	3	0	0	0
Shotts	1	1	0	0”

Question reference: S2W-15552

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what follow-up action it and its agencies are taking in light of the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) report by Sheriff Colin McKay on the death of James Barclay in HM Prison Kilmarnock in January 2002.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

Where a determination following an FAI makes specific recommendations, the relevant establishment develops an action plan to address these and the company is developing such a plan in this case. In this case, the SPS Controllers based in HM Prison Kilmarnock, will monitor progress against it.

The SPS already has plans to update its suicide prevention strategy and this will be launched later this year.

Question reference: S2W-15553

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many suicides have taken place in each prison in each year since May 1999; in how many of these cases fatal accident inquiries identified failure or negligence by prison management as a contributing factor to these deaths; what action was taken as a result, where such failure was identified and whether any prosecutions for negligence took place and, if so, where and when they took place.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table breaks down the number of apparent self-inflicted deaths that have taken place in each prison in each financial year since 1999-2000

Establishment	> Year
	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Aberdeen	1	0	0	2	0
Barlinnie	5	5	4	3	1
Castle Huntly	0	0	0	0	0
Cornton Vale	0	0	2	1	0
Dumfries	1	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh	2	2	1	0	1
Glenochil	1	1	0	0	1
Greenock	2	1	0	0	0
Inverness	0	1	0	0	1
Kilmarnock	1	1	2	2	1
Low Moss	0	0	0	0	0
Noranside	0	0	0	0	0
Perth	1	0	1	0	0
Peterhead	1	0	0	0	0
Polmont	0	0	1	0	0
Shotts	2	0	0	0	0

The further information requested is not held centrally.

Question reference: S2W-15559

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Justice authorised oral and written press statements made on 22 March 2005 by (a) the Justice Department, (b) the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and (c) Premier Prison Services regarding the fatal accident inquiry report on the death of James Barclay in HM Prison Kilmarnock in January 2002.

Since this was a matter for SPS and Premier Prison Services, no press statements were issued by the Executive. The Executive’s press officers did respond to a small number of media enquiries of a factual nature. I understand that the Scottish Prison Service responded to a number of enquiries following normal practice, and in line with the framework document. I also understand that Premier Prison Services responded to a number of enquiries.

Question reference: S2W-15556

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the fatal accident inquiry into the death of James Barclay in HM Prison Kilmarnock in January 2002 did not report until March 2005 and what the reasons are for the length of time taken to report.