Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally. The management choice and management of operational equipment, including compressors for breathing apparatus is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and questions regarding apparatus should be directed to SFRS. The SFRS is under a statutory duty to ensure adequate arrangements for fire and rescue services in all 32 of Scotland’s local authority areas.

The information requested is not held centrally. The recruitment of firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). The SFRS is under a statutory duty to ensure adequate arrangements for fire and rescue services in all 32 of Scotland’s local authority areas.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Wildlife crime as defined by The Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime in Scotland (PAW Scotland): is any unlawful act or omission, which affects any wild creature, plant or habitat in Scotland.

Environmental crime as defined by the Environmental Crime Taskforce: an act or omission which directly or indirectly damages the environment (or has the potential to damage the environment) and which constitutes a breach of criminal law.

People proceeded against in Scottish Courts for wildlife offences, where main charge:

Crime Group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Total prosecutions	63	65	69	92	77	32	57	71	77	81
Birds, offences involving	11	8	15	14	10	7	6	15	19	10
Cruelty to wild animals	1	1	1	10	9	4	2	4	9	4
Deer offences	-	1	-	2	-	-	3	8	3	5
Hunting with dogs	3	24	17	15	8	10	9	5	11	9
Offences involving badgers	-	-	7	11	1	2	3	2	-	-
Poaching and game laws	5	5	3	6	3	4	8	8	1	-
Possession of salmon or trout as result of offence	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Possession of salmon or trout unlawfully obtained	1	3	-	3	3	-	1	2	2	1
Salmon and freshwater fisheries offences	29	18	21	25	32	3	21	16	21	42
Other wildlife offences	6	5	5	6	11	2	4	11	11	10

 

 

People receiving fines or custodial sentences for wildlife offences, where main charge

Main Result of Proceedings by crime group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Custody total:	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	1
Birds, offences involving	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-
Cruelty to wild animals	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Hunting with dogs	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Other wildlife offences	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fines total:	38	40	36	50	39	18	36	37	33	44
Birds, offences involving	6	5	9	4	5	3	3	10	9	4
Cruelty to wild animals	1	1	-	4	6	1	2	3	4	1
Deer offences	-	-	-	2	-	-	3	2	1	3
Hunting with dogs	2	9	7	5	-	6	3	-	2	4
Offences involving badgers	-	-	2	4	-	2	3	1	-	-
Poaching and game laws	5	2	1	6	2	3	3	3	-	-
Possession of salmon or trout as result of offence	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Possession of salmon or trout unlawfully obtained	1	2	-	1	3	-	1	1	2	-
Salmon and freshwater fisheries offences	16	18	13	19	17	2	15	11	10	27
Other wildlife offences	1	3	4	5	6	1	3	6	5	5

 

People proceeded against in Scottish Courts for environmental offences, where main charge

Crime group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Total	362	343	315	280	187	181	199	171	128	173
Agricultural offences	1	1	2	-	3	2	-	-	1	-
Clean air Acts	1	5	4	7	2	1	5	4	1	1
Contravention of sec 6(1) by continuing to operate proscribed process	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Control of pollution	235	255	208	154	105	102	80	62	72	58
Dog fouling	9	11	11	8	14	32	65	52	28	86
Fraud	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
Litter Offences	43	39	56	93	47	25	27	21	13	17
Oil pollution in navigable waters	17	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978	23	10	13	5	2	5	-	2	-	1
Sea fisheries offences	29	17	17	7	8	5	7	11	5	1
Smoking in public places	-	-	-	1	-	1	9	3	4	4
Water Acts	-	-	3	4	3	5	4	11	3	2
Other Environmental Protection Act Offences 1990	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	3	1	2
Other conservation offences	3	-	-	1	1	1	-	1	-	-

 

People receiving fines or custodial sentences for environmental offences, where main charge

Main Result of Proceedings by crime group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Custody total:	-	-	-	2	-	3	-	-	1	2
Control of pollution	-	-	-	2	-	3	-	-	1	2
Fines total:	277	271	235	218	135	118	148	118	85	125
Agricultural offences	1	-	1	-	3	-	-	-	1	-
Clean air Acts	-	4	4	4	1	1	5	4	1	1
Contravention of sec 6(1) by continuing to operate proscribed process	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Control of pollution	173	204	142	114	68	59	52	36	41	29
Dog fouling	9	10	8	8	13	21	53	40	23	74
Fraud	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
Litter Offences	39	30	51	81	41	22	18	13	10	12
Oil pollution in navigable waters	10	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other Environmental Protection Act Offences 1990	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	2	1	1
Other conservation offences	2	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-
Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978	19	7	12	4	-	3	-	1	-	1
Sea fisheries offences	23	14	13	5	7	5	7	10	4	1
Smoking in public places	-	-	-	-	-	1	9	2	2	4
Water Acts	-	-	3	2	1	4	3	8	2	2

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database

Since 2011, there have been 19 suspected criminal incidents against freshwater pearl mussels:

Year	Number of suspected criminal incidents
2011	4
2012	2
2013	8
2014	5

The increase in 2013 can in part be attributed to the work of the Pearls in Peril appointed riverwatcher or as a result of the national survey of freshwater pearl mussels, which discovered around three quarters of incidents in that year.

In 2014, there were five incidents of suspected criminality all of which were discovered either by the Pearls in Peril project riverwatcher or the national survey.

As ‘responsible authorities’ under the Water Environment and Water Services Act 2003, local authorities, through the planning system, are expected to play a key role in protecting the water environment, by influencing the location and design of new development.

Scottish Planning Policy (published 2014) sets out ministers’ expectations for planning. It sets out core values for the planning service, which include upholding the law and enforcing the terms of decisions. Managing the resourcing of the planning service is the responsibility of local authorities.

The government recognises that the resourcing of the planning system is an important matter which is why we implemented a fee increase of 20% in 2013 and a further 5% in 2014. We intend to consider resources for planning as part of a national discussion about further planning reform over the coming months.

The operation and enforcement of the average speed camera system on the A9 is the responsibility of Police Scotland and the relevant safety camera units. The Scottish Government does not hold any of the requested information. This is a matter for Police Scotland.

Since the system went live on 28 October 2014, through to 20 April 2015, Police Scotland advises that 1,744 vehicles have been detected exceeding the speed limit and warranted further action.

Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended, education authorities are required to identify, meet and keep under review the additional support needs of all children. This includes their planning and support throughout nursery and in their school education, and to tailor provision according to their individual circumstances, including support in relation to sensory impairments.

In addition the implementation of ‘Getting it right for every child’ through the named person and better coordination of support across health and education will contribute to improving quality of provision for children with sensory impairment.

A total of £281,979 has been provided to National Deaf Children's Society from May 2013 to March 2016 through the Third Sector Early Intervention Fund for the Your Child, Your Choices project, which supports families with deaf children aged 0 to 8 years.

In line with the survey’s key objective, the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy 2014 (Literacy) results are used to monitor and report achievement in reading, writing, listening and talking at P4, P7 and S2 at a national level. The survey was designed to minimise the assessment burden on teachers and pupils and, whilst the sample size is sufficient to build a national picture of pupil performance in writing across Scotland, too few pupils are assessed to produce reliable local authority results.

There is a significant body of international scientific and medical literature on the relationships between physical and long-term health conditions and mental health.

Health for all children 4: Guidance on Implementation in Scotland, Getting it Right for Scotland's Children, which was published in 2005, set out the universal core programme for child health screening and surveillance in Scotland. This guidance included advice on the core issues which should be covered during the neonate-first 24 hours contact. There were no plans to produce or publish further universal newborn health screening guidance.