Chamber and committees

The claimant count gives the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits and is produced by the Office for National Statistics.

Table 1 shows the number of people within North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk who were claiming an unemployment related benefit, for each quarter since 1999. Quarterly figures are based on the average of the three months contained within the quarter. As the statistics are not seasonally adjusted, comparisons should only be made between the same two quarters.

Data on unemployment by multi-member electoral ward is not held centrally. Data on the number of people claiming Job Seeker''s Allowance (JSA) by the old ward boundaries (which existed until the 2007 local government elections) is published by the Department for Work and Pensions and can be accessed at the weblink below.

http://83.244.183.180/NESS/BEN/jsa.htm.

Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Requested Local Authorities, 1999-2008

Quarter	North Lanarkshire	South Lanarkshire	Falkirk
January-March 1999	10,694	7,898	4,448
April-June 1999	10,053	7,364	4,200
July-September 1999	9,621	7,327	3,917
October-December 1999	8,354	6,414	3,443
January-Mar 2000	9,269	7,064	3,815
April-June 2000	8,382	6,521	3,571
July-September 2000	8,277	6,466	3,513
October-December 2000	7,059	5,754	3,222
January-Mar 2001	8,073	6,227	3,439
April-June 2001	7,638	5,772	3,098
July-September 2001	7,910	5,839	3,133
October-December 2001	7,468	5,486	3,187
January-Mar 2002	8,473	6,261	3,509
April-June 2002	8,097	5,829	3,281
July-September 2002	7,637	5,793	3,288
October-December 2002	6,838	5,341	3,032
January-Mar 2003	7,885	5,980	3,351
April-June 2003	7,622	5,512	3,023
July-September 2003	7,452	5,559	3,112
October-December 2003	6,782	5,124	2,948
January-Mar 2004	7,601	5,673	3,177
April-June 2004	6,927	5,005	2,830
July-September 2004	6,470	4,880	2,703
October-December 2004	5,919	4,504	2,634
January-Mar 2005	6,604	4,924	2,871
April-June 2005	6,106	4,473	2,588
July-September 2005	6,054	4,506	2,504
October-December 2005	5,494	4,341	2,388
January-Mar 2006	6,460	4,979	2,590
April-June 2006	6,529	4,652	2,555
July-September 2006	6,333	4,612	2,508
October-December 2006	5,570	4,418	2,295
January-Mar 2007	6,085	4,723	2,566
April-June 2007	5,470	4,169	2,273
July-September 2007	5,209	3,876	2,095
October-December 2007	4,590	3,444	1,906
January-Mar 2008	5,138	3,852	2,103
April-June 2008	5,192	3,806	2,002
July-September 2008	5,865	4,415	2,303
October-December 2008	6,898	5,287	2,885

Source: Office for National Statistics.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0129-01.htm

 

Under Section 93 of the Extradition Act 2003, the Scottish Ministers have a statutory duty, in certain specified circumstances, to Order extradition. If the relevant conditions for extradition aren''t met the Scottish ministers have a duty to discharge the person.

Extradition relations with category 1 territories are governed by Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003. Part 1 implemented the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The decision on extradition under Part 1 is entirely a judicial function and the Scottish ministers have no role in these proceedings.

Extradition relations with category two territories, are set out in Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003. Category 2 territories are certain, designated, non-EU countries.

Part 1 Requests (European Arrest Warrant)

The Extradition Act 2003 requires surrender of an individual under an EAW for an extradition offence. That is defined as either a crime that requires to meet the test of dual criminality or is one of the framework list offences. If it is the former, the EAW must contain a description of the facts of the criminal conduct that constitutes the offence and a legal definition. The Scottish court must be satisfied that criminal conduct if it had occurred in Scotland would be a crime known to the law of Scotland before it can be satisfied it is an extradition offence under the Extradition Act 2003. This is the dual criminality test.

If it is a framework list offence there is no requirement for such a test/conversion to be undertaken as it is recognised that across EU member states these crimes have a commonality of criminal conduct, such as murder, rape and fraud.

No evidence is required to be produced by the issuing judicial authority in support of request to surrender a person under the Extradition Act 2003.

The Scottish ministers have no role in the execution of EAWs.

Part 2 Requests

Where an extradition request is made in the approved way the Scottish ministers must issue a certificate to that effect. This certificate and certain accompanying documents are then sent to the Sheriff at Lothian and Borders in order to allow an extradition hearing to take place.

The court at the first appearance of the individual must be satisfied the Scottish ministers have sent: the extradition request, particulars of the person whose extradition is requested, particulars of the offence, and either a warrant to arrest issued in the requesting state or a certificate of conviction and sentence. If the court is not satisfied on these issues it must order the person''s discharge.

The Secretary of State has authority to designate countries for the purposes of the Extradition Act 2003.

Countries can be designated so that they are not required to produce evidence which would be sufficient to make a case requiring an answer by the person if the proceedings were summary proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the person (except that for this purpose evidence from a single source shall be sufficient). If the country is not so designated then evidence is required to be produced.

All offences alleged to be committed in a Part 2 territory require to satisfy the dual criminality test. If they do not, the court must order the person''s discharge.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19852 on 28 January 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Yes. Sewel motion S1M-3608 consented to the conferral on the Scottish Ministers of executive functions in relation to extraditions to and from Scotland. The functions in question are contained in Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003 and relate mainly to extradition requests made by certain designated, non-EU countries (category 2 territories). An example of the Scottish ministers'' functions under the 2003 act can be found at section 93 (Secretary of State''s consideration of the case) which has to be read in conjunction with section 141 (Scotland: references to the Secretary of State). Following the receipt of an appropriately made request and the consideration of certain prescribed factors by the sheriff at Lothian and Borders, section 93 provides, among other things, that the Scottish ministers must decide whether or not they are prohibited from ordering a person''s extradition by virtue of the factors listed in section 93(2) and more fully detailed in sections 94 (death penalty), 95 (speciality), 96 (earlier extradition to the United Kingdom from another territory) and 96A (earlier transfer to the United Kingdom from the International Criminal Court). If the Scottish ministers decide these questions in the negative they must order the person to be extradited unless any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 93(4) apply.

The motion and further details can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Sewel/FirstSession/Extradition.

This PQ was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0122-01.htm

Such information is currently not available. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19727 on 21 January 2009, which refers to data on possible future levels of oil and gas supply from the Scottish sector of the UK continental shelf up to 2013.

Information for the year 2020 is not currently available. However, the Scottish government published in 2008 a report which provided estimates of Scotland''s geographical share of oil and gas production, operating costs and tax revenue from 2000 to 2013.

The report, produced by Aberdeen University, concluded that while overall production from the UK continental shelf is expected to fall by 2013, the Scottish share of production is expected to remain relatively constant in the case of oil and rise with regard to gas.

Further information from the report can be found at the following location:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/17858/ScotShareNorthSeaRevenue.

The Scottish Government does not make specific projections for installed generating capacity as future investment patterns are largely a matter for the private sector and the generators themselves who respond to market signals and incentives within a largely market driven structure.

However, estimates for possible future levels of electricity generation by fuel type can be found within the Scottish Energy Study - Volume 5 at Table 13. The report, which was published in November 2008, can be accessed at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/11/14093227/0

The Scottish Government has of course set out plans to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources, with a milestone of 31% of gross electricity consumption in Scotland to come from renewable resources by 2011, rising to 50% by 2020.