Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-02116

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of people in young offender institutions comes from areas of deprivation.

Question reference: S5W-02096

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to bring forward legislation to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.

Question reference: S5W-01982

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many times tasers have been (a) deployed and (b) discharged by the police in each year since 2013, broken down by (i) reason for deployment, (ii) distance that they were discharged from and (iii) the number of (A) injuries and (B) deaths that have arisen from their use.

The deployment of tasers is an operational matter for Police Scotland and are deployed in accordance with the current national UK practices as directed by the College of Policing and National Armed Policing and approved by the National Police Chiefs' Council. Since the establishment of Police Scotland the number of times a taser has been deployed and discharged is set out in the following table.

All incidents of Police Scotland's use of firearms, including tasers, must be referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner for independent investigation and the subsequent reports can be found at: http://pirc.scotland.gov.uk/investigations.

Police Scotland do not record the specific deployment distances for each incident. There have been no deaths due to the use of tasers with only one injury attributed to the use of a taser.

Period	Tasers deployed	Tasers discharged
April 2013 to March 2014	67	8
April 2014 to March 2015	48	8
April 2015 to March 2016	13	0
April 2016 to 17 August 2016	11	0
Totals	139	16

Question reference: S5W-02112

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people convicted of an offence in each of the last five years stated that (a) alcohol and (b) substance misuse was as a cause of their offending behaviour.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: There is no data held by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) which can categorically attribute alcohol or substance misuse as a cause of offending behaviour in young people 21 years of age or under held in custody. SPS does collect general data on alcohol and substance misuse among young people (16 to 21) held in custodial care, gathered every second year through self-report in the Prisoner Survey Series. Through self-report, young people do admit that they have been either drunk or under the influence of drugs at the time they committed the offence. SPS does not hold any information on the use of alcohol or drugs by young people 21 years of age or under who have been given community disposals by the Scottish courts.

Information over the last five years indicates that alcohol use at the time of the commissioning of the offence has been declining from 78% in 2011 to 68% in 2013 to 60% in 2015. The overall comparator for the rest of the SPS estate (adults over 21) has also declined from 50% in 2011 to 45% in 2013 to 41% in 2015.

Substance misuse at the time of the commissioning of the offence has, by and large, remained static at 54% in 2011 to 49% in 2013 to 55% in 2015. The overall comparator for the rest of the SPS estate (adults over 21) has also remained static at 44% in 2011 to 39% in 2013 to 40% in 2015.

Table 1

“I was drunk at the time of my offence”

2015

2013

2011

Young people

(21 or under in custody)

60

68

78

Overall comparator (adults over 21)

41

45

50

Table 2

“I was under the influence of drugs at time of my offence”

2015

2013

2011

Young people

(21 or under in custody)

55

49

54

Overall comparator (adults over 21)

40

39

44

Source: SPS Prisoner Surveys 2015; 2013; 2011

Question reference: S5W-02109

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of people in young offender institutions in each of the last 12 months was (a) on remand and (b) awaiting sentencing.

Question reference: S5W-02113

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in young offender Institutions have children.

Question reference: S5W-02117

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are serving at least 12 months in custody in young offender institutions, broken down by (a) offence and (b) age.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: There are currently 203 young offenders in custody within the SPS estate who are serving at least 12 months.

(a) The following table shows the breakdown of young offenders by offence.

It should be noted that a number of young offenders will have been convicted for more than one offence so the totals for the offence table will be greater than the number of individual young offenders.

Offence	No. of Young Offenders convicted of Offence
Abduction	1
Abduction and Assault to Injury	1
Abduction, Assault to Injury and Robbery	1
Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004,S9(1)	1
Assault	42
Assault plus Abduction	1
Assault plus Attempted Robbery	8
Assault by Threats and Robbery	1
Assault plus Robbery	13
Assault Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement, Danger of Life, Attempted Murder and Robbery	1
Assault to Injury	51
Assault to injury and danger of life and did rob	2
Assault to Injury and Permanent Disfigurement	4
Assault To Injury and Robbery	6
Assault to Severe Injury	12
Assault to Severe Injury plus Attempted Robbery	1
Assault to Severe Injury plus Danger of Life	4
Assault To Severe Injury, Disfigurement, Permanent Impairment and Danger To Life	1
Assault To Severe Injury, Per Disfigurement, Per Impairment, Danger To Life and Attempted Murder	3
Assault to Severe Injury plus Permanent Disfigurement	2
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement	11
Assault To Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement plus Danger Of Life	3
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement, Danger of Life and Attempted Murder	3
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement and Danger to Life	3
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement and Impairment, Attempt to Rob, Attempted Murder	1
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Disfigurement and Permanent Impairment	3
Assault to Severe Injury and Permanent Impairment	2
Assault to Severe Injury, Permanent Impairment, Permanent Disfigurement and Danger of Life	2
Assault to Severe Injury plus Robbery	2
Assault with Intent to Rob	6
Attempted Housebreaking with intent to Steal	2
Attempted Housebreaking with intent to Steal	2
Attempted Open Lock fast Place with intent	1
Attempted Robbery	2
Attempted Theft	1
Attempted Theft of motor vehicle	2
Attempt to Defeat the Ends of Justice	1
Attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice	5
Breach Of Order	1
Breach of the Peace	8
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982,S51A(1)	1
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982,S52(1)(a)	2
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982,S52(1)(b)	2
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982,S52(1)(c)	1
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982,S52A(1)	2
Communications Act 2003,S127(1)(a)	4
Communications Act 2003,S127(1)(B)	1
Communications Act 2003,S127(2)(a)	1
Communications Act 2003,S127(2)(c)	1
Con Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 1	3
Conspiracy	1
Contempt of Court	3
Criminal Justice And Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 S 38(1)	66
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S47(1)	18
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S49(1)	27
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S49A(1)	2
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S49A(2)	1
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S49C(1)(B)	1
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S50A(1)(b)and(5)	10
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,S52(1)and(3)	17
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,S102A(1)(a)	4
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,S27(1)(a)	4
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,S27(1)(b)	55
Culpable Homicide	4
Culpable and Reckless Conduct	5
Culpable plus Reckless Discharge of Firearm	1
Culpable plus Reckless Fireraising	1
Display obscene material	1
Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 S1(1)	1
Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005,S1(1)	2
Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005,S5(1)	2
Firearms Act 1968,S5(1A)(a)	1
Hamesucken and Assault to Severe Injury	1
Hamesucken, Assault to Injury, Robbery and Malicious Damage	1
Hamesucken, assault to severe injury, abduction, robbery, perm disfigurement, perm impairment and murder	1
Hamesucken, Assault to Severe Injury and Permanent Disfigurement	1
Hamesucken and Robbery	2
Housebreaking	1
Housebreaking with Intent to Steal	4
Intended theft - curtilage	2
Intended theft - in/on a building	1
Lewd, Indecent and Libidinous Practices and Behaviour	2
Malicious Damage	4
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,S4(3)(b)	3
Misuse Of Drugs Act 1971 S4(3)(B)	2
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,S5(2)	5
Murder	6
Murder and Robbery	1
Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012,S90(1)(a)	23
Police And Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 S90(2)(A)	17
Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989,S41(1)(a)and(9A)b	1
Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005,S1	1
Rape	1
Reckless driving	13
Reset	8
Road Traffic Act 1988,S103(1)(b)	9
Road Traffic Act 1988,S143(1)and(2)	5
Road Traffic Act 1988,S170(3)and(4)	1
Road Traffic Act 1988,S178(1)(a)	2
Road Traffic Act 1988,S178(1)(b)	1
Road Traffic Act 1988,S2	1
Road Traffic Act 1988,S5(1)(a)	1
Road Traffic Act 1988 S87(1)	2
Road Traffic Act 1988,S87(1)	2
Robbery	4
Sexual Offences Act 2003,S113(1)(a)/(b)	1
Sexual Offences Act 2003,S84(1)andS91(1)(a)	2
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S1	4
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S1, 2 and 3	2
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S18	2
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S18 and 20	2
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S18, 20 and 21	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S20and21	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S25	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S28	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S28 and 30	2
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S3	4
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S30, 34(1) and 35	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S31	1
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,S3and7(1)	1
Sosa 2009 S6 Coerce into looking sexual image	1
Sosa S24(1) Communicate indecently young child	1
Sosa S28 Intercourse with older child	1
Sosa S30 Sexual Activity with older child	1
Sosa S34(1) Communicate indecently older child	1
Sports ground - possession of alcohol	1
Theft	11
Theft by Housebreaking	29
Theft by Opening Lockfast motor vehicle	4
Theft by Opening Lockfast Place	3
Theft by Opening Lockfast Place - ATM	1
Theft by shoplifting	15
Theft from motor vehicle	3
Theft of motor vehicle	9
Wilful Fireraising	4

(b) The following table shows the breakdown of young offenders by age

Prisoner Age	No. of Young Offenders
16	5
17	26
18	35
19	62
20	75
Total	203

Question reference: S5W-02110

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people leaving each young offender institution in each of the last five years moved on to positive destinations, broken down by the nature of the positive destination.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: Comprehensive records of positive destinations of young people leaving young offenders’ institutions are not held by Scottish Prison Service (SPS) or other agencies.

SPS is giving high priority to improving the life chances of young people in its care. Working with partner organisations, SPS is implementing its Vision for Young People in Custody, which aims ‘to use the time a young person spends in custody to enable them to prepare for a positive future’ and so achieve a positive destination.

Question reference: S5W-01977

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the responsible selling of (a) quad bikes and (b) other similar single-person operated vehicles.

Question reference: S5W-01976

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the responsible ownership of (a) quad bikes and (b) other similar single-person operated vehicles.

The legislation governing the usage of quad bikes on our roads has not been devolved to Scottish Ministers and remains reserved to the UK Government.

Police Scotland uses this UK Government legislation along with the additional powers available through the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 to deal with the irresponsible use of quad bikes or similar vehicles. Through engagement with communities and partner organisations at a local level Police Scotland seek to educate and encourage the responsible ownership and usage of this type of vehicle.

Chamber and committees