Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-32272

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) underweight and (b) premature babies were born in the last year for which figures are available and how many were born in 1997, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-32434

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many recipients of single farm payments for land in Scotland were individuals or companies from the rest of the (a) United Kingdom and (b) world in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

The Single Farm Payment Scheme commencedon 1 January 2005 and claims are lodged on 15 May each year. Consequently, informationis only available for the first two years of the scheme. The domiciliary arrangementsof beneficiaries are as follows:

Farm Businesses with a Correspondence Address in:	2005 Scheme		2006 Scheme
Farm Businesses with a Correspondence Address in:	Number	Materiality	Number	Materiality
- Scotland	20,745	99.62%	20,235	99.53%
- Rest of the United Kingdom	71	0.34%	87	0.43%
- Overseas	8	0.04%	8	0.04%
Totals	20,824	100.00%	20,330	100.00%

Question reference: S2W-32339

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of medical graduates left Scotland for their first posts in each of the last five years, broken down by medical school and category of graduate.

Question reference: S2W-32534

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what proportion of patients with Availability Status Codes have waited (a) under six, (b) six to 12, (c) over 12 and (d) over 24 months for hospital in-patient treatment in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is not availablecentrally.

The recording of Availability StatusCodes (ASCs) on in-patient/day case discharge data is not mandatory and consistencyof recording will vary across NHSScotland. It is not possible thereforeto establish exactly how many patients had an ASC applied and to distinguish preciselybetween those patients eligible for waiting times standards and those that are ineligible.For this reason, routinely published waiting times figures are based on all in-patients/daycases regardless of whether they have an ASC code.

Census data, provided by NHS boards to ISD Scotland andpublished each quarter, shows the number of patients waiting over specified periodsas at the census date. This census data does identify all patients with an AvailabilityStatus Code and it is therefore possible to report on the number of patients witha guarantee and an Availability Status Code waiting over specified periods on thatparticular census date.

Availability Status Codes willbe abolished at the end of this year and replaced by a new system of defining andmeasuring waiting which will be clearer, more consistent and fairer to patients.The new approach will balance the responsibility of the NHS to provide care andtreatment quickly with patients responsibility to make sure they attend appointmentsand do not change appointments once agreed.

Question reference: S2W-32535

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number was of people on waiting lists for (a) radiotherapy, (b) chemotherapy and (c) other treatments for prostate cancer in the latest period for which figures are available and what the average waiting time was during that period.

Question reference: S2W-31710

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners sentenced for crimes involving violence have been granted home detention curfews in each of the last five years.

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

Home Detention Curfew (HDC) wasintroduced on 3 July 2006. There are therefore no figures to report before thisdate.

HDC is available only to short-termconvicted prisoners serving sentences of three months or more and less than fouryears. Current evidence of serious violence and/or previous convictions for seriousviolence would indicate a significant risk to the public, and as a result, the SPSwould be unlikely to release such prisoners on HDC.

Question reference: S2W-32177

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions each of the three verdicts available to Scottish courts has been used in the last 12 months for which information is available.

The available information isgiven in the following table. The figures for acquittals include an element ofestimation to take account of undercounting due to recording delays.

Persons Proceeded Against inScottish courts, 2005-06: Estimated Number by Type of Verdict¹

Verdict	Estimated number
Guilty	128,400
Acquitted – not guilty^2,3	14,400
Acquitted – not proven²	800

Notes:

1. Excludes persons againstwhom proceedings were started but which are dropped before they reach court.

2. May be an underestimatedue to recording delays.

3. Includes plea not guiltyaccepted or case deserted.

Question reference: S2W-32281

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were (a) arrested, (b) charged, (c) prosecuted, (d) found guilty and (e) given a custodial sentence in cases involving (i) domestic violence, (ii) rape, (iii) violence against the person and (iv) burglary in each year from 1997 to 2006, broken down by police force area.

Data on numbers ofarrests and charges are not held centrally. The recorded crime statistics held centrallydo not contain information about the details of a crime, for instance the relationshipbetween the victim and the accused for crimes of violence. Information requested about the number of instances of burglary recorded since 1997in each police force area wasgiven in the answer to question S2W-29857 on 18 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The available informationon recorded crime and on prosecutions and convictions is given in the followingtables. Information in relation to prosecutions arising from incidents of domesticviolence is not separately identifiable in the available statistics.

The statistics dealing with recordedcrime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceededagainst for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is thepossibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course ofjudicial proceedings. A crime may be recorded by the police in one year and courtproceedings concluded in a subsequent year. Crimes committed by children aged under16 are also generally dealt with through the children’s hearings system rather thanthe courts.

Crimes of Rape Recorded bythe Police, 1997-98 to 2005-06

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	11	19	4	17	37	50	51	45	62
Dumfries and Galloway	19	27	39	16	20	16	26	20	29
Fife	31	30	43	46	52	73	78	83	88
Grampian	68	68	86	55	52	74	82	70	109
Lothian and Borders	165	146	91	130	138	173	181	240	220
Northern	23	23	38	14	29	30	53	54	46
Strathclyde	214	220	222	213	243	244	315	325	331
Tayside	65	74	63	58	60	83	59	63	90
Scotland	596	607	586	549	631	743	845	900	975

Crimes of Violence Againstthe Person¹ Recorded by the Police, 1997-98 to 2005-06

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	530	591	517	602	809	810	837	828	778
Dumfries and Galloway	375	284	240	241	262	283	323	271	279
Fife	541	550	744	874	963	771	694	707	709
Grampian	960	1,034	1,225	1,519	1,327	1,346	1,290	1,290	1,237
Lothian and Borders	2,115	2,201	2,642	2,809	2,673	3,110	2,856	2,736	2,588
Northern	437	516	545	660	665	654	655	730	771
Strathclyde	8,793	10,412	11,183	10,933	12,475	13,137	12,966	13,165	12,667
Tayside	1,290	1,208	1,042	963	829	693	688	814	778
Scotland	15,041	16,796	18,138	18,601	20,003	20,804	20,309	20,541	19,807

PersonsProceeded Against for Rape², 1997-98 to 2005-06

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central
Proceeded against	3	3	10	3	1	4	1	8	9
Charge proved	-	3	2	1	-	2	1	1	3
Custodial sentence	-	2	2	1	-	2	1	1	3
Dumfries and Galloway
Proceeded against	1	-	3	2	2	1	2	3	3
Charge proved	1	-	1	2	1	1	-	-	1
Custodial sentence	1	-	1	2	1	1	-	-	1
Fife
Proceeded against	6	16	5	2	8	7	3	11	12
Charge proved	4	10	1	1	5	5	2	10	5
Custodial sentence	3	9	1	1	5	4	1	10	4
Grampian
Proceeded against	3	9	6	2	4	4	5	6	3
Charge proved	-	5	5	1	2	2	2	3	1
Custodial sentence	-	5	5	1	1	2	2	3	1
Lothian and Borders
Proceeded against	14	14	13	14	19	15	19	21	13
Charge proved	9	5	7	9	12	8	9	11	3
Custodial sentence	8	5	7	8	10	7	8	10	3
Northern
Proceeded against	3	1	3	-	3	5	3	8	6
Charge proved	2	1	3	-	3	4	2	3	4
Custodial sentence	2	1	3	-	3	4	2	3	4
Strathclyde
Proceeded against	26	18	13	24	24	19	34	30	34
Charge proved	10	12	8	11	20	14	16	15	18
Custodial sentence	10	11	7	9	18	14	15	15	17
Tayside
Proceeded against	5	5	2	5	7	4	12	7	8
Charge proved	4	1	-	3	3	2	6	3	3
Custodial sentence	4	1	-	2	3	2	6	3	3
Scotland⁽³⁾
Proceeded against	61	66	55	52	68	59	80	94	88
Charge proved	30	37	27	28	46	38	38	46	38
Custodial sentence	28	34	26	24	41	36	35	45	36

Persons Proceeded Againstfor Violence Against the Person^1,2, 1997-98 to 2005-06

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central
Proceeded against	160	137	160	178	187	206	251	265	206
Charge proved	124	112	122	130	134	169	189	212	153
Custodial sentence	44	38	28	35	35	55	58	63	43
Dumfries and Galloway
Proceeded against	105	108	92	92	98	113	101	126	117
Charge proved	84	76	69	75	77	91	73	97	87
Custodial sentence	26	15	24	28	32	32	27	31	26
Fife
Proceeded against	169	135	149	149	219	195	164	153	208
Charge proved	131	97	117	112	162	161	124	121	167
Custodial sentence	48	34	33	39	49	43	38	42	59
Grampian
Proceeded against	230	275	232	196	240	239	307	330	373
Charge proved	191	222	175	154	204	202	247	270	332
Custodial sentence	38	37	46	37	58	38	60	61	87
Lothian and Borders
Proceeded against	597	531	464	560	587	759	750	714	694
Charge proved	488	453	368	465	475	606	612	575	563
Custodial sentence	159	158	127	188	140	206	213	200	171
Northern
Proceeded against	134	111	114	115	116	135	161	159	154
Charge proved	101	83	92	104	100	109	129	133	127
Custodial sentence	31	26	35	40	31	28	48	45	46
Strathclyde
Proceeded against	2,982	2,793	3,090	3,372	3,585	3,133	3,626	4,105	3,842
Charge proved	2,166	2,081	2,290	2,401	2,674	2,822	3,141	3,552	3,247
Custodial sentence	735	699	813	862	916	1,035	1,008	1,099	1,080
Tayside
Proceeded against	395	401	354	400	403	413	365	411	455
Charge proved	264	258	230	272	270	309	260	294	350
Custodial sentence	74	90	71	67	85	110	72	85	133
Scotland⁽³⁾
Proceeded against	4,772	4,491	4,655	5,063	5,435	5,193	5,726	6,264	6,050
Charge proved	3,549	3,382	3,463	3,714	4,096	4,469	4,776	5,254	5,027
Custodial sentence	1,155	1,097	1,177	1,297	1,346	1,547	1,525	1,626	1,645

Persons Proceeded Againstfor Housebreaking², 1997-98 to 2005-06

Police Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central
Proceeded against	193	152	152	141	183	193	168	191	94
Charge proved	148	115	121	126	157	167	140	151	77
Custodial sentence	61	58	47	57	72	87	73	54	29
Dumfries and Galloway
Proceeded against	133	137	103	137	118	108	106	80	79
Charge proved	110	123	85	118	103	92	89	75	71
Custodial sentence	45	71	41	60	67	52	38	44	49
Fife
Proceeded against	372	358	347	334	348	314	275	278	220
Charge proved	331	324	311	301	312	281	250	252	204
Custodial sentence	172	151	156	121	113	89	115	116	75
Grampian
Proceeded against	553	571	485	459	470	369	387	340	277
Charge proved	494	503	420	414	406	333	358	312	256
Custodial sentence	239	195	172	209	179	145	155	141	99
Lothian and Borders
Proceeded against	499	404	402	404	400	486	412	376	363
Charge proved	450	361	354	357	352	425	359	334	324
Custodial sentence	179	144	158	175	193	206	176	157	136
Northern
Proceeded against	138	125	111	92	96	98	115	88	94
Charge proved	115	112	93	84	90	86	105	76	81
Custodial sentence	31	32	29	29	39	20	37	27	28
Strathclyde
Proceeded against	1,647	1,705	1,628	1,396	1,391	1,218	1,164	1,149	876
Charge proved	1,249	1,333	1,286	1,084	1,079	1,114	1,017	982	767
Custodial sentence	622	723	767	659	627	607	541	484	364
Tayside
Proceeded against	396	288	273	242	238	299	256	231	254
Charge proved	277	200	190	192	173	254	190	191	208
Custodial sentence	110	72	99	95	84	130	78	94	104
Scotland⁽³⁾
Proceeded against	3,931	3,740	3,501	3,205	3,244	3,085	2,883	2,733	2,258
Charge proved	3,174	3,071	2,860	2,676	2,672	2,752	2,508	2,373	1,989
Custodial sentence	1,459	1,446	1,469	1,405	1,374	1,336	1,213	1,117	884

Notes:

1. For the purposes of this analysis,violence against the person has been defined to include the crime categories ofnon-sexual crimes of violence (excluding robbery), endangering rail passengers,reckless driving at common law, supply of glue sniffing kits and offensive weapons

2. Where main offence. The figuresfor persons proceeded against may exclude some acquittals due to recording delays.

3. Totals may include some caseswhere police force is unknown.

Question reference: S2W-32280

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions for (a) vehicle theft, (b) theft, (c) sexual offences, (d) robbery, (e) racially aggravated offences, (f) breach of the peace, (g) domestic burglary, (h) non-domestic burglary, (i) motoring offences, (j) fraud and forgery, (k) drug offences, (l) causing death by dangerous driving, (m) causing injury by reckless driving, (n) criminal damage, (o) breach of bail, (p) arson and (q) violence against the person were brought against young people aged 18 and under that resulted in (i) acquittal and (ii) conviction in each year since 2001.

The available information isgiven in the following table. Causing injury by reckless driving is not an identifiableoffence in the available statistics.

Persons Aged 18 and UnderProceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, 2001-02to 2005-06

Main Offence	Charge not proved⁴	Charge proved	Total
Theft of a motor vehicle
2001-02	226	596	822
2002-03	115	569	684
2003-04	138	527	665
2004-05	109	403	512
2005-06	120	353	473
Other theft
2001-02	325	1,745	2,070
2002-03	187	1,577	1,764
2003-04	183	1,377	1,560
2004-05	184	1,299	1,483
2005-06	167	1,128	1,295
Crimes of indecency
2001-02	13	66	79
2002-03	5	41	46
2003-04	14	73	87
2004-05	20	69	89
2005-06	21	83	104
Robbery
2001-02	28	130	158
2002-03	22	159	181
2003-04	34	127	161
2004-05	22	142	164
2005-06	25	97	122
Racially Aggravated Conduct and Harassment²
2001-02	29	77	106
2002-03	16	96	112
2003-04	33	116	149
2004-05	41	132	173
2005-06	44	131	175
Breach of the Peace
2001-02	334	1,863	2,197
2002-03	238	1,804	2,042
2003-04	311	1,952	2,263
2004-05	349	1,992	2,341
2005-06	377	2,146	2,523
Housebreaking²
2001-02	128	507	635
2002-03	78	542	620
2003-04	99	443	542
2004-05	100	426	526
2005-06	73	377	450
Motor vehicle Offences
2001-02	214	2,472	2,686
2002-03	158	3,051	3,209
2003-04	162	2,982	3,144
2004-05	156	2,507	2,663
2005-06	143	2,439	2,582
Fraud and Forgery
2001-02	18	96	114
2002-03	12	85	97
2003-04	15	74	89
2004-05	15	63	78
2005-06	10	56	66
Drug Offences
2001-02	91	531	622
2002-03	40	556	596
2003-04	41	650	691
2004-05	60	665	725
2005-06	67	628	695
Causing Death by Dangerous Driving
2002-03	-	2	2
2003-04	-	1	1
2004-05	-	2	2
2005-06	-	1	1
Vandalism, Reckless Damage and Malicious Mischief
2001-02	165	961	1,126
2002-03	92	994	1,086
2003-04	129	1,146	1,275
2004-05	148	1,227	1,375
2005-06	164	1,257	1,421
Bail offences
2001-02	102	478	580
2002-03	52	449	501
2003-04	71	536	607
2004-05	66	662	728
2005-06	65	646	711
Fire-Raising
2001-02	11	39	50
2002-03	9	35	44
2003-04	8	46	54
2004-05	19	72	91
2005-06	13	55	68
Violence Against Person³
2001-02	103	334	437
2002-03	77	431	508
2003-04	87	422	509
2004-05	81	437	518
2005-06	85	367	452

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Domestic and non-domestichousebreakings are not separately identified in the statistics available on prosecutions.

3. Includes JusticeDepartment crime non-sexual crimes of violence and common assault.

4. May be underestimates dueto recording delays.

Question reference: S2W-32278

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders in young offender institutions are held more than 50 miles from their home.

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

We currently publishinformation on the Community Justice Authority home area of prisoners incustody. The information last published for Young Offenders is given in the followingtable:

Community Justice Authority	Male	Female
Tayside	59	6
South West Scotland	99	6
Fife and Forth Valley	83	2
Glasgow	198	2
Northern	70	2
Lothian and Borders	98	7
Lanarkshire	95	4
Northern Strathclyde	119	2
Outwith Scotland	8	1
No Fixed Abode	5	0
Unidentifiable Address	12	2

We do not have the informationto determine the proximity of home addresses to young offender institutions.

Chamber and committees