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: S4W-18485

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) for how long on average the (i) A90, (ii) A96 have been closed as a result of crime scene investigations of accidents in the last three years, and for what reason these roads cannot be reopened for managed traffic flow more quickly in such cases.

Details of trunk road closures on the A90 and A96 in the last three full calendar years are contained in the following table. Our records for 2013 are not yet complete.

2010

2011

2012

Road	Number of Closures	Average time (hrs)	Number of Closures	Average time (hrs)	Number of Closures	Average time (hrs)
A90	7	05:56	9	08:34	3	08:48
A96	7	05:55	5	06:01	4	09:14

The decision by Police Scotland to close a road is never taken lightly and only occurs when the collision itself has blocked the road, or where there is a need to protect those who might already have been injured and the emergency service staff who are dealing with the incident.

The impact on local communities and the wider economy is always at the forefront of investigators' minds, but there is a need to ensure that incidents are investigated thoroughly to ensure that families of those killed or seriously injured receive the support and information that they deserve and also to ensure that any safety issues are identified and addressed.

Roads are closed in such cases to gather evidence regarding an accident and the length of any closure can vary, depending on the nature and complexity of the incident.

Question reference: S4W-18117

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many suspected dangerous dogs have been (a) reported to and (b) investigated by the police in each year since 1999.

Offences involving dangerous dogs recorded by the police in Scotland, 1998-99 to 2012-13

Year	Dangerous Dogs, Failure to Control, Supervise, Destroy^1,2	Failure to keep dogs under proper control, contravention of an order³	Dogs bred for fighting⁴	Total
1998-99	669	187	8	856
1999-00	490	239	16	729
2000-01	397	257	17	654
2001-02	330	284	16	614
2002-03	355	360	8	715
2003-04	403	433	13	836
2004-05	529	618	16	1,147
2005-06	531	517	19	1,048
2006-07	532	623	21	1,155
2007-08	557	587	13	1,144
2008-09	567	604	25	1,171
2009-10	624	653	32	1,277
2010-11	624	668	29	1,292
2011-12	236	941	11	1,177
2012-13	67	945	13	1,012

Source: Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Government.

Notes:

1. Dangerous Dogs, Failure to Control, Supervise, Destroy consists of offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 Section 49.

2. Most dangerous dogs are now dealt with directly by local authorities following the introduction of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010, implemented in February 2011. The authority will consider issuing a dog control notice when a dog has been out of control.

3. Failure to keep dogs under proper control, and contravention of destruction or disqualification orders consists of offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sections 3 and 4.

4. Dogs bred for fighting consists of offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sections 1 and 2.

The information requested regarding police investigations is not held centrally.

Question reference: S4W-18116

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many dog attacks have been (a) reported to and (b) investigated by the police in each year since 1999.

The police recorded crime data collected centrally is based on an aggregate return from each of the eight legacy police forces in Scotland. As such, it is not possible to identify whether offences recorded by the police involve dog attacks. Depending on the severity of the attack, attacks on persons by dogs could be recorded as an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Section 3 or the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 Section 49, or as an assault.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-18117 on 21 November 2013, which relates to the number of offences involving dangerous dogs. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-18166

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many offences have been committed in Scotland in the last three years under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

The following table shows the number of offences involving dangerous dogs recorded under Sections 3 and 4 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. The police recorded crime data collected centrally is based on aggregate returns, and as such, it is not possible to separate out those offences recorded under Section 3.

Offences Involving Dangerous Dogs, 2010-11 to 2012-13

	Failure to keep dogs under proper control, contravention of an order¹
2010-11	668
2011-12	941
2012-13	945

Source: Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Government.

Note: 1. Failure to keep dogs under proper control, and contravention of destruction or disqualification orders consists of offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sections 3 and 4.

Question reference: S4O-02625

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of public service reforms on the north east.

Question reference: S4W-18118

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many dogs have been destroyed (a) by the police and (b) following a court order in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-17929

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been supported by telecare services in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested has only been collated as part of the annual Community Care Statistical Return, as collected by the Scottish Government’s Health Analytical Services Division, since 2011. The following tables show the information for 2011 and 2012, with the figures for 2013 due to be published at the end of November via:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Data/HomeCare.

2011

Local Authority	Community alarm only	Telecare only	Both	Total Clients
Aberdeen City	1,704	96	89	1,889
Aberdeenshire	2,485	96	26	2,607
Angus	3,384	6	324	3,714
Argyll and Bute	1,146	0	339	1,485
Clackmannanshire	1,147	76	115	1,338
Dumfries and Galloway	2,220	*	*	2,220
Dundee City	4,300	0	0	4,300
East Ayrshire	2,992	96	147	3,235
East Dunbartonshire	1,703	0	222	1,925
East Lothian	1,630	12	97	1,739
East Renfrewshire	1,487	0	106	1,593
Edinburgh, City of	5,155	0	2,147	7,302
Eilean Siar	677	9	200	886
Falkirk	3,630	360	16	4,006
Fife	5,261	180	516	5,957
Glasgow City	15,061	*	*	15,061
Highland	730	2,352	82	3,164
Inverclyde	1,773	0	112	1,885
Midlothian	1,217	347	0	1,564
Moray	1,317	49	162	1,528
North Ayrshire	1,421	0	1,266	2,687
North Lanarkshire	11,705	202	364	12,271
Orkney Islands	487	*	*	487
Perth and Kinross	2,112	*	*	2,112
Renfrewshire	2,525	255	46	2,826
Scottish Borders	3,052	54	457	3,563
Shetland Islands	588	14	113	715
South Ayrshire	1,940	13	43	1,996
South Lanarkshire	7,715	*	*	7,715
Stirling	1,393	69	373	1,835
West Dunbartonshire	1,520	*	*	1,520
West Lothian	0	0	3,875	3,875
Scotland	93,477	5,571	12,130	111,178

2012

Local Authority	Community alarm only	Telecare only	Both	Total Clients
Aberdeen City	1,671	112	99	1,882
Aberdeenshire	2,323	95	49	2,467
Angus	3,143	*	*	3,504
Argyll and Bute	1,098	0	408	1,506
Clackmannanshire	1,285	14	134	1,433
Dumfries and Galloway	1,880	0	512	2,392
Dundee City	4,963	0	0	4,963
East Ayrshire	2,384	198	259	2,841
East Dunbartonshire	1,771	0	237	2,008
East Lothian*	144	0	0	144
East Renfrewshire	1,409	*	*	1,696
Edinburgh, City of	4,995	0	2,090	7,085
Eilean Siar	433	33	181	647
Falkirk	3,494	384	19	3,897
Fife	5,085	223	650	5,958
Glasgow City	13,715	1,158	0	14,873
Highland	3,730	167	97	3,994
Inverclyde	1,955	0	91	2,046
Midlothian	1,138	*	*	1,834
Moray	1,244	26	123	1,393
North Ayrshire	1,767	0	1,131	2,898
North Lanarkshire	10,657	239	443	11,339
Orkney Islands	455	0	92	547
Perth and Kinross	2,348	12	178	2,538
Renfrewshire	2,177	*	*	2,505
Scottish Borders	3,282	49	454	3,785
Shetland Islands	621	8	102	731
South Ayrshire	1,809	18	82	1,909
South Lanarkshire	6,226	11	2,331	8,568
Stirling	1,232	0	590	1,822
West Dunbartonshire	1,631	*	*	2,169
West Lothian	0	0	4,714	4,714
Scotland	90,065	3,769	16,254	110,088*

Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics, H1 Return & ProcXed Home Care collection.

Notes:

*East Lothian had a major problem recording telecare in 2011-12 due to their IT systems moving from CareFirst to Framework-i. This meant that the telecare services weren’t pulled through for the 2012 return and they estimates that there should have been about 2,000.

All figures relate to the last week in March.

Cells containing * represent small numbers that are suppressed to maintain confidentiality.

Question reference: S4W-17928

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on telecare services in homes in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-18169

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to support NHS boards in implementing a comprehensive service delivery model for (a) patients on oral anticoagulants, (b) alternative therapies, (c) near patient testing and (d) patient self-testing/self-management.

Question reference: S4W-18170

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that there is a need to increase the number of patients using anticoagulants who self-monitor and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.