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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2357 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S2W-12251

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the cost of fraud to its departments in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the amount of fraud by staff in the Scottish Executive’s core departments in each of the last five years; as reported under the Executive’s Fraud Response Plan.

Year	Fraud (£)
2003-04	0
2002-03	0
2001-02	187
2000-01	0
1999-2000	1,596

Note: The amounts in the above table relate to fraudulent claims for travel and subsistence payments.

Question reference: S2W-12250

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reported incidents of race hate crimes there have been against (a) people with learning disabilities, (b) people with disabilities, (c) gay, lesbian and bisexual people in each local authority area in each year since 1999 and, in each case, what percentage (1) was brought to court and (2) resulted in a successful prosecution.

Question reference: S2W-12762

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 21 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have been caused by the (a) consumption of animal products, except those caused by contaminated products, and (b) use of prescription drugs in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001, (iii) 2002 and (iv) 2003.

Causes of death are categorised using the World Health Organisation’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (Tenth Revision: ICD10). This classification does not separately identify deaths caused by the consumption of animal products.

The table gives the numbers of deaths caused by the adverse effects of drugs and medicaments in therapeutic use. Additionally, drugs cause a significant number of deaths by poisoning (mainly associated with drug abuse, accidental poisoning or intentional self-poisoning). Statistics are available on the General Register Office for Scotland website:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/03reference-tables/03reference-table6.html.

Many of these deaths involve prescription drugs, sometimes in combination with non-prescription drugs, but the ICD10 classification does not categorise such deaths separately.

Deaths Caused by the Adverse Effects of Drugs and Medicaments in Therapeutic Use

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003
Number	26	29	26	24

Question reference: S2W-12722

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will give a substantive answer to question S2W-11019 lodged on 29 September 2004.

Question reference: S2W-12609

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many PFI/PPP contracts for schools allow or require the contractor to operate food or drink vending machines.

Question reference: S2W-11008

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) women and (b) juveniles received a custodial sentence in each year since 1999, broken down by court.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Number of Custodial Sentences Imposed on Females By Scottish Courts, 1999-2002

Court	1999	2000	2001	2002¹
High Court	38	36	49	36
Sheriff Courts:
Aberdeen	40	61	46	86
Airdrie	12	14	23	23
Alloa	5	5	24	24
Arbroath	12	6	8	8
Ayr	31	67	88	82
Banff	3	3	6	3
Campbeltown	-	-	-	1
Cupar	2	1	10	1
Dingwall	4	2	3	6
Dornoch	-	1	-	1
Dumbarton	21	13	20	10
Dumfries	12	16	40	38
Dundee	47	36	37	43
Dunfermline	9	8	10	20
Dunoon	6	6	6	-
Duns	-	1	3	3
Edinburgh	60	71	91	130
Elgin	4	5	2	30
Falkirk	43	21	22	55
Forfar	-	1	4	11
Fort William	4	17	2	-
Glasgow	79	88	73	80
Greenock	74	43	44	30
Haddington	-	1	1	10
Hamilton	23	13	33	36
Inverness	19	31	14	15
Jedburgh	3	-	12	12
Kilmarnock	89	71	140	92
Kirkcaldy	12	28	27	17
Kirkcudbright	10	1	3	-
Kirkwall	-	2	1	-
Lanark	3	2	1	-
Lerwick	-	-	3	3
Linlithgow	7	16	25	8
Oban	2	3	4	1
Paisley	64	34	40	26
Peebles	-	-	-	1
Perth	8	12	7	19
Peterhead	8	9	1	8
Selkirk	3	5	12	14
Stirling	21	28	33	27
Stonehaven	3	1	2	3
Stornoway	2	-	-	2
Stranraer	21	24	44	18
Tain	-	1	3	10
Wick	2	1	1	2
Sub-total	768	769	970	1,009

District and Stipendiary Magistrate Courts:

	1999	2000	2001	2002
Aberdeen City	14	6	2	4
Angus	-	-	1	1
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	2
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	3	-
Dundee City	3	4	1	6
East Ayrshire	-	-	1	3
Edinburgh, City of	1	1	1	3
Fife	13	11	3	1
Glasgow City	183	77	95	78
Highland	-	9	1	1
North Ayrshire	1	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	-	6	4	1
Renfrewshire	2	-	-	1
Scottish Borders	-	1	-	-
South Ayrshire	7	-	16	3
West Dunbartonshire	3	2	-	-
Sub-total	227	117	128	104
All courts	1,033	922	1,147³	1,149

Number of Custodial Sentences Imposed on Juveniles² by Scottish Courts, 1999-2002

Court	1999	2000	2001	2002¹
High Court	155	159	134	110
Sheriff Courts:
Aberdeen	299	313	236	172
Airdrie	100	80	79	79
Alloa	29	35	37	30
Arbroath	54	39	78	46
Ayr	137	207	164	143
Banff	21	7	34	9
Campbeltown	3	-	7	-
Cupar	19	25	34	18
Dingwall	12	12	5	2
Dornoch	2	7	2	2
Dumbarton	142	122	125	51
Dumfries	49	53	87	92
Dundee	265	310	306	246
Dunfermline	75	95	121	59
Dunoon	4	4	-	6
Duns	1	5	6	7
Edinburgh	374	373	407	397
Elgin	33	44	58	71
Falkirk	92	97	81	128
Forfar	17	12	36	38
Fort William	4	22	10	10
Glasgow	671	644	508	549
Greenock	206	149	134	107
Haddington	20	25	21	23
Hamilton	124	147	146	150
Inverness	68	69	47	30
Jedburgh	18	32	41	26
Kilmarnock	367	296	332	212
Kirkcaldy	251	160	147	78
Kirkcudbright	12	19	20	15
Kirkwall	3	1	3	1
Lanark	31	34	27	21
Lerwick	12	9	10	-
Linlithgow	119	72	52	116
Lochmaddy	-	3	1	-
Oban	7	7	11	13
Paisley	210	193	236	201
Peebles	21	5	-	1
Perth	33	47	81	67
Peterhead	36	38	15	27
Rothesay	-	2	2	13
Selkirk	6	6	26	37
Stirling	38	40	38	47
Stonehaven	5	7	7	3
Stornoway	11	5	4	6
Stranraer	49	53	83	37
Tain	4	16	20	40
Wick	6	2	9	1
Sub-total	4,060	3,947⁴	3,934	3,427

District and Stipendiary Magistrate Courts:

	1999	2000	2001	2002
Aberdeen City	15	4	2	1
Aberdeenshire	3	4	-	3
Angus	1	3	4	2
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	1
Dumfries and Galloway	2	-	-	-
Dundee City	20	38	15	27
East Ayrshire	8	2	6	3
East Dunbartonshire	1	-	-	1
East Renfrewshire	-	-	1	-
Edinburgh, City of	1	2	4	8
Eilean Siar	-	5	-	-
Fife	10	4	7	-
Glasgow City	212	139	102	75
Highland	9	15	1	2
Inverclyde	1	7	2	1
Moray	-	-	3	1
North Ayrshire	-	1	2	1
North Lanarkshire	3	3	5	2
Perth and Kinross	3	5	7	2
Renfrewshire	-	-	2	4
South Ayrshire	9	3	20	10
South Lanarkshire	1	3	-	3
West Dunbartonshire	2	1	8	-
West Lothian	-	-	1	2
Sub-total	301	239	192	149
All courts	4,516	4,345	4,260	3,686

Notes:

1. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record details of some court proceedings in SCRO system.

2. Persons aged under 21.

3. Includes one case where court is unknown.

4. Includes four cases where sheriff court is unknown.

Question reference: S2W-12320

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what its staff costs were in respect of (a) accommodation, (b) travel, (c) transport, (d) stationery and (e) hospitality in each department in each year since 1999.

The information requested is set out in the following table. Restructuring of Departments in the Scottish Executive over the period affects some of the year on year comparisions.

Year	Dept	Corporate Services² (inc OPS and LPS)	FCSD	ED	DD	ELLD	HD	JD	ERAD	Total
Year	Dept	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)
1999-2000 (Outturn)	Accomm^1,3	18,259	127	1	0	0	0	957	0	19,344
	Travel	1,232	593	184	369	376	253	322	1,690	5,019
	Transport	305	15	8	54	17	1	4	100	504
	Stationery	227	167	112	102	82	122	48	251	1,111
	Hospitality	54	100	38	29	23	46	10	40	340
2000-01 (Outturn)	Accomm⁴	19,741	58	0	0	4	0	758	11	20,572
	Travel	1,035	614	238	355	354	355	327	1,595	4,873
	Transport	340	16	6	44	17	0	5	88	516
	Stationery	195	173	132	120	25	116	66	270	1,097
	Hospitality	60	129	44	38	76	62	17	40	466
2001-02 (Outturn)	Accomm⁵	21,484	55	0	0	0	0	923	132	22,594
	Travel	921	688	271	410	338	389	348	1,866	5,231
	Transport	398	32	1	40	12	1	3	89	576
	Stationery	203	159	88	94	60	140	133	399	1,276
	Hospitality	58	215	31	32	36	55	12	38	477
2002-03 (Outturn)	Accomm⁶	15,476	102	1	27	0	0	74	1	15,681
	Travel	1,060	725	372	439	313	528	381	1,625	5,443
	Transport	286	12	3	37	13	0	4	78	433
	Stationery	260	162	95	130	62	158	77	305	1,249
	Hospitality	20	195	58	49	36	72	22	51	503
2003-04 (Outturn)	Accomm	15,537	146	0	1	0	1	69	2	15,756
	Travel	944	643	418	553	516	477	406	1,669	5,626
	Transport	254	18	1	65	13	0	9	114	474
	Stationery	239	127	87	97	63	156	91	255	1,115
	Hospitality	99	178	79	67	38	86	32	65	644
2004-05 (Budget)	Accomm	16,420	151	22	5	0	0	82	1	16,681
	Travel	1,592	466	354	304	514	410	379	1,905	5,924
	Transport	273	27	23	37	1	4	3	119	487
	Stationery	315	109	105	57	72	166	83	241	1,148
	Hospitality	127	56	71	36	51	83	41	69	534

Notes:

1. Most accommodation costs are managed centrally and not splitbetween departments.

2. OPS is Office of the Permanent Secretary; LPS is Legal andParliamentary Services.

3. Corporate Services includes £3,525,000 for refurbishment of StAndrews House.

4. Corporate Services includes £4,080,000 for refurbishment of StAndrews House.

5. Corporate Services includes £5,811,000 for refurbishment of StAndrews House.

6. Justice Department's accommodation figure is less than previous years because the property costs of Accountant in Bankruptcy and other justice related bodies are now met from the Justice programme.

Question reference: S2O-04341

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 2 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for access to NHS dental services.

Question reference: S2W-11528

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in recording allegations and incidents of threatening and intimidating behaviour of staff towards prisoners; how such incidents are broken down for statistical analysis, and how many such incidents there were in the last five years for which figures are available.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS collects information which it believes necessary for the running of an effective competitive business. To that end, we carefully collect and publish annually in our annual reports (which are available at www.sps.gov.uk), information such as that on serious assaults and other Key Performance Indicators. We are proud of the fact that allegations of threatening and intimidating behaviour are very rare in the SPS. The published Annual Report from the Prison Complaints Commissioner for 2003-04 recorded 18 complaints to the commissioner about staff and staff treatment. Figures prior to this were not collected but will be in the future.

Question reference: S2W-11019

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have left the police force in each year since 1997, broken down by constabulary.

The information requested is shown in the following table.

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Central Scotland	31	25	24	33	29	26	18
Dumfries and Galloway	10	18	17	19	20	17	13
Fife	30	38	45	37	34	39	32
Grampian	57	52	58	58	44	63	44
Lothian and Borders	87	108	91	103	128	119	106
Northern	27	19	32	29	30	23	36
Strathclyde	276	250	284	291	303	282	309
Tayside	47	39	51	47	53	46	51
Scotland	565	549	602	617	641	615	609

Source: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Annual Statistical Return from police forces.