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: S1W-19174

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what National Heritage Areas have been created under the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991.

Question reference: S1W-19175

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether urban fringe areas can be included in Natural Heritage Areas or whether this would require legislative amendment to the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991.

Question reference: S1W-19715

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) procurators fiscal and (b) deputy procurators fiscal are currently employed in each sheriffdom and how many were employed in each sheriffdom at 31 March and 30 September in each year since 1990.

The figures since September 1996 are as shown in the following tables. Records for dates before that are not broken down by sheriffdom. Since many staff are employed part-time, the figures given here are on a whole-time equivalent basis, which represents the most accurate statement of the resource. The figures are, however, "snapshots" of numbers on particular dates and do not necessarily reflect average numbers of staff in post over given periods.Procurators Fiscal:

	9/96	3/97	9/97	3/98	9/98	3/99	9/99	3/00	9/00	3/01	9/01
GHI	12	13	12	12	12	13	12	10	12	12	13
TCF	9	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	8	9
L&B	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
NScl	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
SScl	5	6	6	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6
Glas	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Procurators Fiscal Depute:

	9/96	3/97	9/97	3/98	9/98	3/99	9/99	3/00	9/00	3/01	9/01
GHI	20	19	18	17	19	19	18	21	24	25	24
TCF	32.9	37.1	36.5	34.5	37.1	38.6	36.4	38.4	46	44.9	48.5
L&B	35.5	33.9	34.7	34.7	36.9	35	37	37.7	40.3	43.1	46.1
NSc	28.4	30	30.1	30.5	28.2	31.2	32.2	33	32.4	34.6	35.6
SSc	36.8	36.9	37.3	38.7	38.4	36.2	40.2	40.7	41.1	40.7	42.3
Glas	66.5	66.5	63.9	60.9	64.3	65.4	64.6	64	67.7	67.8	74.2

Question reference: S1W-19711

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers are currently employed in each police force and how many were employed in each force at 31 March and 30 September in each year since 1990.

The information requested is shown in the following table:

As at:	Central	Dumfries and Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Lothian and Borders	Northern	Strathclyde	Tayside	Total
31/3/90	630	348	755	1,103	2,482	631	6,886	1,012	13,847
30/9/90	642	348	760	1,127	2,477	634	6,835	1,018	13,841
31/3/91	638	360	756	1,137	2,452	629	6,792	1,047	13,811
30/9/91	634	361	767	1,155	2,472	643	6,776	1,032	13,840
31/3/92	645	385	790	1,161	2,534	653	6,763	1,053	13,984
30/9/92	650	384	780	1,178	2,526	654	6,954	1,079	14,205
31/3/93	653	385	790	1,190	2,563	649	6,768	1,097	14,095
30/9/93	649	384	788	1,184	2,542	663	6,778	1,081	14,069
31/3/94	658	386	791	1,193	2,558	658	6,860	1,070	14,174
30/9/94	658	388	785	1,190	2,546	650	6,992	1,078	14,287
31/3/95	656	391	789	1,194	2,539	649	7,014	1,091	14,323
30/9/95	657	391	796	1,181	2,542	656	7,066	1,082	14,371
31/3/96	657	390	790	1,172	2,534	640	7,216	1,113	14,512
30/9/96	659	397	810	1,161	2,609	641	7,208	1,120	14,605
31/3/97	686	412	831	1,173	2,691	649	7,231	1,116	14,789
30/9/97	683	424	845	1,189	2,689	651	7,326	1,126	14,933
31/3/98	703	439	855	1,193	2,691	657	7,299	1,143	14,980
30/9/98	710	445	850	1,214	2,641	659	7,233	1,154	14,906
31/3/99	719	437	846	1,249	2,615	660	7,135	1,149	14,810
30/9/99	709	452	845	1,221	2,586	655	7,069	1,139	14,676
31/3/00	721	451	837	1,215	2,584	653	7,101	1,137	14,699
30/9/00	723	460	848	1,234	2,649	657	7,144	1,155	14,870
31/3/01	733	478	852	1,273	2,670	668	7,318	1,157	15,149
30/9/01	719	474	883	1,274	2646	679	7,298	1,164	15,137

Question reference: S1W-19710

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost would be of increasing police numbers overall by (a) 500, (b) 1,000, (c) 1,500, (d) 2,000, (e) 2,500 and (f) 3,000, and what the increase in si'e of each police force would be under an equitable distribution of these increases.

Estimated figures for the information requested are shown in the following table.

Force	Number of Additional Officers
Central	23	47	70	94	117	140
Dumfries and Galloway	15	30	44	59	74	89
Fife	28	55	83	110	138	165
Grampian	43	85	128	171	214	257
L&B	91	182	274	365	456	547
Northern	27	54	80	107	134	161
Strathclyde	236	469	705	939	1,173	1,408
Tayside	39	78	116	155	194	233
Total	500	1,000	1,500	2,000	2,500	3,000
Cost (£ million)	12.5	25.0	37.5	50.0	62.5	75.0

Note:The costs involved have been estimated on the basis of £25,000 per head, but this would rise over time and does not include additional items such as training, supervision and equipment.

Question reference: S1W-19717

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budgetary provision is in the current financial year for the employment of (a) procurators fiscal and (b) deputy procurators fiscal both in total and broken down by each sheriffdom.

Pay costs in each of the six fiscal areas embrace the cost of all legal staff, precognition officers and support staff. The costs of each category are not separately identified. The revised provisions for pay costs for the current financial year are:

Grampian, Highland and Islands	£3,123,000
Tayside, Central and Fife	£4,856,000
Lothian and Borders	£4,570,000
Glasgow	£7,525,000
North Strathclyde	£3,762,000
South Strathclyde	£4,165,000

Question reference: S1W-19712

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive which departments are currently operating under full strength in each police force and by how many staff they are under strength.

Question reference: S1W-19720

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budgetary provision is for the employment of police officers both in total and broken down by police force in the current financial year.

Question reference: S1W-19719

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any police forces are currently operating under full strength and, if so, which forces and by how many officers they are under strength.

Question reference: S1W-19716

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 20 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any sheriffdoms currently have a shortfall in the number of (a) procurators fiscal and (b) deputy procurators fiscal and, if so, which sheriffdoms and how large the shortfall is.