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: S5W-02102

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of alleged hate crime (a) have been marked as (i) having been aggravated by prejudice and (ii) charged under another offence with no marking for being aggravated by prejudice and (b) resulted in no charge being brought forward in each of the past three years.

All figures provided are based on data extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service case management system on 6 May 2016, which was the basis of the 2016 report on hate crime in Scotland.

The following table contains information in respect of the total number of charges reported to the Procurator Fiscal for hate crime offences between April 2013 and March 2016 that were not prosecuted and figures for charges still awaiting a marking decision. It also provides a breakdown of how these offences were dealt with by the Procurator Fiscal.

Direct measures include fiscal fines, compensation orders, personal or written warnings and referrals to diversion from prosecution schemes and referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.

The direct measures figures include a small number of charges which were not actioned, but where the accused was given a direct measure in respect of other charges within the same case. In some cases the charges which were given a direct measure may have included details from the charges which were not actioned.

The not separately actioned figures include charges which were not prosecuted, but where other charges for the same accused within the same case were prosecuted. In some cases, the charges which were prosecuted may have included details from charges which were not prosecuted i.e. some charges could have been merged together.

Marking Decision	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
No Action	222	229	174
Direct measures	151	120	156
Awaiting decision		15	165
Not separately actioned	378	357	353
Non-Court Total	751	721	848

Table 1. Number of charges not prosecuted during the last three financial years

Question reference: S5W-03425

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many domestic abuse cases have been heard by each (a) domestic abuse and (b) other court in each of the last five years, and how many convictions there were.

The Scottish Government does not hold specific information about the number of domestic abuse cases heard in each domestic abuse court.

Statistics on the number of people proceeded against and the numbers convicted, in all types of courts in Scotland, with a domestic abuse aggravator recorded are presented in the following table.

Total persons proceeded against and convicted for offences¹ with a Domestic Abuse aggravator recorded

Year	Total proceedings	Convicted
2010-11	10,046	8,565
2011-12	10,502	8,873
2012-13	10,909	9,291
2013-14	13,593	11,074
2014-15	15,619	12,432

1 - Where main charge in a case

Source: Criminal proceedings database

Question reference: S5W-03632

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) revenue and (b) capital budget has been for (i) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, (ii) the Scottish Prison Service and (iii) legal aid in each of the last five years.

Details are as follows:

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	105.5	2.7	108.2	104.5	3.6	108.1	104.5	3.6	108.1
Scottish Prison Service	318.0	47.5	365.5	325.1	75.5	400.6	342.0	22.5	364.5
Legal Aid	153.9	0.2	154.1	155.7	0.1	155.8	149.2	0.1	149.3

2014-15

2015-16

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	105.1	3.6	108.7	108.5	3.6	112.1
Scottish Prison Service	368.9	13.4	382.3	356.2	40.0	396.2
Legal Aid	142.3	0.5	142.8	146.7	0.1	146.8

*Source: Draft Budgets

Question reference: S5W-03631

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) revenue and (b) capital budget has been for (i) Police Scotland, (ii) the Scottish Police Authority and (iii) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last three years.

Details are as follows:

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

RDEL

CDEL

Total

£m

Police Central Government	96.1	17.9	114.0	101.3	0.0	101.3	88.1	10.0	98.1
Scottish Police Authority (Includes Police Scotland)	1068.1	18.3	1086.4	1057.4	25.2	1082.6	1035.8	28.1	1063.9
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service	277.8	15.3	293.1	310.2	0.0	310.2	283.9	25.3	309.2

*Source: Draft Budgets

Question reference: S5W-03421

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many summary procedures without a jury were called but adjourned because of lack of court time at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03424

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many indictments have been registered at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03420

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many criminal trials have been adjourned broken because of (a) a crown motion, (b) a defence motion, (c) a failure to appear by an accused, (d) a failure to appear by a witness, (e) a lack of court time and (f) another reason at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03423

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many days each court has sat in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03419

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many jury trials there have been at each court in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03422

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many jury trials were called but adjourned because of a lack of court time at each court in each of the last five years.