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: S1W-33537

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 27 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have (a) had proceedings taken against them for and (b) received (i) an adjudication or (ii) a criminal conviction for violence at HM Prison Kilmarnock in each quarter since the prison came into operation.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The number of cases dealt with in the orderly room has been:Year 1 (including opening months): 3,200Year 2: 4,300Year 3: 4,100Year 4 (10 months): 4,200A breakdown of types of breaches of discipline is contained in Appendix 6 of the latest SPS Annual Report and Accounts. This document can be found in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22587).The remainder of the information is not available.

Question reference: S1W-33819

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will re-examine any of its present contracts with companies that are part of the Premier Custodial Group Ltd which operates HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Ashfield and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-33964

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 24 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive in which performance quarters the maximum limit of 5% of contract price for performance revenue deductions, 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 since operation of HM Prison Kilmarnock began and what the performance revenue deduction would have been in each case had there been no such maximum limit.

Question reference: S1W-33990

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 24 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many probationer police officers there have been in each police force in each of the last five financial years and in the current financial year to date.

Information in the form requested is not held centrally. However, the following figures give a breakdown of entrants to probationer training at the Scottish Police College, in each of the past three years. Prior to 2000, figures were recorded for the whole of Scotland and not split between forces. Totals for 1998 and 1999 were 476 and 356 respectively.

Force	Number of New Recruits
Force	2000	2001	2002
British Transport Police	6	18	16
Central	47	21	51
Dumfries and Galloway	29	34	12
Fife	41	75	57
Grampian	82	75	52
Lothian and Borders	174	109	173
Northern	20	98	42
Strathclyde	404	378	383
Tayside	61	55	65
Scotland	864	863	851

Note:Recruits normally retain probationer status for around two years.

Question reference: S1W-33900

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30309 by Mrs Elish Angiolini on 18 November 2002, how many (a) proceedings were taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions were obtained under sections (i) 4(2), (ii) 4(3) and (iii) 5(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in 2001, broken down by sheriff court.

The available information is given in the following table.Persons Proceeded Against Under Sections 4(2), 4(3) and 5(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971¹, 2001

	Section 4(2)		Section 4(3)		Section 5(3)
	Proceeded against	Charge proved	Proceeded against	Charge proved	Proceeded against	Charge proved
All Courts²	35	28	1,139	827	615	429
Non- Sheriff Courts	1	0	297	244	6	4
Sheriff Court
Aberdeen	0	0	37	30	19	16
Airdrie	0	0	22	10	22	14
Alloa	0	0	1	0	12	8
Arbroath	0	0	6	6	2	2
Ayr	0	0	18	6	31	17
Banff	0	0	7	5	6	4
Campbeltown	0	0	4	3	3	1
Cupar	1	1	6	6	1	0
Dingwall	0	0	0	0	2	2
Dornoch	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumbarton	1	1	11	6	21	12
Dumfries	2	2	14	13	3	2
Dundee	0	0	9	8	10	8
Dunfermline	1	1	11	8	13	8
Dunoon	2	1	6	1	4	2
Duns	0	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh	12	9	80	65	48	41
Elgin	0	0	5	5	7	6
Falkirk	0	0	36	29	12	12
Forfar	0	0	8	8	3	3
Fort William	0	0	2	2	4	4
Glasgow	3	2	258	163	147	92
Greenock	0	0	19	15	24	19
Haddington	0	0	1	1	3	3
Hamilton	0	0	62	28	74	45
Inverness	0	0	19	17	6	6
Jedburgh	1	1	4	4	1	1
Kilmarnock	1	1	36	25	32	22
Kirkcaldy	1	1	19	11	13	8
Kirkcudbright	0	0	1	1	0	0
Kirkwall	0	0	0	0	4	4
Lanark	1	1	4	3	8	6
Lerwick	0	0	1	1	4	4
Linlithgow	0	0	10	10	6	5
Lochmaddy	1	1	0	0	0	0
Oban	2	1	10	8	3	2
Paisley	0	0	22	13	17	8
Peebles	2	2	1	1	1	1
Perth	0	0	39	26	21	18
Peterhead	2	1	8	5	5	3
Portree	0	0	0	0	2	2
Rothesay	0	0	0	0	0	0
Selkirk	0	0	2	2	0	0
Stirling	1	1	25	23	8	7
Stonehaven	0	0	1	1	1	1
Stornoway	0	0	2	2	0	0
Stranraer	0	0	7	4	3	3
Tain	0	0	4	4	2	2
Wick	0	0	4	4	1	1

Notes:1. Where main offence.2. All courts figure includes a small number of High Court and district court cases.

Question reference: S1W-33818

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what communications it has had with HM Prison Service with regard to HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Ashfield and, in particular, the management of the institution.

Question reference: S1W-33922

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what value of, fines were written off in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court district.

The information available is given in the following tables. The values of district court fines remitted are not held centrally. The system for writing off sheriff court fines changed in the course of the year 2001-02. Fines due for write off in 2001-02 were not written off until after the end of the financial year and so will be included in the data for 2002-03.Fines Written Off in the Sheriff Courts, 1999-2000 to 2000-01

	1999-2000		2000-01
	No. of Fines	Value (£)	No. of Fines	Value (£)
Aberdeen	84	21,615	51	10,680
Airdrie	71	15,575	49	11,823
Alloa	8	977	6	540
Arbroath	29	9,063	23	6,364
Ayr	64	22,053	71	21,782
Banff	3	506	2	490
Campbeltown	12	3,609	19	6,286
Cupar	4	850	1	250
Dingwall	53	5,812	39	5,393
Dornoch	3	553	3	375
Dumbarton	60	11,800	49	8,920
Dumfries	56	9,944	36	7,140
Dundee	60	10,446	73	16,262
Dunfermline	24	6,098	25	6,409
Dunoon	6	639	6	1,860
Duns	-	-	4	1,990
Edinburgh	329	67,576	222	75,948
Elgin	25	9,455	12	2,481
Falkirk	142	34,215	74	25,760
Forfar	-	-	-	-
Fort William	4	1,429	4	1,085
Glasgow	339	64,255	391	109,678
Greenock	73	19,409	23	5,145
Haddington	-	-	8	2,756
Hamilton	336	91,848	128	26,684
Inverness	30	7,390	9	1,701
Jedburgh	5	817	10	1,620
Kilmarnock	40	11,875	47	9,962
Kirkcaldy	3	1,957	17	3,525
Kirkcudbright	10	1,910	3	1,155
Kirkwall	4	1,275	-	-
Lanark	17	8,124	5	3,260
Lerwick	5	1,275	1	170
Linlithgow	81	16,827	63	17,325
Lochmaddy	1	55	1	200
Oban	4	2,017	8	2,877
Paisley	188	49,370	120	33,943
Peebles	-	-	-	-
Perth	23	4,469	21	5,330
Peterhead	5	1,040	5	1,733
Portree	-	-	2	400
Rothesay	1	150	-	-
Selkirk	1	60	5	427
Stirling	21	2,988	13	5,416
Stonehaven	9	3,865	6	845
Stornoway	1	450	4	856
Stranraer	27	7,509	22	6,365
Tain	4	953	8	2,140
Wick	2	380	2	255
Scotland	2,267	532,481	1,691	455,604

District Court Fines¹ Remitted by Court, 1999-2000 to 2001-02

	1999-00	2000-01		2001-02
	Fully or Partly Remitted	Fully Remitted	Partly Remitted	Fully Remitted	Partly Remitted
Aberdeen City	146	33	26	94	17
Aberdeenshire	61	28	21	79	31
Angus	27	6	15	5	10
Argyll and Bute	162	60	25	54	22
Clackmannanshire	12	1	2	3	4
Dumfries and Galloway	28	-	12	11	6
Dundee City	38	25	69	30	-
East Ayrshire	116	13	8	68	37
East Dunbartonshire	16	6	5	5	2
East Lothian	-	5	1	2	1
East Renfrewshire	-	2	3	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	408	N/A	N/A	240	38
Eilean Siar	-	19	-	N/A	N/A
Falkirk	42	14	10	11	6
Fife²	225	117	38	137	42
Glasgow City	385	141	40	43	39
Highland	180	125	103	19	18
Inverclyde	31	23	9	31	19
Midlothian	2	5	-	12	5
Moray	2	1	-	19	1
North Ayrshire	59	13	36	24	36
North Lanarkshire³	425	250	10	645	(4)
Perth and Kinross	80	126	57	79	N/A
Renfrewshire	255	143	129	49	57
Scottish Borders	41	5	1	5	3
South Ayrshire	2	6	2	44	46
South Lanarkshire	106	41	36	21	7
Stirling	32	40	7	N/A	N/A
West Dunbartonshire	436	55	26	22	22
West Lothian	36	154	4	154	6
Scotland	3,353	1,457	695	1,906	475

Notes:1. For some courts other types of fine (e.g. registered fines/compensation orders) are included as not separately identifiable.2. 2001-02: Fife figures are for Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy only, N/A for Cupar. 3. 2000-01: North Lanarkshire figures are for Coatbridge only.4. Included with fines fully remitted.

Question reference: S1W-33814

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how the stabbings of three prisoners at HM Prison Kilmarnock in September 2002 were recorded for the purpose of the (a) prison's performance points and (b) Scottish Prison Service's key performance indicators.

Question reference: S1W-33820

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether (a) Premier Custodial Group Ltd, (b) any of its subsidiary companies and (c) any other companies that belong to the parent companies of the Premier group will be allowed to bid for the new private prison in the light of the experience of HM Prison Young Offenders Institution Ashfield and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S1W-33821

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what guarantees it can give that the level of violence that has occurred at HM Prison Young Offenders Institution Ashfield will not occur at HM Prison Kilmarnock.