- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1360 by Hugh Henry on 29 July 2003, how many nominations were made by the (a) Lord President for a High Court judge and (b) Convener of the Sheriffs principal group for the Sheriff Principal to sit on the Judicial Appointment Boards.
Answer
The Lord President nominatedone judge from the group of 10 Inner House Judges. The convener of the SheriffsPrincipal nominated one Sheriff Principal from the group of six.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown of the performance targets of the Scottish Prison Service for each prison in each year since 1999-2000.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The information is notavailable in the form requested. Key performance indicators are set for the Scottish Prison Service as a whole and all parts of the business contributetowards achieving them. SPS is currently in the process of considering how bestto prepare and publish more disaggregated performance information.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1360 by Hugh Henry on 29 July 2003, whether incumbent members of the Judicial Appointments Board will be involved in future interviews for membership of the board.
Answer
The current members of theJudicial Appointments Board have all been appointed until mid-2005. Decisionson replacing them will not be taken until late in 2004. I have no plans toinvite board members to play a part in choosing their successors.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive why the last four annual reports of the Scottish Prison Service have been published during a parliamentary recess and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer
It has been long standing governmentpolicy that agency annual reports and accounts should be published as soon aspossible after the end of the year to which they relate, following completionof the audit of the accounts. Since the establishment of the agency on 1 April1993, the publication of the annual report and accounts has been in July inevery year but one, 2000-01, when, due to a delay in the completion of theAudit Scotland opinion on the accounts, publication was in December.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what training it offers to (a) lay and (b) legal members of the Judicial Appointments Board.
Answer
The Judicial AppointmentsBoard is independent of ministers and is responsible for the training of itsown membership. During its first year of operation the board has taken a numberof steps to develop its role in the selection of suitable individuals forservice on the bench.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1360 by Hugh Henry on 29 July 2003, who conducted the interviews for membership of the Judicial Appointments Board and how the interview panel was selected.
Answer
The process was carried outin accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for PublicAppointments. Interviews were conducted by the Rt Hon Lord Ross (the formerLord Justice Clerk), Mr Alastair Dempster (former Chief Executive of TSBScotland and a member of the Panel of Independent Assessors) and Mr J DGallagher, Head of the Scottish Executive Justice Department. Lord Ross and MrDempster were selected to bring expertise and independence to the appointmentprocess.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by prison of the figures contained in the table in Appendix 6 of the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts 2002-03.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
The information requested in relation tobreaches of discipline and punishments in the year 2002-03 broken down byestablishments is provided in tables available in the Parliament's ReferenceCentre (Bib. number 28942).
There is a typographical error inAppendix 6 of the Annual Report with the numbers “disobeying a rule orregulation” being incorrectly repeated under “disobeying a lawful order”. Thecorrect figures are shown in the table and are also contained in the tablesprovided to the Parliament’s Reference Centre.
| Disobeying a lawful order | 571 | 8,579 | 252 | 687 | 823 | 9,266 |
| Disobeying a rule or regulation | 130 | 288 | 26 | 69 | 156 | 357 |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33964 by Mr Jim Wallace on 24 February 2003, whether the maximum limit of 5% of contract price for performance revenue deduction, as referred to in the second paragraph of Schedule F to the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock, has been applied in the first two quarters of 2003.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
| Year | Quarter | Maximum Limit Applied (as at 21/08/03) |
| 4 | 4 | Yes |
| 5 | 1 | No |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 August 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-25983 and S1W-32815 by Mr Jim Wallace on 29 May 2002 and 13 January 2003 respectively, what information it has on the investigation by the police and whether the operators of HM Prison Kilmarnock are likely to accrue performance points in respect of that incident.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:We understand that an Intermediate diet and trial date of 7 October and 18 October 2003 respectively have been set. The question of points will follow the outcome of the trial.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 1 August 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-972 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 June 2003, how many nominations the First Minister makes to the Prime Minister to fill the vacant office of (a) Lord President of the Court of Session and (b) Lord Justice Clerk.
Answer
There is no statutory requirement but it is normal practice for the First Minister to offer the Prime Minister a choice of names to fill vacancies for the office of Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk. When appointments were being considered in 2001 the Prime Minister accepted the First Minister's recommended choice of name for each post.
