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-27087

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what penalties have been imposed on Reliance in relation to its Scottish Prison Service contract for prisoner transport, broken down by (a) value and (b) number of penalties.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:I refer the member to the question S2W-25470 answeredon 11 May 2006 which sets out what information the SPS and Reliancehave agreed to publish. The information requested does not fall within the scopeof this agreement. The agreed information can be seen on the SPS website at www.sps.gov.uk.

All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website the search facility for which can be at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-27007

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent communications, public relations and marketing staff it has employed in each year since 1999.

Information from 2002 onwardsis set out in the following table. It would only be possible to provide abreakdown of the data prior to this date at disproportionate cost.

The information coversspecialist staff employed by media and communications (M&C) Division. “Communications”data covers staff previously known as “Press” officers. The figures include anyexternal secondees from the roster agencies working directly with M&C. Thereare currently five in Marketing and Public Relations. The secondment programmecommenced in autumn 2003.

Staff in post figures areshown as a 1 January snapshot each year and also include the position as at 1 July 2006.

As at	Communications	Public Relations	Marketing
01-01-2002	44	0	4
01-01-2003	45.5	0	4
01-01-2004	42.5	0	9
01-01-2005	44	0	9
01-01-2006	42.6	0	9
01-07-2006	42.4	1	8

Question reference: S2W-26950

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) former prisoners and (b) individuals who have been cautioned have been placed on the sex offenders’ register in each month since the register was introduced.

Question reference: S2W-26951

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) former prisoners and (b) individuals who were cautioned who have been placed on the sex offenders’ register have been in breach of the obligations thereby placed on them in each month since the register was introduced.

Question reference: S2W-26992

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentistry practices (a) serve NHS patients and (b) are available for new NHS patients in each NHS board area.

The number of practices thatwere providing NHS general dental services in each NHS board area at 31 March 2006 is shownin the following table. Information on practices accepting new NHS patients is notcollected centrally.

Number of Practices¹Providing NHS General Dental Services at 31 March 2006;by NHS Board Area

NHS Board Area	Number of Practices
Argyll and Clyde	83
Ayrshire and Arran	68
Borders	24
Dumfries and Galloway	27
Fife	60
Forth Valley	51
Grampian	72
Greater Glasgow	206
Highland	65
Lanarkshire	89
Lothian	154
Orkney	6
Shetland	8
Tayside	83
Western Isles	7
Scotland	1,003

Source: MIDAS (ManagementInformation and Dental Accounting System). Data extracted 22 June 2006.

Note: 1. All locations in eachNHS board area in which NHS general dental services were provided (independent NHSgeneral dental practice, NHS health centre/clinic, NHS emergency centre, NHS hospital,NHS mobile dental van, school/university premises, occupational health service department,prison, young offenders’ institute, and immigration centre).

Question reference: S2W-26276

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost of upkeep of empty properties owned by it was in each year since 1999, broken down by department, and what the total value is of such property.

The annual cost of upkeep ofempty properties, owned by the Scottish Executive Core Estate, in each financialyear since 1999 is as follows;

Financial Year	Costs	Value of Buildings	Buildings
1999-2000	Nil
2000-01	Nil
2001-02	Nil
2002-03	£25,337	£5,610,888	James Craig Walk & 16 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh
2003-04	£46,049	£3.975,237	16 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, 83 East High Street, Forfar, & Jeanfield House, Perth
2004-05	£16,847	£525,000	Jeanfield House Perth
2005-06	£20,741	£600,000	Jeanfield House, Perth

The empty properties were allmarketed promptly, but for three of the four the best offers received were conditionalon receipt of a planning consent for a change of use from office use to residentialuse. As a result, they were “Under Offer” pending completion of a sale for significantperiods. The planning issues in relation to Jeanfield House have been particularlycomplicated, which has meant the building remaining “Under Offer” for a lengthyperiod. These conditional offers were pursued because they were significantly higherthan any offers received which were not conditional upon receipt of a planning consentfor a change of use. This is normal commercial practice where an organisation wishesto maximise the sale proceeds from its disposals. It was also clear that the enhancementin the sale proceeds would significantly exceed the costs and risks of holding theproperty vacant.

All Scottish Executive Core EstateBuildings are managed centrally by Facilities and Estates Services, part of theOffice of the Permanent Secretary.

Question reference: S2W-26876

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what NHS facilities have been closed in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) community health partnership and (c) reason for closure.

Question reference: S2W-26554

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times illegal drugs have been found in each prison in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) type of drug and (b) quantity of drugs found.

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

The information requested isnot available. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23897 on 20 March 2006. All answersto written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The breakdown by type of illegaldrugs and quantity of drugs is not available as normally SPS pass any suspicioussubstances and packages over to the police. The police do not routinely pass informationback to the SPS following the analysis of suspicious substances and packages.

Question reference: S2W-26880

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been killed by (a) knives, (b) guns and (c) other weapons in each year since 1990.

The number of homicides for eachyear from 1990-91 to 2004-05, broken down by the main method of killing, are givenin the following table.

Year	Sharp Instrument	Blunt Instrument	Firearms	Other¹	Total
1990-91	27	4	3	29	63
1991-92	51	14	9	30	104
1992-93	64	19	3	56	142
1993-94	41	15	12	35	103
1994-95	55	12	10	37	114
1995-96²	69	10	26	45	150
1996-97	49	14	8	39	110
1997-98	39	9	7	42	97
1998-99	39	15	7	33	94
1999-2000	67	9	4	43	123
2000-01	48	11	4	45	108
2001-02	56	9	5	43	113
2002-03	60	15	3	47	125
2003-04	55	5	2	46	108
2004-05	72	8	8	49	137

Notes:

1. “Other” includes suchmethods as strangulation, hitting and kicking, etc. as well as unknown methods.

2. The firearms figures for1995-96 include the 17 victims of the Dunblane shootings.

Further details of the homicidesfrom 1995-96 onwards are available in the statistical publication Homicide inScotland, 2004-05,published by the Scottish Executive in December 2005. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number38380).

Question reference: S2W-26878

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of victims of crime have been under 18 years old in each of the last 10 years, broken down by police force area.

There are no centrally held statisticsdescribing the characteristics of victims of crime across Scotland.

Data from the Scottish CrimeSurvey (SCS), however, can give some insight into the prevalence of crime victimisationamongst young people. Reports from the SCS are available on the web and can be downloadedfrom the Scottish Executive website (www.scotland.gov.uk)or hard copies can be supplied upon request.