- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many people there are in each police control room broken down by (a) police officers and (b) civilian staff.
Answer
This information is already in the public domain. It was published by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) for a public board meeting on 30 January 2014, and can be found on the SPA website at:
http://www.spa.police.uk/news/2014/jan2014/207240/
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19236 by Kenny MacAskill on 3 February 2014, how much of the £665,700 has been spent; how many rooms will be upgraded in each policing division; when the project will be completed, and whether it will be within budget.
Answer
Police Scotland are continuing to work with health boards to put in place appropriate facilities for the provision of enhanced healthcare and forensic medical services. The position with regard to the number of rooms to be upgraded is still developing but a risk based approach is being taken and the current priority is the upgrade of facilities in the west of Scotland and Fife. It is not possible to confirm how much of the £665,700 has been spent because invoices for completed works have not yet been processed. The full upgrade project is expected to be completed by April 2015; it will not be known until that time whether the work will be delivered within budget.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 3 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19700 by Margaret Burgess on 10 March 2014, what steps it is taking to publicise the (a) New Supply Shared Equity Scheme, (b) New Supply Shared Equity Scheme with Developers and (c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government has procured the services of five registered social landlords who administer the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme throughout Scotland. The scheme is being promoted to first time buyers through local authorities, advice agencies, local financial advisors, and estate agents. Registered social landlords are currently promoting the scheme on the radio in some areas and in some local newspapers.
For New Supply Shared Equity Scheme, it is the responsibility of the developing registered social landlord to promote available homes to prospective buyers.
For New Supply Shared Equity with Developers, it is the responsibility of the home builder approved to participate in the scheme to promote its developments to prospective buyers.
The Scottish Government provides information for buyers on all three schemes at: www.scotland.gov.uk/LIFT.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Burgess on 3 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many properties in each local authority area are unoccupied.
Answer
The following table shows the number of unoccupied properties in each local authority area based on the number of dwellings on the council tax valuation list that are entitled to a discount or increase for being long term empty or an exemption for being unoccupied.
As at 2 September 2013
Local Authority | Dwellings Entitled to a Discount or Increase due to being Long Term Empty1 | Dwellings with an Exemption for being Unoccupied2 |
Scotland | 27,327 | 45,720 |
Aberdeen City | 369 | 1,380 |
Aberdeenshire | 2,392 | 1,740 |
Angus | 847 | 1,198 |
Argyll & Bute | 1,422 | 963 |
Clackmannanshire3 | 0 | 421 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 1,009 | 1,411 |
Dundee City | 520 | 1,765 |
East Ayrshire | 618 | 864 |
East Dunbartonshire | 118 | 445 |
East Lothian | 413 | 490 |
East Renfrewshire | 44 | 374 |
Edinburgh, City of | 2,471 | 2,198 |
Eilean Siar | 88 | 600 |
Falkirk | 536 | 990 |
Fife | 1,831 | 2,689 |
Glasgow | 2,702 | 10,035 |
Highland | 1,322 | 1,940 |
Inverclyde | 592 | 1,224 |
Midlothian | 413 | 444 |
Moray | 1,035 | 961 |
North Ayrshire | 1,379 | 1,103 |
North Lanarkshire | 914 | 1,632 |
Orkney Islands | 186 | 422 |
Perth & Kinross | 845 | 1,233 |
Renfrewshire | 1,150 | 1,543 |
Scottish Borders | 1,379 | 1,447 |
Shetland Islands | 378 | 239 |
South Ayrshire | 492 | 826 |
South Lanarkshire | 666 | 2,578 |
Stirling | 401 | 690 |
West Dunbartonshire | 361 | 1,236 |
West Lothian | 434 | 639 |
1. Long term empty properties are properties liable for council tax, which have generally been empty for six months or more.
2. Unoccupied exemptions are properties which are empty and exempt from paying council tax.
3. Clackmannanshire Council is unable to separately identify long term empty properties from those that are second homes, and therefore a long term empty figure has not been provided.
Source: Council Tax Base 2013 statistical return provided by councils to the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19235 by Kenny MacAskill on 3 February 2014, how much Police Scotland and its legacy forces have spent on healthcare practitioners in each year since 2007, broken down by policing division/legacy force.
Answer
It is not possible to provide a financial breakdown of costs solely associated with monies spent on healthcare practitioners by legacy policing divisions or forces, due to the manner in which data were held by Police Scotland and legacy forces.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19646 by Fiona Hyslop on 27 February 2014 and in light of events in Crimea, whether the event planned for 26 March 2014 will go ahead and, if so, what issues will be discussed and what representations the Scottish Government will make regarding events in Crimea.
Answer
The annual Consular Corps dinner was held on 26 March 2014 and was attended by the professional group of the Consular Corps based in Scotland. In light of recent events in Ukraine, the invitation to the Consul General of Russia was rescinded.
The discussion focused on major events taking place in Scotland in 2014.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Lesley Thomson on 2 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been flown back from holiday to attend court in each of the last three years; how many of these cases were subsequently adjourned, and at what cost, broken down by sheriffdom.
Answer
The estimated cost of providing this information is over £1880. This is calculated on the basis that the information would require to be manually extracted from claims. Therefore the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
While the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service make every effort to accommodate witnesses, there are occasions when trials, particularly in the High Court, require to be scheduled for dates that do cause inconvenience for some of the witnesses. However, Crown witnesses will only be flown back from holiday to give evidence at a trial when this is absolutely necessary.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many police custody suites are in operation in each policing division, broken down by (a) number of cells, (b) gender of detainees and (c) number of observation cells; whether there are plans to upgrade the cell capacity of any suite and, if so, (i) which suites and (ii) by how many cells.
Answer
There are currently 42 primary custody suites across the Police Scotland estate. Since the launch of the single police service on 1 April 2013, all prisoner management arrangements from the eight legacy forces became the national responsibility of Police Scotland’s Custody Division. The custody division provides a single command structure which delivers a professional and consistent model throughout Scotland to support local policing. These new arrangements are helping to optimise capacity and meet demand across the Police Scotland estate, overcoming the previously restrictive force and divisional boundaries. Given flexibility of these new arrangements, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of details of male/female cell capacity or the number of observation cells by police division. Any plans to upgrade cell capacity, is an operational matter for Police Scotland.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 1 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) emergency, (b) specialist and (c) neonatal ambulance units the Scottish Ambulance Service has and in which NHS board areas they are deployed, also broken down by model of vehicle.
Answer
The information is not held centrally in the format requested. However, the following table sets out the types and numbers of road ambulances across the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) fleet, broken down by SAS operating division:
Type of Vehicle | North | East Central | South East | South West | West Central | Total |
Patient Transport Service Vehicle | 73 | 111 | 76 | 124 | 123 | 507 |
Accident and Emergency Unit | 88 | 62 | 52 | 79 | 83 | 364 |
Paramedic Response Unit | 7 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 54 |
Mid/Urgent tier ambulances | 1 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 28 |
Motorbike | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
Neonatal / specialist unit | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
Total | 171 | 195 | 143 | 213 | 245 | 967 |
*information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service
Across this fleet, there are 19 Accident and Emergency Units, 117 Patient Transport Vehicles, and 28 mid/urgent tier ambulances that have bariatric capabilities. In addition, the National Risk and Resilience Division operates 66 vehicles across the country, including those utilised by the Special Operations Response Teams.
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many contingency police custody suites there are in each policing division and how many (a) cells and (b) observation cells each has.
Answer
Police Scotland’s Custody Division has 53 secondary custody suites and 7 contingency suites across Scotland. Since the launch of the single police service on 1 April 2013, all prisoner management arrangements from the eight legacy forces became the national responsibility of Police Scotland’s Custody Division. The custody division provides a single command structure which delivers a professional and consistent model throughout Scotland, which supports local policing. Given the flexibility of these new arrangements, it is not possible to provide a breakdown by each police division.