- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28789 by Mr Jim Wallace on 13 September 2002, when it will publish its contracts with City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire councils for the provision of social work services in prisons.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Except where disclosure of parts of the contract would not be in the public interest as specified in Part 11 of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information, SPS will make arrangements to publish these contracts following discussions with the contractors and, once finalised, copies will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-26897 and S1W-27654 by Mr Jim Wallace on 3 July 2002 and 13 August 2002 respectively, where a standard for health care in a prison has been recorded as "partially achieved", what progress this implies has been made in working to achieve all aspects of the standard for (a) 100% of prisoners having their weight recorded on each admission to prison and their height recorded on their initial admission to prison, (b) the provision of basic equipment within each consulting room, minimum si'e of 10.8m2, in the health centre which shall include an examination couch, a mercury sphygmomanometer, scales, desk, three chairs, examination/treatment lamp, stethoscope, eye charts, ophthalmoscope, auroscope and a copy of BNF in 100% of cases, (c) the provision of adequate facilities for visiting psychiatrists in 100% of cases, (d) the referral of routine cases to the psychiatrist being seen within four weeks in 100% of cases, (e) the referral of urgent cases to the psychiatrist being seen within seven days in 100% of cases, (f) emergency (psychiatric) cases being seen within 24 hours in 100% of cases, (g) the transfer to hospital following completion of a Section under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 being effected within the timescale agreed by the health care staff and the forensic psychiatrist in 100% of cases, (h) health centre staff being given 24 hours' notice of proposed transfer on 100% of occasions, (i) 100% of prisoners aged 55 or over and in prison for more than four weeks being offered a urinalysis check if not carried out within the last three years and (j) 100% of prisoners aged 35 and over and in prison for more than four weeks being offered the opportunity to have their blood pressure recorded if not carried out within the last five years.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The recording of "partially achieved" implies that the establishment has either met some parts of a standard containing multiple criteria, but not all, or has achieved at least 50% compliance in working towards the target set, but has not yet fully met the standard.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service has sold any land in Scotland over the last five years and, if so, what value was obtained for each sale.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Surplus land sold by SPS:
| Financial Year | Sale Price |
| 1997-98 | £500 |
| 1997-98 | £32,000 |
| 1998-99 | £21,000 |
| 1998-99 | £2,000 |
| 1998-99 | £42,000 |
| 1998-99 | £425,000 |
| 1998-99 | £205,000 |
| 2001-02 | £1,000 |
| 2001-02 | £7,000" |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all land included in the balance sheet of the Scottish Prison Service under the heading of tangible assets, showing the (a) location, (b) area and (c) book value in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01 and (iii) 2001-02.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The location and value of the tangible assets is as listed in the following table. The remainder of the information sought is not readily available and could only be produced at disproportionate cost.
| | As at31 Mar 2000(£000) | As at31 Mar 2001(£000) | As at31 Mar 2002(£000) |
| Aberdeen City | 1,800 | 1,900 | 2,059 |
| Glasgow | 5,207 | 4,860 | 5,262 |
| Stirling | 3,633 | 3,819 | 4,139 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 641 | 500 | 522 |
| South Lanarkshire | 244 | - | - |
| Edinburgh | 9,915 | 31,202 | 35,556 |
| Clackmannanshire | 713 | 1,131 | 1,226 |
| Inverclyde | 1,238 | 1,050 | 1,161 |
| Highland | 504 | 460 | 490 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 169 | 67 | 72 |
| Aberdeenshire | 1,250 | 1,066 | 1,180 |
| Falkirk | 3,060 | 4,833 | 6,012 |
| Perth and Kinross | 2,658 | 6,122 | 6,571 |
| Angus | 272 | 302 | 308 |
| North Lanarkshire | 203 | 253 | 257 |
| West Lothian | 141 | 125 | 136 |
| East Ayrshire | 1,111 | - | - |
| Grand Total | 32,759 | 57,690 | 64,951 |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 15 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service has purchased any land or property in Scotland over the last five years; if so, (a) where, (b) why the purchase was made and (c) at what cost.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No land has been purchased over the last five years.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions there have been under section 1(5) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 in each of the last five years, detailing convictions with regard to television licences separately.
Answer
The number of convictions for all offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 is given in the table. Convictions for offences under section 1(5) of the act cannot be separately identified in the data held centrally. Information for 2001 is not expected to be available until around November 2002.Number of Persons With a Charge Proved for Offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949
1, 1996-2000
| Year | Number |
| 1996 | 5,642 |
| 1997 | 2,893 |
| 1998 | 1,362 |
| 19992 | 582 |
| 2000 | 1,967 |
Notes:1. Where main offence.2. Based on incomplete data.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether members of the board of the Scottish Prison Service receive performance related pay and, if so, what proportion of that pay has been related to (a) custody objectives and (b) rehabilitation objectives in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, (iii) 2001-02 and (iv) 2002-03 to date.
Answer
The executive members of the SPS board are members of the senior civil service and are subject to the same Senior Civil Service pay and performance management system as other Senior Civil Servants in the Scottish Executive. Pay is dependent on performance against individual objectives, which are not classified in the way suggested. Details of the Civil Service pay system can be found at
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to reduce illegal possession of firearms other than air weapons by under-21s.
Answer
Firearms policy and legislation are reserved matters. The Scottish Police Service, working closely with Police Services in the rest of the UK as well as with the National Criminal Intelligence Service, seeks rigorously to investigate and pursue the illegal possession of firearms.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how frequently it has to renegotiate its contract for the services of GPs in the Scottish Prison Service.
Answer
There is no set frequency. The current contract exists for five years.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28787 by Mr Jim Wallace on 19 September 2002, what specific evidence it can provide to the public that its contract with Medacs for medical services in prisons provides best value if it will not publish the cost of the contract for medical services.
Answer
The award of contract was conducted in accordance with EC procurement guidelines. The team who undertook the work demonstrated within the Scottish Prison Service that the Medacs proposal was the most economically advantageous proposal in terms of quality and costs.
