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-27235

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what research into the causes of autism it is currently undertaking.

Question reference: S1W-26990

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 5 July 2002

The available information is given in the following tables.Number of Seizures of Controlled Drugs by Police Force and Drug Type, 1997-2000¹1997

Police force^{2, 3}	All⁴seizures	Cocaine	Heroin	Ecstasy	Amphet-amines	Cannabis	Otherdrugs
Central	599	5	56	13	77	480	39
Dumfries and Galloway	444	1	92	18	61	325	16
Fife	658	9	26	29	103	567	42
Grampian	1,518	29	216	59	178	1,184	142
Lothian and Borders	2,262	25	36	109	398	1,860	258
Northern	552	6	6	8	93	492	14
Strathclyde	9,295	107	1,323	226	1,030	7,077	849
Tayside	1,049	9	15	61	133	857	104
Other authorities	16	1	1	0	2	12	0
Scotland	16,393	192	1,771	523	2,075	12,854	1,464

1998

Police force^2,3	All⁴seizures	Cocaine	Heroin	Ecstasy	Amphet-amines	Cannabis	Otherdrugs
Central	829	8	73	20	52	727	34
Dumfries and Galloway	509	8	140	13	54	341	18
Fife	655	5	54	26	108	551	45
Grampian	1,682	36	270	45	213	1,329	160
Lothian and Borders	2,432	46	130	107	359	2,055	248
Northern	399	4	5	14	58	357	13
Strathclyde	10,045	134	1,709	179	1,102	7,355	1,349
Tayside	1,261	13	43	61	156	1,066	111
Scotland	17,812	254	2,424	465	2,102	13,781	1,978

1999

Police force^{2, 3}	All⁴seizures	Cocaine	Heroin	Ecstasy	Amphet-amines	Cannabis	Otherdrugs
Central	609	3	91	13	33	493	29
Dumfries and Galloway	415	3	132	11	36	271	17
Fife	537	2	59	23	84	432	23
Grampian	1,468	35	238	105	121	1,125	146
Lothian and Borders	2,762	67	207	177	359	2,275	280
Northern	649	6	21	33	72	566	21
Strathclyde	9,553	206	1,752	324	810	6,965	849
Tayside	1,080	6	31	65	110	919	67
Scotland	17,073	328	2,531	751	1,625	13,046	1,432

2000

Police force^{2, 3}	All⁴seizures	Cocaine	Heroin	Ecstasy	Amphet-amines	Cannabis	Otherdrugs
Central	332	4	57	14	18	264	8
Dumfries and Galloway	272	8	70	21	13	186	3
Fife	450	13	78	32	42	360	25
Grampian	1,152	36	251	154	38	808	122
Lothian and Borders	2,526	68	305	203	118	2,109	239
Northern	446	3	16	37	18	409	12
Strathclyde	9,650	237	1,964	593	353	7,145	695
Tayside	870	27	42	115	48	692	68
Scotland	15,698	396	2,783	1,169	648	11,973	1,172

Source: Home Office.Notes:1. Published data for 2001 are not yet available.2. Seizures from joint operations involving HM Customs & Excise and the police are generally recorded by HM Customs & Excise.3. Seizures made by the Scottish Crime Squad are recorded by the appropriate police force.4. As a seizure can involve more than one drug, figures for individual drugs cannot be added to produce totals.

Question reference: S1W-26991

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial assistance was allocated for the rehabilitation of drugs misusers in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99, (c) 1999-2000 and (d) 2000-01, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S1W-26946

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 4 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether widows and widowers of former Scottish Transport Group (STG) staff will be eligible for payment from the STG pension fund under the arrangements made for the disbursement of the pension fund surplus.

Question reference: S1W-25328

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23810 by Mr Jim Wallace on 20 March 2002, what budget has been set for catering services to the Scottish Prison Service in 2002-03.

Question reference: S1W-24400

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any ban on Scottish Prison Service employees contacting (a) their constituency MSP or (b) any MSP in order to discuss the plans for the service which were announced on 21 March 2002.

Question reference: S1W-26468

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to question S1W-26446 lodged on 5 June 2002, whether any public benefit may be obtained from any value accrued to the owners of salmon fishings, sporting rights and mineral rights as a result of any increase in the market value of their holdings arising as a consequence of the wider market in such assets following the introduction of a right to buy under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The introduction of the right to buy under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will not widen the market for salmon fishings, sporting rights and mineral rights. There is nothing at present to prevent crofting communities from purchasing such holdings when they are placed on the market. As the market is not widened by the bill proposals there can be no expectation that competition for these assets will increase and thus push up the value as a result of implementation of the legislation.

Question reference: S1W-26244

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Justice intends to reply to the letter dated 11 April 2002 from the Rev David Pitkeathley of Peterhead regarding HM Prison Peterhead.

Question reference: S1W-25607

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S1W-21658 lodged on 10 January 2002.

Question reference: S1W-26015

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 30 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive why staff from its Environment and Rural Affairs Department in Inverurie have not yet met my constituent Mr J Hardie as advised in the letter of 27 February 2002 to me from the Minister for Environment and Rural Development and what actions it will take to address my constituent's concerns without any further delay.

The issues raised concern the deterioration in vegetation cover on environmentally sensitive land but the cause was not immediately obvious. Detailed investigations were, therefore, required. Officials undertook a site visit on 5 - 6 February and have made other inquiries since then. Their investigations have been completed only recently and a report is being prepared for the responsible Assistant Chief Agricultural Officer. That outcome, and any ensuing action, is a matter between the department and the managers of the land in question. There are issues of confidentiality to consider. Nevertheless, I have asked officials to acknowledge Mr Hardie's contribution to this matter and to let him know as much of the outcome as the limits of confidentiality will allow.