Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-05129

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what performance points were accrued by the operating company of HM Prison Kilmarnock, broken down for each heading and subsection in 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, for the quarter July to September 2003.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:

2.1(g)	Discovery within Prison of Smuggled-in-Items	175
2.1( i)	Failure of Security Procedures	200
2.2(a)	Staff Assault - Serious Injury	0
- Minor Injury		0
- No Injury		15
2.2(b)	Prisoner Assault - Serious Injury	0
- Minor Injury		20
- No Injury		70
2.2(c)	Incident of Concerted Indiscipline	100
2.2(d)	Incident of Hostage Taking	10
2.2(f)	Incident of Self-Harm	15
2.2(g)	Incident of Class 'A' Drugs	450
2.2(h)	Incident of Drugs Other than Class 'A'	85
2.2(l)	Tool/Implement Loss (Recovered)	2
2.2(m)	Tool/Implement Loss (Not Recovered)	8
2.5(b)	Visits - Failure to Start within 20 Minutes of Visitor arriving	2

Question reference: S2W-05125

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4604 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 12 December 2003, whether it will publish the guidance used by its Health Department's Directorate of Service Policy and Planning to assess the funding application made by the Seagull Trust in 2002.

The section 10(1) grantscheme aims to assist voluntary organisations in developing social workservices and promoting social welfare. Both revenue and capital grants may beprovided. Revenue grants are available as both core funding and project grants.

Priorities for servicedevelopment in community care are:

to sustain, promote anddevelop person-centred services for people in need, and for theirfamilies/carers, and to encourage collaboration and joint working amongstagencies and organisations to improve service delivery and representation, andto promote good physical and mental health and wellbeing. Adult client groupsinclude homeless people, older people, people with a physical disability,people with mental health difficulties, people with learning disabilities,people with drug/alcohol difficulties, people with HIV/Aids, and carers.

Key priorities are:

services which can help andsupport people to live independently in the community, and improve theirquality of life;

respite care and othersupport for carers;

opportunities designed topromote the participation of users and carers in care management as well asplanning, development and delivery of services;

advice, counselling andinformation services;

alcohol, solvent and drugmisuse services aimed at harm reduction and rehabilitation; and

work with homeless people.

Question reference: S2W-05373

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government in respect of the introduction of 80% mandatory rates relief for community amateur sports clubs and what the cost would be of the introduction of such a scheme in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-05372

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide rates relief to sports clubs and what funding has been allocated to local authorities to provide such rates relief in each of the last five years.

Sports clubs may qualify fora number of rate reliefs such as mandatory charitable rate relief, and/or discretionaryrate relief or small business rate relief. Only information relating to theamount of discretionary rate relief granted to sports clubs by each localauthority is held centrally. The table below shows the amount of discretionaryrate relief granted by each local authority to sports clubs in the last fiveyears. The Executive funds 100% of any discretionary rate relief granted tosports clubs.

Discretionary Relief for Sports Clubs: 1998-99 to 2002-03

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03*
Aberdeen City	137,963	186,921	208,970	145,020	265,311
Aberdeenshire	454,998	457,548	524,103	570,105	605,328
Angus	140,252	150,026	170,652	180,148	192,560
Argyll and Bute	196,373	232,547	261,281	281,930	289,724
Clackmannanshire	25,301	29,157	29,643	30,189	31,517
Dumfries and Galloway	252,616	266,198	279,552	288,210	294,596
Dundee City	105,240	109,535	119,578	126,000	132,494
East Ayrshire	71,471	76,477	110,036	132,809	114,480
East Dunbartonshire	143,894	186,908	257,642	278,304	286,519
East Lothian	251,442	264,519	280,847	348,251	380,624
East Renfrewshire	153,906	154,842	158,757	179,198	180,967
Edinburgh, City of	726,318	751,327	810,044	841,948	859,368
Eilean Siar	22,485	27,511	29,463	31,251	37,231
Falkirk	42,214	46,286	49,791	50,433	73,615
Fife	287,627	295,251	280,373	330,908	333,193
Glasgow City	346,262	347,199	374,905	398,709	398,257
Highland	134,106	293,585	349,694	278,457	350,961
Inverclyde	65,454	68,302	71,517	76,634	75,910
Midlothian	122,443	128,192	145,410	140,136	147,284
Moray	208,942	221,165	238,088	254,226	263,391
North Ayrshire	131,597	137,715	156,694	155,642	173,570
North Lanarkshire	209,984	221,427	223,681	230,853	236,196
Orkney	14,444	18,396	20,334	22,264	24,466
Perth and Kinross	317,228	326,527	371,546	385,443	415,639
Renfrewshire	151,792	159,794	172,613	175,605*	182,374
Scottish Borders	295,274	303,100	313,132	326,816	339,291
Shetland	148,748	153,860	156,395	155,997	160,904
South Ayrshire	149,937	178,581	177,074	191,563	197,694
South Lanarkshire	220,899	224,236	252,217	261,439	268,259
Stirling	141,495	212,069	222,119	262,957	292,654
West Dunbartonshire	28,318	29,511	40,720	46,059	42,217
West Lothian	198,583	214,466	236,283	262,097	253,370
Scotland	5,897,606	6,473,178	7,093,154	7,439,601	7,899,964

*Notified Amounts – figureswhich are in the process of being certified by the local authority auditors.

Question reference: S2W-05371

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce a mandatory rates relief scheme for community amateur sports clubs, similar to that introduced in England and Wales.

Question reference: S2W-05103

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-4605 by Mr Tom McCabe on 15 December 2003, whether it will list the specific organisations that have received grants for 2002-03 under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 for the provision of services to disabled persons, stating the level of grant awarded.

A number of organisationsprovide services across the entire community care client group. Someorganisations which receive section 10 grants do not provide services fordisabled persons alone. This makes it impossible to provide a full breakdown ofsection 10 funding for the provision of services to disabled persons.

The table details all grantsmade under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 in 2002-03 from the Health Departmentbudget. Other departments also make grants under section 10 which may relate todisabled persons.

Section 10 Social Work (Scotland)Act 1968 Health Department Grants 2002-03

Organisation	Type of Grant	Policy Priority Area	Offer 2002-03 (£)
Age Concern Scotland, National	Community Care - Core	Older People	59,660
Alzheimers Scotland - Action on Dementia	Community Care	Mental Welfare	95,481
Alzheimers Scotland, - National	Community Care - Carers Strategy	Carers	27,500
Arthritis Care Scotland, National	Community Care - Core	Physical Disability	13,000
Arthritis Care, National	Community Care	Physical Disability	13,000
Assist-project, National	Community Care	Community Care	65,000
British Deaf Association, national	Community Care	Sensory Impairment	32,000
British Deaf Association, National	Community Care - Core	Sensory Impairment	32,000
Call Centre, National	Community Care	Learning Disability	15,300
Carers Scotland, National	Community Care	Carers	74,263
Cares of West Lothian, Edinburgh	Community Care	Carers	21,000
Carr Gomm Scotland, National	Community Care	Community Care	10,300
Contact the Elderly In Scotland, National	Community Care	Older People	3,183
Contact the Elderly Scotland, National	Community Care - Core	Older People	3,183
Crew 2000, National	Community Care	Drugs & Alcohol	26,920
Crossroads Scotland, National	Community Care	Carers	38,201
Crossroads Scotland, national	Community Care - Carers Strategy	Carers	18,000
Deafblind Scotland, National	Community Care	Sensory Impairment	17,740
Deafblind Scotland, National	Community Care - Project	Sensory Impairment	61,600
Dementia Services Development Centre, national	Community Care	Mental Welfare	137,917
Edinburgh Association for Mental Health	Community Care	Mental Welfare	23,000
Edinburgh Association for Mental Health	Community Care- Capital	Mental Welfare	6,000
Edinvar Community Care Ltd, Edinburgh	Community Care	Community Care	29,124
Enable Services Limited, National	Community Care	Learning Disability	27,324
Epilepsy Action Scotland, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	21,218
Headway, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	66,000
Inclusion Scotland	Community Care	Physical Disability	35,000
Manic Depression Fellowship (Scotland), National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	26,523
ME Association, National	Community Care	Physical Disability	23,578
ME Association, National	Community Care - Core	Physical Disability	23,578
Minority Ethnic Carers of Older People, Edinburgh	Community Care - Carers Strategy	Carers	6,000
Moira Anderson Foundation, national	Community Care	Mental Welfare	40,000
National Autistic Society, national	Community Care - Project	Mental Welfare	25,000
NSF Scotland, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	76,700
Pain Association Scotland, National	Community Care	Community Care	25,750
Parkinson's Disease Society, National	Community Care	Older People	2,500
Parkinson's Disease Society, National	Community Care - Core	Physical Disability	3,183
Partners In Advocacy, national	Community Care	Learning Disability	15,450
Penumbra, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	55,000
Penumbra, respite, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	10,609
People First (Scotland), national	Community Care	Learning Disability	53,045
Positive Steps Partnership, national	Community Care	AIDS	18,035
Princess Royal Trust (Young Carers), National	Community Care	Carers	17,500
Rehab Scotland, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	28,271
Relatives Association, National	Community Care	Carers	25,000
Richmond Fellowship, National	Community Care	Mental Welfare	29,972
SASLI, National	Community Care - Core	Sensory Impairment	23,712
Scottish Association for Mental health, national	Community Care	Mental Welfare	81,689
Scottish Association for Sign Language Interpreters	Community Care	Sensory Impairment	23,712
Scottish Consumer Council (SAIF), National	Community Care	Sensory Impairment	73,748
Scottish Council on Deafness, National	Community Care	Sensory Impairment	8,487
Scottish Disability Equality Forum	Community Care	Physical Disability	35,000
Scottish Huntington's Association	Community Care	Mental Welfare	26,522
Sense Scotland, national	Community Care - Carers Strategy	Carers	10,000
Shared Care Scotland, National	Community Care - Project	Carers	18,000
Shared Care Scotland, National	Community Care	Carers	73,905
Spinal Injuries Scotland, National	Community Care - Core	Physical Disability	25,000
Stresswatch Scotland, national	Community Care	Mental Welfare	11,219
Update, National	Community Care - Core	Physical Disability	234,584
Values Into Action, National	Community Care	Learning Disability	10,609
Waverly Trust, National	Community Care	HIV/AIDS	7,635

Question reference: S2W-05226

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34924 by Colin Boyd QC on 18 March 2000, what progress is being made with the cataloguing of relevant material by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) regarding the shooting at Dunblane School and whether a decision has been made by the Lord Advocate on whether any further papers are to be made publicly available.

Officials from the NationalArchives of Scotland began the cataloguing process in March 2003 and are hopingto have it completed by February 2004 in accordance with NAS businessobjectives. This target is now formally included in the NAS corporate plan for2003-04.

The cataloguing processinvolves reading each document fully and providing a summary of its content.The productions from the inquiry consist of 106 sections of documentation,consisting of 36 lever arch files and additional miscellaneous documentsrunning to many tens of thousands of pages. It is estimated that the materialunder the extended closure occupies five metres in length of storage space atNAS. When cataloguing is complete consideration requires to be given toreleasing material that does not identify children and does not contravene dataprotection legislation by disclosing personal data in relation to livingindividuals.

The Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is liasing closely with NAS and officialsfrom both organisations met recently to review the material catalogued thusfar. COPFS officials will be providing me with recommendations about whatmaterial can be released in its entirety, what material can be released in anedited format to “anonymise” data and what is unsuitable for release. This isan extremely resource intensive exercise but when it is complete I will be ableto reach a decision on release.

Question reference: S2W-04880

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive which illnesses will be included in its definition of chronic health conditions for its proposed review of prescription charges.

The question of which illnesses can be defined as chronic health conditions is among the issues that the reviewwill address. The detailed remit of the review is still under consideration andthe consultation process has yet to be determined. However, it is our firmintention to consult widely with patient interest groups, NHS professionals andother stakeholders. This will ensure that the interests and concerns of as manypeople as possible can be taken into account. We expect the review to commence within the next few months.

Question reference: S2W-04896

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4264 by Mr Tom McCabe on 5 December 2003, what level of funding under the Carers Strategy has been utilised for respite care provision by each local authority since April 2000.

The Executive’s monitoringof local authority expenditure under the Carers Strategy sought to establishthrough Community Care Plans, and annual updates, how much was being spent onrespite and on other services to support carers. Despite Executive guidance onthe data required, in the first two years of the strategy, authorities providedinformation in differing formats. This made meaningful comparisons difficult. Toimprove matters, information on local authorities’ expenditure on respite, andother services to support carers, is now being collected through centralisedfinancial returns. Figures for 2002-03 will be available shortly. These returnswill indicate expenditure on respite and on other services to support carers. Theywill not identify how much of the spending on respite comes from CarersStrategy resources, as these are only part of the total resources from whichauthorities may finance such expenditure.

Question reference: S2O-00959

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce the number of fine defaulters.

The lawalready allows for offenders to be given time to pay, for payment byinstalments, for deductions from benefits and for civil diligence, as ways ofencouraging payment and enforcing payment of fines.

Inaddition, the Executive has made supervised attendance orders (SAOs) availableto courts across Scotland to deal with fine defaulters. Thesedisposals offer a credible alternative to custody for fine defaulters.

Two pilotsare under development to explore an extension to the use of SAOs. The firstwill prescribe pilot courts to order an SAO as the appropriate disposal incases of fine default, effectively removing from the court the option ofimposing a custodial sentence. The second will empower certain courts to imposeSAOs as a disposal of first instance (i.e. instead of a fine) where the courtconsiders that the offender is unlikely to be able to pay a fine.

The Reviewof Summary Justice has considered fines and their enforcement as part of itswider consideration of the operation of the summary criminal justice system.

We havealso asked the Sentencing Commission to examine the basis on which fines aredetermined.

Chamber and committees