Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-20362

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population lack basic skills, such as numeracy and literacy, broken down into people aged (a) 18 to 24, (b) 25 to 29, (c) 30 to 34, (d) 35 to 39, (e) 40 to 44, (f) 45 to 49, (g) 50 to 54, (h) 55 to 59, (i) 60 to 64, (j) 65 to 69 and (k) 70 to 75.

Question reference: S2W-20390

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20390 by Cathy Jamieson on 4 November 2005, how many of the fines listed have been paid in full.

Information on the number of fines imposed for possession of cannabis which are paid in full is not available from the statistics held centrally. The information systems maintained by the Scottish Courts Service in respect of fines imposed by the sheriff court and High Court are not configured to record the type of drug involved. The statistical information collected centrally in respect of payment of fines imposed by district courts does not include a breakdown by type of offence.

Question reference: S2W-20454

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have given birth whilst serving a custodial sentence in each year since 1995.

Question reference: S2W-20453

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 18 were convicted of (a) drug offences, (b) fraud and forgery, (c) theft of or from vehicles and (d) criminal damage in each year since 1999 and how many received a custodial sentence.

The available information is given in the following table. The court proceedings statistics for 2004-05 are scheduled for publication in March 2006. Offences alleged to have been committed by children aged under 16 years are generally dealt with through the Children’s Hearings System rather than the courts.

Persons Aged Under 18 with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, 1999-2003

Year of Sentence	Drug Offences	Fraud and Forgery	Theft of or from Motor Vehicles	Criminal Damage
	Total
1999	272	48	559	650
2000	197	39	387	562
2001	242	42	387	590
2002	218	46	367	665
2003²	285	36	402	814
	Number Resulting in a Custodial Sentence
1999	16	2	129	32
2000	9	4	70	25
2001	8	2	72	31
2002	15	2	66	35
2003²	11	-	73	50

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-20473

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have left custody and entered employment, education or training in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of all released prisoners.

Question reference: S2W-20472

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 November 2005

Question reference: S2W-20659

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to the (a) European Commission and (b) UK Government to ensure that figures for Scotland in respect of devolved matters are shown separately in EU publications so that information published reflects accurately the United Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

The Scottish Executive has not made formal representation to the European Commission or the UK Government to ensure that figures for Scotland, in respect of devolved matters, are shown separately for Scotland in EU publications.

Most EU statistics publications report statistics for member states and, as such, figures are often presented for the UK and in most cases do not show Scotland figures separately.

Where figures on devolved issues are required these are submitted to the UK government or European Union as appropriate.

Question reference: S2W-20221

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) recorded cases of, (b) prosecutions for and (c) convictions for (i) fire-raising and (ii) vandalism there have been in each of the last five years, broken down by (1) police force and (2) local authority area.

The available information is given in the tables. The court proceedings statistics for 2004-05 are scheduled for publication in March 2006.

The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable. A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.

Crimes and offences involving persons aged under 16 are generally referred to the Reporter to the Childrens Hearings System, while large numbers of speeding and other motoring offences are dealt with through police conditional offers of fixed penalties (231,000 in 2003) or the vehicle defect rectification scheme. Around a third of all reports received by the Procurator Fiscal result in some outcome other than prosecution, such as fiscal fines, warnings or a decision to take no proceedings.

Selected Crimes and Offences Recorded by the Police, by Police Force Area, 2000-04¹

Police Force Area	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	Fire-Raising
Central	100	122	145	227	215
Dumfries and Galloway	63	63	77	145	109
Fife	134	216	230	329	428
Grampian	284	358	429	478	510
Lothian and Borders	506	466	690	603	686
Northern	80	132	172	142	152
Strathclyde	956	1,142	1,590	1,787	2,286
Tayside	241	275	291	292	320
Scotland	2,364	2,774	3,624	4,003	4,706
	Vandalism etc
Central	3,158	3,160	3,387	4,472	5,431
Dumfries and Galloway	1,800	2,143	2,837	3,292	3,480
Fife	5,961	7,004	6,993	8,566	10,793
Grampian	8,731	8,616	7,512	8,202	10,837
Lothian and Borders	15,195	15,829	17,098	17,600	20,933
Northern	3,562	3,668	3,514	3,946	4,980
Strathclyde	35,583	44,061	42,485	42,033	55,553
Tayside	6,838	7,669	8,020	7,922	8,089
Scotland	80,828	92,150	91,846	96,033	120,096

Selected Crimes and Offences Recorded by the Police, by Local Authority area, 2000-04¹

Local Authority Area	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
	Fire-Raising
Aberdeen City	117	166	225	225	258
Aberdeenshire	107	115	142	154	171
Angus	62	64	89	55	48
Argyll and Bute	19	28	27	43	66
Clackmannanshire	22	19	21	43	34
Dumfries and Galloway	63	63	77	145	109
Dundee City	143	147	136	193	205
East Ayrshire	42	61	66	71	99
East Dunbartonshire	33	25	40	33	58
East Lothian	41	48	54	55	86
East Renfrewshire	21	23	20	44	73
Edinburgh, City of	296	250	352	268	294
Eilean Siar	1	2	11	6	10
Falkirk	49	82	88	121	139
Fife	134	216	230	329	428
Glasgow City	388	449	573	613	739
Highland	70	118	154	131	128
Inverclyde	43	59	91	124	165
Midlothian	30	33	47	56	96
Moray	60	77	62	99	81
North Ayrshire	56	58	71	80	102
North Lanarkshire	114	155	211	252	335
Orkney Islands	2	4	2	2	4
Perth and Kinross	36	64	66	44	67
Renfrewshire	98	106	104	129	181
Scottish Borders	33	55	72	63	66
Shetland Islands	7	8	5	3	10
South Ayrshire	26	37	41	52	65
South Lanarkshire	55	74	219	199	258
Stirling	29	21	36	63	42
West Dunbartonshire	61	67	127	147	145
West Lothian	106	80	165	161	144
Scotland	2,364	2,774	3,624	4,003	4,706
	Vandalism etc
Aberdeen City	4,422	4,410	4,013	4,269	5,437
Aberdeenshire	3,142	2,913	2,367	2,725	3,568
Angus	1,872	2,060	2,061	2,065	2,011
Argyll and Bute	796	946	881	1,202	1,748
Clackmannanshire	743	822	778	800	1,000
Dumfries and Galloway	1,800	2,143	2,837	3,292	3,480
Dundee City	3,264	3,588	3,831	3,780	3,794
East Ayrshire	1,527	2,049	2,016	1,739	2,666
East Dunbartonshire	1,183	1,137	984	1,214	1,846
East Lothian	884	994	1,071	1,097	1,914
East Renfrewshire	607	775	870	1,011	1,632
Edinburgh, City of	9,596	9,747	9,980	10,204	10,558
Eilean Siar	180	170	167	227	278
Falkirk	1,687	1,609	1,699	2,483	2,985
Fife	5,961	7,004	6,993	8,566	10,793
Glasgow City	13,644	16,116	15,755	15,086	17,874
Highland	3,083	3,111	3,010	3,288	4,089
Inverclyde	1,167	1,641	1,664	1,903	2,103
Midlothian	1,174	1,036	1,085	1,435	2,266
Moray	1,167	1,293	1,132	1,208	1,832
North Ayrshire	1,739	2,539	2,650	2,427	3,729
North Lanarkshire	4,771	6,329	5,220	5,167	7,435
Orkney Islands	133	129	139	185	317
Perth and Kinross	1,702	2,021	2,128	2,077	2,284
Renfrewshire	3,272	3,879	3,309	3,277	3,964
Scottish Borders	1,234	1,495	1,639	1,693	1,991
Shetland Islands	166	258	198	246	296
South Ayrshire	1,271	1,952	1,854	1,677	2,454
South Lanarkshire	4,086	4,656	5,085	5,011	7,114
Stirling	728	729	910	1,189	1,446
West Dunbartonshire	1,520	2,042	2,197	2,319	2,988
West Lothian	2,307	2,557	3,323	3,171	4,204
Scotland	80,828	92,150	91,846	96,033	120,096

Persons Proceeded Against² in Scottish Courts for Selected Crimes and Offences³, by Police Force Area, 2000-03

Police Force Area	2000	2001	2002	2003⁵
	Fire-Raising
Central	6	11	14	22
Dumfries and Galloway	3	9	5	5
Fife	18	14	18	25
Grampian	10	18	16	22
Lothian and Borders	19	16	24	31
Northern	5	8	11	18
Strathclyde	60	64	52	50
Tayside	13	13	17	18
Scotland⁴	134	153	157	191
	Vandalism etc
Central	317	332	377	414
Dumfries and Galloway	193	122	171	207
Fife	321	357	279	340
Grampian	442	477	448	459
Lothian and Borders	605	613	651	558
Northern	280	294	314	426
Strathclyde	1,916	1,932	1,733	1,902
Tayside	557	503	470	529
Scotland⁴	4,631	4,630	4,443	4,835

Persons Proceeded Against² in Scottish Courts for Selected Crimes and Offences³, by Approximate Local Authority Area⁶, 2000-03

Local Authority Area	2000	2001	2002	2003⁵
	Fire-raising
Aberdeen City	3	3	9	12
Aberdeenshire	1	7	2	3
Angus	1	6	6	7
Argyll and Bute	-	1	-	3
Clackmannanshire	2	2	2	4
Dumfries and Galloway	3	8	5	5
Dundee City	10	5	8	8
East Ayrshire	5	8	7	6
East Lothian	-	2	1	1
Edinburgh, City of	11	7	13	18
Eilean Siar	-	-	1	-
Falkirk	4	5	8	12
Fife	18	13	18	25
Glasgow City	19	19	18	17
Highland	4	8	9	17
Inverclyde	1	5	3	1
Moray	6	4	5	5
North Lanarkshire	4	2	6	4
Orkney Islands	1	-	-	1
Perth and Kinross	1	-	3	3
Renfrewshire	7	6	3	5
Scottish Borders	1	5	3	1
Shetland Islands	-	-	1	-
South Ayrshire	5	4	2	5
South Lanarkshire	9	14	8	6
Stirling	-	4	4	6
West Dunbartonshire	5	1	2	1
West Lothian	6	1	2	11
Other⁷	7	13	8	4
Scotland⁴	134	153	157	191
	Vandalism etc
Aberdeen City	202	237	209	226
Aberdeenshire	151	143	156	120
Angus	156	143	138	187
Argyll and Bute	80	74	80	104
Clackmannanshire	62	76	62	77
Dumfries and Galloway	193	122	171	207
Dundee City	253	217	194	212
East Ayrshire	180	188	178	209
East Dunbartonshire	19	16	11	23
East Lothian	51	58	75	59
East Renfrewshire	8	8	21	29
Edinburgh, City of	320	289	304	272
Eilean Siar	14	20	11	14
Falkirk	155	164	200	207
Fife	321	357	279	340
Glasgow City	550	564	496	547
Highland	236	243	270	361
Inverclyde	66	77	54	71
Midlothian	29	40	37	25
Moray	88	96	82	112
North Ayrshire	69	59	76	87
North Lanarkshire	241	266	187	154
Orkney Islands	16	19	12	21
Perth and Kinross	146	142	138	128
Renfrewshire	118	148	115	128
Scottish Borders	81	105	130	120
Shetland Islands	14	12	19	26
South Ayrshire	178	160	158	184
South Lanarkshire	292	269	267	279
Stirling	97	91	115	130
West Dunbartonshire	115	99	88	85
West Lothian	122	121	104	81
Other⁷	7	6	4	6
Scotland⁴	4,631	4,630	4,443	4,835

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Crimes and Offences³, by Police Force Area, 2000-03

Police Force Area	2000	2001	2002	2003⁵
	Fire-Raising
Central	4	9	12	18
Dumfries and Galloway	2	6	4	4
Fife	13	14	15	20
Grampian	9	12	10	17
Lothian and Borders	15	16	22	29
Northern	5	8	8	16
Strathclyde	44	46	48	47
Tayside	11	9	16	15
Scotland	103	120	135	166
	Vandalism etc
Central	284	290	336	372
Dumfries and Galloway	159	105	155	189
Fife	292	322	250	301
Grampian	405	447	415	421
Lothian and Borders	558	560	587	495
Northern	257	276	281	392
Strathclyde	1,458	1,481	1,566	1,702
Tayside	433	416	405	467
Total	3,846	3,897	3,995	4,339

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Crimes and Offences³, by Approximate Local Authority Area⁶, 2000-03

Local Authority Area	2000	2001	2002	2003⁵
	Fire-Raising
Aberdeen City	3	3	6	9
Aberdeenshire	1	1	1	2
Angus	1	4	5	7
Argyll and Bute	-	1	-	2
Clackmannanshire	2	1	2	3
Dumfries and Galloway	2	6	4	4
Dundee City	8	4	8	6
East Ayrshire	5	6	7	5
East Lothian	-	2	1	1
Edinburgh, City of	7	7	12	17
Eilean Siar	-	-	1	-
Falkirk	2	5	6	10
Fife	13	13	15	20
Glasgow City	15	15	18	17
Highland	4	8	6	15
Inverclyde	1	2	3	1
Moray	5	4	3	4
North Lanarkshire	3	1	4	4
Orkney Islands	1	-	-	1
Perth and Kinross	1	-	3	2
Renfrewshire	2	5	3	5
Scottish Borders	1	5	3	1
Shetland Islands	-	-	1	-
South Ayrshire	5	3	2	5
South Lanarkshire	4	8	8	6
Stirling	-	3	4	5
West Dunbartonshire	4	1	1	-
West Lothian	6	1	2	10
Other⁷	7	11	6	4
Scotland⁴	103	120	135	166
	Vandalism etc
Aberdeen City	183	218	191	201
Aberdeenshire	143	140	145	114
Angus	135	125	127	171
Argyll and Bute	59	60	75	102
Clackmannanshire	56	66	58	67
Dumfries and Galloway	159	105	155	189
Dundee City	196	180	158	184
East Ayrshire	146	158	162	200
East Dunbartonshire	17	15	11	23
East Lothian	48	51	72	55
East Renfrewshire	8	7	21	29
Edinburgh, City of	296	261	261	232
Eilean Siar	13	20	10	14
Falkirk	134	145	181	195
Fife	292	322	250	301
Glasgow City	380	415	445	470
Highland	215	226	241	330
Inverclyde	57	57	48	64
Midlothian	22	37	32	22
Moray	78	88	78	105
North Ayrshire	60	54	74	87
North Lanarkshire	197	209	168	148
Orkney Islands	15	18	11	21
Perth and Kinross	102	110	120	110
Renfrewshire	83	116	109	106
Scottish Borders	79	101	125	112
Shetland Islands	14	12	19	25
South Ayrshire	151	127	147	169
South Lanarkshire	218	188	227	242
Stirling	91	78	97	110
West Dunbartonshire	82	72	77	60
West Lothian	112	110	96	73
Other⁷	5	6	4	6
Scotland⁴	3,846	3,897	3,995	4,339

Notes:

1. Trends in the recorded crime figures between 2003 and 2004 have been affected by the introduction in April 2004 of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard. As anticipated, this increased the numbers of minor crimes recorded by the police, such as vandalism, petty assault, breach of the peace and minor thefts.

2. Figures for persons proceeded against may be underestimates due to recording delays.

3. Where main offence.

4. Scotland totals for court proceedings statistics may contain a small number of cases where the police force area and/or local authority area are unknown.

5. Includes estimated data.

6. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

7. Includes High Court cases and those where court location is not known.

Question reference: S2W-20557

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 21 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2357 by Mr Tom McCabe on 17 September 2003, how many dental practices have now received “Golden Hello” payments, broken down by NHS board area.

Question S2W-2357, answered on 17 September 2003 referred to question S1W-26819, answered on 1 July 2002 which referred to the grants of up to £10,000 which are available as part of the “Golden Hello” package to dentists establishing new vocational training practices and offering a training place. The information requested is in the table:

NHS Board Area	Number of Practices Receiving Grant¹
Argyll and Clyde	2
Ayrshire and Arran	1
Borders	0
Dumfries and Galloway	2
Fife	1
Forth valley	4
Grampian	3
Greater Glasgow	8
Highland	1
Lanarkshire	3
Lothian	5
Orkney	0
Shetland	0
Tayside	6
Western Isles	0
Scotland	36

Note: 1. Total claims to October 2005.

Question reference: S2W-20366

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many assaults were recorded on ambulance service staff while on duty in each ambulance service area in each of the last five years and how many prosecutions resulted.

The information asked for is not collected centrally in the form requested. There is data available on violence and aggression related incidents available on the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics, www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Section A gives details of the overall summary of workforce statistics in NHS Scotland. Table A8 has a breakdown of the number of occupational injuries by type of organisation and staff group which includes the number of incidents related to violence and aggression. Latest figures are at 31 March 2004.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is currently reviewing its collection processes with a view to collect similar data to that of the fire service.

Chamber and committees