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: S4W-12626

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) programmes and (b) activities constitute purposeful activity in prisons.

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

“Purposeful activity as defined in the Prison and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 includes work, education, learning and employability, (including physical education) and programmes to address offending behaviour.

Activities and programmes include:

Counselling and Other Rehabilitative Programmes

Life skills programme.

Substance-related offending behaviour programme.

Alcohol awareness.

First steps.

Drug action for change.

Parenting programme.

Positive parenting.

SMART - substance abuse programme.

Constructs.

Female offender programme.

Anger management.

Controlling anger, regulating emotions.

Violence prevention programme.

Good lives for sex offenders.

Youth justice programme.

Work:

Repair Work: bicycles, recycling machinery, prison waste, clothing etc.

Production and Assembly Work: manufacturing garden sheds, benches, Post Office trolleys, skips, textiles.

Commercial Partner Work: new initiative (still in planning).

Packaging Work: tea and coffee work parties.

Establishment Services: passmen, kitchen, laundry, gardens, horticulture.

Education, including Physical Education, Vocational Training and Learning Skills and Employability Interventions:

Physical education.

Literacy assessment.

Literacy classes.

Numeracy classes.

English for speakers of other languages.

Art classes.

Peer support.

Music classes.

Drama classes.

Vocational and employability classes - painting and decorating, hairdressing and bricklaying.

Work Placements Outside Prison;

Community Placements - wood recycling, groundwork at football clubs, working with Phoenix Future Trusts.

The Justice Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into purposeful activity.”

Question reference: S4W-12632

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients referred for a scan without referral by a consultant since January 2012 have not been seen within the 18-week target time, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-12631

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients who have been refered by a consultant for a scan since January 2012 have not been seen within the 18-week target time, broken down by NHS board.

The specific information requested is not collected centrally. Information is published for the total of numbers waiting and patients waiting more than the six weeks standards for the eight key diagnostic tests. This includes CT, MRI and ultrasound scans as well as Barium studies.

The six week waiting time standard covers referrals from all sources not just from consultants but also from primary care. In the month ending 30 September 2012, 31,571 patients were waiting for one of the four scans mentioned above and with 472 patients waiting more than six weeks.

Question reference: S4W-12630

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what options for the organisation of the independent custody visiting schemes after 1 April 2013 have been proposed by (a) the Scottish Government, (b) the Scottish Police Authority and (c) independent custody visiting scheme administrators and what stage of consideration each proposal has reached.

Justice officials have been working closely with the current scheme administrators throughout 2012 to develop proposals for the new statutory custody visiting scheme. Draft proposals were shared with the Scottish Police Authority in December 2012. A meeting of all three parties took place on 24 January 2013 when a number of issues including transitional arrangements and future scheme administration were discussed. Further meetings are taking place to consider these matters further. This will enable the Authority to take decisions on the future scheme in time for 1 April.

Question reference: S4W-12620

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 19 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many alleged offenders have appeared in court to face charges in relation to their original offence following a failure to pay or complete a fiscal direct penalty, in each year since 2009.

Question reference: S4O-01815

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2013

To as the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities has had discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth on the impact on cities of the Business Rates Incentivisation Scheme and whether she has communicated the outcome to the city councils.

Question reference: S4W-12222

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of sexual assault have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-12215

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of homicide have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty in each year since 2007.

Decisions on sentencing in individual cases for people convicted of offences are taken entirely independently by the court. Also, decisions in individual cases on the use of alternatives to prosecution such as fiscal fines for offences are taken entirely independently by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The available information is given in the following tables. As police ASB FPNs cannot be issued for these crimes, they are not included in the table as none were issued.

People convicted in Scottish Courts receiving a fine, 2006-07 to 2011-12

Crime/offence¹ and Court²	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Homicide:
Murder:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Causing death by careless driving:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	5	5	5
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Causing death by dangerous driving:
High Court	0	0	0	0	1	0
Sheriff Court	1	1	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Death by careless driving when under influence of drink/drugs:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	1	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Culpable homicide (common law):
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Illegal driver, disqualified/unlicensed etc involved in fatal accident:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Attempted murder:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Serious assault:
High Court	0	1	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	138	187	176	100	93	69
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	1	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Robbery:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	20	23	18	20	10	18
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	1	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	1	0	0	0
Rape and attempted rape:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	10	6	2	2	4	7
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
District Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Housebreaking:
High Court	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	248	237	232	148	134	96
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	4	4	0	2
District Court	3	1	2	1	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	5	4	7	11	16	15
Handling an offensive weapon:
High Court	0	0	1	0	0	0
Sheriff Court	938	897	839	618	455	369
Justice of the Peace Court	0	0	2	0	2	9
District Court	9	2	2	0	0	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	73	29	10	35	41	30
Drugs:
High Court	1	2	0	0	1	0
Sheriff Court	3,213	3,167	2,734	2,945	2,583	2,341
Justice of the Peace Court	0	4	271	622	819	657
District Court	2,259	1,872	689	218	2	0
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	102	55	128	346	366	404
Unknown court	0	0	1	0	0	0
Common assault:
High Court	2	0	3	1	2	0
Sheriff Court	5,526	5,416	4,853	4,420	3,987	3,724
Justice of the Peace Court	0	1	390	656	779	767
District Court	1,151	1,084	542	170	10	1
Stipendiary Magistrate Court	442	417	358	362	286	319
Unknown court	0	0	2	1	0	0

1. Where main offence.

2. Sheriff court includes sheriff solemn, sheriff summary and sheriff summary youth courts.

People receiving Non Court Disposals^2,3, 2008-09 to 2011-12

Crime/offence¹	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Homicide:
Murder	0	0	0	0
Causing death by careless driving	0	0	0	0
Causing death by dangerous driving	0	0	0	0
Culpable homicide (common law)	0	0	0	0
Death by careless driving when under influence of drink/drugs	0	0	0	0
Illegal driver, disqualified/unlicensed etc involved in fatal accident	0	0	0	0
Attempted murder:	0	0	0	0
Serious assault:
Fiscal Compensation	1	0	0	0
Fiscal Fine	1	0	0	0
Robbery:	0	0	0	0
Rape and attempted rape:	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault:	0	0	0	0
Housebreaking:
Fiscal Compensation	9	4	5	0
Handling an offensive weapon:
Fiscal Compensation	1	0	0	0
Fiscal Fine	1	0	0	0
Drugs:
Fiscal Combined Fine with Compensation	3	0	0	1
Fiscal Compensation	1	1	2	0
Fiscal Fine	7,894	7,933	8,736	11,174
Common assault:
Fiscal Combined Fine with Compensation	206	151	119	82
Fiscal Compensation	391	330	270	147
Fiscal Fine	2,604	2,120	1,799	1,644

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

1. Where main offence.

2. Table covers Fiscal Fines, Fiscal Compensation and Fiscal Combined Fine with Compensation which have been accepted or deemed accepted.

3. The information held centrally on non-court disposals is only available from the financial year 2008-09.

Question reference: S4W-12223

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of housebreaking have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-12217

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of serious assault have received as their main penalty a (a) Sheriff Court fine, (b) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (c) fiscal fine, (d) fiscal compensation order, (e) fiscal combined offer and (f) police antisocial behaviour penalty in each year since 2007.