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-05713

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit of the Scottish Sentencing Council will be.

Question reference: S4W-05715

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with any organisations regarding the establishment of the Scottish Sentencing Council.

The judicially-led independent Sentencing Commission examined the issue of consistency in sentencing in our criminal courts. The central recommendation of the commission’s 2006 report, The Scope to Improve Consistency in Sentencing, was the creation of a procedure for giving effect to sentencing guidelines. In September 2008, we published our consultation paper Sentencing Guidelines and a Scottish Sentencing Council: Consultation and proposals to invite views on our proposals for a new system of sentencing guidelines and a Scottish Sentencing Council to develop that system.

We are committed to the establishment of a Scottish Sentencing Council and brought in provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, which paves the way for the new body to be set up.

We have entered into discussions with the Judiciary of Scotland to consult on options for the establishment of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Discussions are ongoing with a decision to be made in due course.

Question reference: S4O-00676

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Scottish Court Service.

Question reference: S4W-05095

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 31 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the (a) administration and (b) policing arrangements for the proposed referendum on independence and whether it has discussed this with the UK Government.

Question reference: S4W-05050

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 26 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many part-time or retained firefighters are employed in each fire and rescue service and were employed in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2008-09, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2006-07.

Headcount of Retained Duty System Officers as of 31 March:

FRS	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Central	155	156	*	155	144
Dumfries and Galloway	216	220	*	225	213
Fife	104	104	*	102	111
Grampian	441	439	*	437	425
Highlands and Islands	1,065	1,039	*	1,038	1,035
Lothian and Borders	305	318	*	305	279
Strathclyde	583	592	*	585	581
Tayside	247	245	*	216	251
Scotland	3,116	3,113	*	3,063	3,039

Notes:

2006-07, 2007-08 – data provided by HMFSI Annual Reports.

2008-09 – data not centrally held.

2009-10, 2010-11 – data provided by Scottish Government Fire and Rescue Services Statistics, 2009-10, 2010-11.

Question reference: S4W-05018

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what schools were included in Aberdeenshire Council’s submission to the Scottish Futures Trust for funding under the Scotland's Schools for the Future programme.

In their submission to the first phase of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future building programme, Aberdeenshire Council requested funding from the Scottish Government for the replacement of Mearns and Ellon Academies.

With regard to the next phase of the programme, a short term working group, comprising representatives from the Scottish Government, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and the SFT, has been set up to consider the way forward with regard to criteria and any bidding process. We expect to be able to provide more information with regard to the considerations of the group shortly. Aberdeenshire Council will, of course, be invited to make a bid when it is appropriate to do so.

Question reference: S4W-05020

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to each Aberdeenshire school receiving funding under the Scotland's Schools for the Future programme.

The Scottish Government will provide of up to £19.76 million of funding for the replacement of Ellon Academy and up to £9.73 million for the replacement of Mearns Academy under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future building programme. However, the final level of funding for both projects will be adjusted to take account of any movements in inflation between 1 April 2011 and tender return date, using the BCIS All-in Tender Price Index.

Question reference: S4W-05019

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive which Aberdeenshire schools the Scottish Futures Trust has approved for funding under the Scotland's Schools for the Future programme.

Question reference: S4W-04803

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has established a timetable in the event that proposals are brought forward to close courts.

The work that the Scottish Court Service is currently undertaking on future court structures is at an early stage, with no decisions taken yet on whether or not to proceed to consult on any of the range of options which have been subject to initial discussion with court staff and the judiciary.

As the Scottish Court Service have not yet decided whether to come forward with any proposals to close court locations it is not possible to set a timetable. Should the Court Service decide to do so, there would be a period of consultation. Such proposals will be subject to wide consideration, and should the final outcome be that some court locations are considered for closure, the ultimate decision would rest with parliament, as provided by section 3 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) 1971, as amended by the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. Such a process would take several months.

The following is the original answer (published on 4 January 2012); see below.

This question relates to operational matters of that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

Question reference: S4W-04817

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 19 January 2012

An audit of speed and immediacy of implementing community service orders was first carried out in 2008. Based on data relating to November, this audit measured performance against the standards set out in the National Outcomes and Standards for social work services. Further audits were carried out in 2009 and 2010 and results from all the audits are available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/offender-management/offender/community/examples/6822.

Information for 2011-12 will be collected as part of the annual the criminal justice social work statistics aggregate return and will be published toward the end of 2012. The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.