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: S2W-31158

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents involving (a) sale and (b) use of illegal drugs on school property have been reported in each local education authority in each year since 2000.

Question reference: S2W-31156

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) permanent and (b) temporary exclusions from school there were in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many were as a result of (i) drug taking, (ii) selling drugs, (iii) violence towards other pupils, (iv) violence towards teachers, (v) vandalism of school property, (vi) theft of school property and (vii) possession of a weapon and how many were for other reasons.

Information on temporary exclusionsand removal from the register and the reasons for those are contained within statisticalpublications produced annually.

Information for the period 1999-2000is available from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00055-06.asp.

Information for each year from2000-01 onwards is available from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubExclusions.

Question reference: S2W-31159

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offensive weapons were confiscated in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S2W-31161

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 31 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total change was in the number of beds in (a) the NHS and (b) each NHS board between 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Question reference: S2W-30806

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Scottish Prison Service budget was spent on education in 2005-06.

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

The information requested isnot available. The Scottish Prison Service incurred direct expenditure of some £3.5million on education in 2005-06. This figure excludes the cost of education serviceincluded in the cost of the HM Prison Kilmarnock contract – which has a unitary payment for the full service– and internal resources at all establishments which provided education servicesduring this period.

An extensive analysis of correctionalopportunities for prisoners was published in January 2005 by Audit Scotland. Thisreport sought to provide estimated costs for correctional opportunities and thisremains the most comprehensive attempt to quantify the associated costs. A similarexercise has not been undertaken since then.

Question reference: S2W-31223

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many racially motivated assaults (a) were reported and (b) resulted in a case being brought before the courts in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriff court.

Official statistics on racist incidentsrecorded by the police in Scotland from 2003-04 to 2005-06 will by published bythe Scottish Executive in March 2007. This will be the first time that such informationhas been collated and published, and it will contain data on racist incidents wherea crime of assault was subsequently recorded.

The available data for persons proceededagainst in Scottish courts where a racial aggravator has been recorded is givenin the following table. Racial aggravator data is not available for earlier years.

Persons Proceeded Against forAssault^1,2 in Scottish Courts where a Racial Aggravator Code³has been Recorded, 2004-05.

Court Procedure	2004-05
High Court	4
Sheriff Summary
Aberdeen	4
Airdrie	3
Alloa	-
Arbroath	-
Ayr	1
Banff	-
Campbelltown	-
Cupar	-
Dingwall	1
Dornoch	-
Dumbarton	2
Dumfries	2
Dundee	8
Dunfermline	-
Dunoon	-
Duns	-
Edinburgh	24
Elgin	2
Falkirk	1
Forfar	1
Fort William	-
Glasgow	54
Greenock	1
Haddington	3
Hamilton	1
Inverness	4
Jedburgh	-
Kilmarnock	7
Kirkcaldy	1
Kirkcudbright	1
Kirkwall	-
Lanark	1
Lerwick	-
Linlithgow	2
Lochmaddy	-
Oban	-
Paisley	6
Peebles	-
Perth	2
Peterhead	-
Portree	-
Rothesay	-
Selkirk	-
Stirling	3
Stonehaven	-
Stornoway	-
Stranraer	-
Tain	1
Wick	-
Scotland	140

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Assault defined as serious assault,robbery and assault with intent to rob, assault with intent to commit unnaturalcrimes, assault with intent to ravish, indecent assault, petty assault, petty assaultof an emergency worker.

3. Offence aggravator codes will not be recorded for non-Integrationof Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS) cases and courts thatare not yet ISCJIS compliant.

Question reference: S2W-31115

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average waiting times were for persons seeking (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four-bedroom local authority homes in each of the last five years, broken down by authority, and which local authorities had the (A) longest and (B) shortest waiting times.

The information requested isnot held centrally. The numbers of households on waiting lists for each local authorityare published on an annual basis in the quarterly Scottish Executive StatisticalBulletin (Housing Series) Housing trends in Scotland: quarters ending 31 March.This is available online in the publications section of the housing statistics branchreference site http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/PubHousingTrend.

Question reference: S2W-31116

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacant local authority houses there were in each of the last five years, broken down by authority.

The numbers of vacant local authoritydwellings as at 31 March are published on an annual basis in the quarterly ScottishExecutive Statistical Bulletin (Housing Series) Housing trends in Scotland: quartersending 31 March. Bulletins for the past five years are available on-line in thepublications section of the housing statistics branch reference site:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/PubHousingTrend.

Question reference: S2W-30835

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on each official residence made available to a Scottish minister on (a) council tax, (b) rent, (c) repairs and maintenance, (d) redecoration and (e) other running costs in 2005-06.

Question reference: S2W-30834

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what official residences have been made available to Scottish ministers in the course of their duties; where each residence is; what the council tax banding of each is, and to which Scottish minister each residence is allocated.