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-12628

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 targets the Scottish Prison Service has for the number of hours per week that convicted (a) short-term and (b) long-term prisoners should be engaged in purposeful activity.

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

“The delivery of purposeful activity in the Scottish Prison Service is currently monitored through a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). KPIs are performance measures set by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the SPS Delivery Plan. Targets are not set for these measures and performance is evaluated by comparing performance against the previous years, it is therefore a mechanism of continuous improvement rather than specific targets.

Purposeful activity increased by 18% in public sector prisons from 4.3 million hours in 2009-10 to 5.1 million hours in 2011-12. Private sector hours were 1.6 million in 2010-11 and 2011-12. SPS does not collect information related to short term and long term prisoners who are engaged in purposeful activity.

I have instigated an organisational review to ensure that SPS is more clearly aligned with the Scottish Government's National Performance Framework, Reducing Re-offending Agenda and Justice Strategy. The review will refresh the vision, mission, strategic priorities and overall operating philosophy of SPS and provide a better foundation upon which to design and develop purposeful activity.”

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-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-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-12384

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many custodial sentences of less than six months have been imposed in each sheriffdom in each month since May 2007.

The available information is given in the following table.

People given a custodial sentence of six months or less in Scottish Courts, 2007-08 to 2011-12

Sheriffdom¹	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2,482	2,245	2,100	2,087	2,181
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,513	1,350	1,146	1,176	1,189
Lothian and Borders	1,647	1,807	1,422	1,424	1,263
North Strathclyde	1,933	1,747	1,741	1,640	1,685
South Strathclyde Dumfries and Galloway	2,206	2,120	1,959	1,563	1,726
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,874	2,858	2,497	2,663	2,606
Scotland²	12,664	12,142	10,874	10,561	10,665

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Notes:

1. Includes an approximate mapping of District courts to Sheriffdoms.

2. Includes a small number of cases relating to the High Court, or where court location is not known

By way of context, the table below shows information on the number of people with a charge proved in Scottish courts over the same period.

People with a charge proved in Scottish Courts, 2007-08 to 2011-12

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Scotland	133,608	125,889	121,028	115,564	108,336

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Question reference: S4W-12218

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 (a) rape and (b) attempted rape have received as their main penalty a (i) Sheriff Court fine, (ii) Justice of the Peace Court fine, (iii) fiscal fine, (iv) fiscal compensation order, (v) fiscal combined offer and (vi) police antisocial behaviour penalty in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-12221

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 common 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-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.