Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-15855

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons had a charge proved for the miscellaneous offences (a) common assault, (b) breach of the peace, (c) drunkenness, (d) breach of social work orders and (e) other offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, by Police Force Area, 1997- 2003

Offence/Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003³
Common assault
Central	634	550	539	604	628	721	728
Dumfries and Galloway	357	301	337	270	289	309	400
Fife	703	586	574	488	684	633	625
Grampian	1,309	1,317	1,100	966	1,085	1,165	1,320
Lothian and Borders	2,015	2,005	1,727	1,683	1,592	1,868	1,786
Northern	717	672	648	572	653	685	821
Strathclyde	5,820	5,548	4,923	4,671	4,828	4,726	5,153
Tayside	900	973	1,038	988	1,086	1,190	1,199
Total	12,455	11,952	10,886	10,242	10,845	11,297	12,032
Breach of the peace
Central	946	827	626	664	750	798	809
Dumfries and Galloway	451	411	438	340	347	301	372
Fife	851	768	610	564	582	626	585
Grampian	1,427	1,433	1,091	950	974	952	1,075
Lothian and Borders	2,365	2,344	1,820	1,656	1,712	1,886	1,653
Northern	1,124	1,078	843	793	835	831	920
Strathclyde	10,772	9,759	7,548	6,911	7,097	7,252	7,704
Tayside	1,480	1,489	1,422	1,348	1,478	1,478	1,615
Total	19,416	18,109	14,398	13,226	13,775	14,124	14,733
Drunkenness
Central	22	12	6	7	2	4	4
Dumfries and Galloway	21	-	3	-	-	-	1
Fife	18	8	7	2	5	3	10
Grampian	39	38	22	22	13	8	17
Lothian and Borders	51	41	20	18	26	28	22
Northern	246	224	159	138	104	140	135
Strathclyde	514	383	246	227	191	184	203
Tayside	17	19	15	20	30	17	19
Total	928	725	478	434	371	384	411
Breach of social work orders
Central	138	184	175	194	316	345	351
Dumfries and Galloway	105	111	126	161	180	152	267
Fife	509	500	480	386	467	499	530
Grampian	329	355	411	518	408	416	124
Lothian and Borders	437	511	552	615	636	724	895
Northern	149	187	154	147	82	211	256
Strathclyde	1,501	1,748	2,033	2,110	1,675	1,931	865
Tayside	386	584	633	560	677	696	697
Total	3,554	4,180	4,564	4,691	4,446²	4,974	3,985
Other offences
Central	301	226	136	290	316	288	454
Dumfries and Galloway	181	158	115	62	66	71	64
Fife	242	153	104	198	180	145	234
Grampian	829	553	325	444	378	335	428
Lothian and Borders	1,097	736	345	397	340	446	672
Northern	754	420	222	235	280	302	302
Strathclyde	5,015	4,039	2,557	2,684	2,977	3,062	4,516
Tayside	730	331	372	538	430	573	560
Total	9,149	6,616	4,176	4,849²	4,967	5,222	7,230

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes a small number of cases where force is unknown.

3. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15626

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been released under the electronic monitoring scheme since May 2002; what the categories of offences were for which such prisoners had been sentenced; how many such prisoners were electronically tagged in each category, and what the average length of sentence received was in each category.

The measures in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 enabling the Parole Board to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of a release licence came into force on 1 January 2004. To date, one young offender who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for various dishonesty offences and contravention of the Road Traffic Act 1988 has been released with a licence that included a condition to comply with electronic monitoring.

Electronic monitoring is a valuable addition to the licence conditions available to the Parole Board and can help maintain an offender’s risk at an acceptable level. I have urged the Parole Board to consider making greater use of this as an additional safeguard.

Question reference: S2W-14553

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each of its departments spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by ministers and officials in each year since 1999.

Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister, is the only residential property on the Scottish Executive core estate. The table below sets out the expenditure as requested. The Executive does not pay council tax in respect of this property but non-domestic rates. Details of the amounts spent to date on maintenance, renovations, non-domestic rates and running costs (which includes utilities and cleaning) are shown below. On-going “renovation” work appropriate to the age and style of the property includes, re-wiring, installation of an external disabled lift and the adaptation of the toilets to allow disabled access. The pattern of expenditure on maintenance is largely determined by the number of projects in the long term planned preventative maintenance programme agreed with the National Trust for Scotland, to which we are committed under the terms of the lease.

	Maintenance	Renovations	Rates	Running Costs	Total
1999-00	£59,800	£154,000	£4,500	£8,900	£227,200
2000-01	£24,000	£16,500	£5,000	£24,000	£69,500
2001-02	£19,100	£89,900	£7,000	£22,200	£138,200
2002-03	£26,500	£114,300	£7,500	£20,900	£169,200
2003-04	£27,900	£54,100	£8,400	£23,000	£113,400
2004-05 (to date)	£24,700	£22,000	£9,500	£19,500	£75,700

Question reference: S2W-15723

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) recorded offences and (b) convictions there have been under section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 for cruelty to persons under 16, in each year since 1997.

The available information on crimes recorded by the police of cruelty and unnatural treatment of persons under 16 is given in the following table. The recorded crime statistics collected centrally do not distinguish legislation at the level of detail requested. In consequence the figures given in the table include all crimes of cruelty and unnatural treatment of persons under 16, including crimes recorded under legislation other than that specified in the question or under Common Law.

Number of Crimes Recorded by the Police of Cruel and Unnatural Treatment of Persons Under 16, Scotland, 1997-2003

Year	Number of Crimes Recorded by the Police
1997	1,264
1998	1,263
1999	1,351
2000	1,124
2001	1,301
2002	1,407
2003	1,488

The available information on convictions for cruel and unnatural treatment of persons under 16 is given in the following table.

Number of Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Cruel and Unnatural Treatment of Persons Under 16¹, Scotland, 1997-2003

Year	Number
1997	144
1998	154
1999	142
2000	138
2001	132
2002	156
2003²	194

Notes:

1. Where main offence. All cases involved an offence under section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 apart from two cases in 1997 and one in 2000 where the main offence involved was the common law offence of cruel and unnatural treatment.

2. Includes estimated data.

The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course if judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.

Question reference: S2W-15724

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) recorded offences and (b) convictions there have been under section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 for physical punishment of children, in each year since 2003.

Section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 does not create any offences but lists the factors that may be considered where a person claims that something done to a child was a physical punishment carried out in exercise of a parental right or of a right derived from having charge or care of the child. In consequence there can be no recorded crime or convictions resulting from this section of the act.

Question reference: S2W-15722

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) recorded offences and (b) convictions there have been under section 161 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for possession of indecent photographs of children, in each year since 1991.

The available information on offences recorded by the police is given in the following table. The recorded crime statistics collected centrally do not distinguish legislation at the level of detail requested. In consequence the figures given in the table include all offences of handling obscene material, including offences relating to indecent photographs of adults or offences involving obscene material other than photographs.

Offences Recorded by Police of Handling Obscene Material, Scotland, 1991–2003

Year	Number of Offences Recorded
1991	391
1992	515
1993	514
1994	248
1995	240
1996	187
1997	108
1998	110
1999	89
2000	157
2001	169
2002	198
2003	402

The available information on convictions for handling obscene material is given in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Handling Obscene Material¹, 1991-2003

Year	Total	Of which Involving an Offence Under Section 52A of Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982³
1991	10	-
1992	8	2
1993	6	-
1994	8	-
1995	8	-
1996	14	1
1997	8	-
1998	17	1
1999	13	1
2000	22	3
2001	21	3
2002	29	8
2003²	70	11

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

3. Offence introduced by section 161 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course if judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.

Question reference: S2W-15984

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sheriffs there are and, of these, how many have participated in training of any kind within the last (a) 12 months, (b) 24 months, and (c) five years and how many have never participated in training since their appointment.

The responsibility for trainingof the judiciary rests with the independent Judicial Studies Committee, chairedby Lord Wheatley. There are 140 sheriffs in post. Since 1997, all new appointeeshave been required to participate in an induction course of five days duration beforesitting alone. In the last five years, all sheriffs have attended at least one refreshercourse of three days duration. Most sheriffs regularly attend at least one othertraining event each year. In addition, sheriffs attend training events and lecturesrun by outside organisations such as the Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency.

Question reference: S2W-15913

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean, (b) median and (c) mode length of custodial sentences imposed for assaulting a police officer has been in each year since 1994, broken down by police force area.

The available information, which relates to convictions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, is given in the table. This section of the 1967 Act provides that any person who assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable shall be guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a police officer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offences in the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which may result in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identified separately in the available statistics.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967¹, by Police Force Area, 1994-2003:

Persons Receiving a Custodial Sentence

Police Force Area	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
	Number of Persons:
Central	26	17	23	12	15	18	18	25	24	25
Dumfries and Galloway	10	12	10	17	10	15	14	14	10	13
Fife	25	26	26	26	22	14	23	23	17	31
Grampian	43	33	31	32	32	28	18	28	46	30
Lothian and Borders	41	65	60	58	71	81	74	76	87	77
Northern	38	28	25	25	26	22	32	34	38	31
Strathclyde	294	259	307	274	235	200	207	196	214	252
Tayside	33	30	25	43	56	47	43	49	60	67
Scotland	510	470	507	487	467	425	429	445	496	526
	Mean (days):
Central	97	76	92	129	81	90	103	139	109	98
Dumfries and Galloway	97	106	85	119	155	111	108	113	91	74
Fife	122	122	121	125	124	111	135	137	116	122
Grampian	95	117	101	86	88	126	83	106	106	144
Lothian and Borders	125	132	130	118	119	116	109	109	127	108
Northern	91	127	104	113	103	133	112	143	105	129
Strathclyde	135	124	131	115	117	122	121	121	112	117
Tayside	155	122	101	102	115	131	128	94	84	112
Scotland	126	123	123	113	114	121	117	118	110	116
	Median (days):
Central	91	60	91	106	91	61	91	122	91	91
Dumfries and Galloway	91	91	76	91	107	91	91	91	91	91
Fife	91	91	122	91	107	91	91	122	122	91
Grampian	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
Lothian and Borders	91	91	117	91	122	91	91	91	122	91
Northern	76	91	91	91	91	122	91	122	91	122
Strathclyde	122	91	122	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
Tayside	122	91	91	91	91	122	122	91	91	91
Scotland	91	91	107	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
	Mode (days):
Central	91	122	91	60	91	60	91	122	91	30
Dumfries and Galloway	91	91	60	91	91	91	60	91	91	91
Fife	91	60	122	91	91	182	182	91	122	91
Grampian	91	91	60	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
Lothian and Borders	91	91	91	91	182	91	91	91	91	91
Northern	30	91	60	91	91	91	91	122	91	122
Strathclyde	182	91	182	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
Tayside	182	60	30	91	91	91	91	91	91	91
Scotland	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91

Notes:

1. Where main offence. Average values shown relate to total penalty imposed for conviction.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15916

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions for assault of a police officer resulted in (a) custody, (b) a financial penalty and (c) a community sentence in each year since 1994, broken down by police force area.

The available information, which relates to convictions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, is given in the table. This section of the 1967 Act provides that any person who assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable shall be guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a police officer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offences in the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which may result in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identified separately in the available statistics.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967¹, by Selected Type of Sentence and police Force Area, 1994-2003

Police Force Area	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
	Custody:
Central	26	17	23	12	15	18	18	25	24	25
Dumfries and Galloway	10	12	10	17	10	15	14	14	10	13
Fife	25	26	26	26	22	14	23	23	17	31
Grampian	43	33	31	32	32	28	18	28	46	30
Lothian and Borders	41	65	60	58	71	81	74	76	87	77
Northern	38	28	25	25	26	22	32	34	38	31
Strathclyde	294	259	307	274	235	200	207	196	214	252
Tayside	33	30	25	43	56	47	43	49	60	67
Scotland	510	470	507	487	467	425	429	445	496	526
	Financial penalty:
Central	117	134	122	74	44	61	65	84	105	96
Dumfries and Galloway	60	54	44	42	40	29	31	30	32	58
Fife	116	92	81	94	79	60	59	72	61	64
Grampian	207	224	173	185	187	135	96	128	157	200
Lothian and Borders	233	272	222	251	273	192	213	203	211	239
Northern	104	107	100	70	82	64	76	91	81	106
Strathclyde	906	903	975	992	796	602	485	595	635	676
Tayside	83	122	97	106	120	123	99	112	156	134
Scotland	1,826	1,908	1,814	1,814	1,621	1,266	1,124	1,315	1,438	1,573
	Community sentence:
Central	13	15	20	20	16	13	16	20	28	26
Dumfries and Galloway	15	3	4	11	9	5	8	7	11	18
Fife	15	16	25	21	29	12	19	27	42	47
Grampian	21	40	25	19	22	21	20	19	27	48
Lothian and Borders	41	39	61	51	65	78	67	71	83	70
Northern	27	24	19	19	21	20	20	33	27	39
Strathclyde	143	151	176	204	199	151	152	174	218	287
Tayside	22	24	30	55	52	57	40	49	77	69
Scotland	297	312	360	400	413	357	342	400	513	604

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15912

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean, (b) median and (c) mode level of fines imposed for assaulting a police officer has been in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area

The available information, which relates to convictions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, is given in the table. This section of the 1967 Act provides that any person who assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable shall be guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a police officer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offences in the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which may result in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identified separately in the available statistics.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967¹, by Police Force Area, 1997-2003: Persons Fined

Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
	Number of Persons:
Central	73	43	58	64	77	104	88
Dumfries and Galloway	43	40	29	31	32	32	59
Fife	94	82	59	59	72	62	65
Grampian	187	186	137	95	131	159	202
Lothian and Borders	249	273	191	214	208	213	250
Strathclyde	996	811	612	496	596	632	576
Northern	69	82	64	77	93	84	110
Tayside	107	124	125	101	113	156	139
Scotland	1,818	1,641	1,275	1,137	1,322	1,442	1,489
	Mean ():
Central	223	289	282	260	250	284	256
Dumfries and Galloway	324	268	317	396	352	380	358
Fife	231	188	174	198	238	182	231
Grampian	228	212	240	230	246	283	259
Lothian and Borders	245	243	250	248	260	261	297
Strathclyde	265	258	258	262	267	258	273
Northern	277	302	244	309	335	425	359
Tayside	242	223	227	212	227	211	232
Scotland	255	248	250	256	265	267	278
	Median ():
Central	200	200	250	200	250	250	213
Dumfries and Galloway	300	250	200	400	375	350	400
Fife	213	150	170	180	200	180	200
Grampian	175	178	200	200	200	250	200
Lothian and Borders	200	200	200	200	250	250	250
Strathclyde	250	225	225	225	250	228	250
Northern	250	250	213	225	250	325	288
Tayside	200	178	200	200	200	200	200
Scotland	225	200	200	200	250	250	250
	Mode ():
Central	100	100	250	150	200	100	200
Dumfries and Galloway	350	100	200	400	400	200	400
Fife	250	150	200	200	200	100	200
Grampian	100	100	250	200	100	150	100
Lothian and Borders	200	200	250	200	250	150	300
Strathclyde	250	250	150	150	200	200	250
Northern	250	250	150	200	250	250	250
Tayside	150	150	200	100	150	100	100
Scotland	250	150	150	150	200	200	250

Notes:

1. Where main offence. Average values shown relate to total penalty imposed for conviction.

2. Includes estimated data.

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