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: S2W-15977

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans for an overall review of government and accountability in the further education sector.

Question reference: S2W-15546

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the composition of the working group being set up to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment has now been agreed.

The following people have agreed to sit on the working group to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment. Linda Costelloe Baker has agreed to chair the group.

Linda Costelloe Baker, Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman.

James Coleman, Depute Council Leader, Glasgow City Council.

Lorna Shiels, Councillor, City of Edinburgh Council.

Raymond Hutcheon, Convenor of the Licensing Committee, Aberdeen City Council.

Jill Shimi, Council Leader, Dundee City Council.

Patricia McIlquham, Clerk of Licensing Board and Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) – Dundee City Council.

Dr Sharon Cowan, School of Law, University of Edinburgh.

George Clelland, Superintendent for Licensing Branch, Strathclyde Police.

Eddie Tobin, Chair, Bar Entertainment and Dance Association.

Jan MacLeod, member of the Expert Committee on Violence Against Women and the Women’s Support Project.

Dr Catherine Kennedy, School of Psychology and Sociology, Napier University.

Rab Fleming, Head of Local Governance and Licensing Division, Finance and Central Services Department, Scottish Executive

The terms of reference for the working group were set out in my reply to parliamentary question S2W-14687 on 24 February 2005. All answers to written questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The working group is expected to run from April 2005 to April 2006 and to submit a final report to ministers in April 2006

Question reference: S2W-15331

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland on its thematic inspection of the response of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on race issues will be available.

The Inspectorate’s report has been published today and is available on the Scottish Executive’s website. www.scotland.gov.uk.

The report makes 12 recommendations, all of which I have accepted. Our full departmental response has now been published on the Crown Office website. www.crownoffice.gov.uk

Copies of the report have also been placed in the Parliament Reference Centre (Bib. number: 35625)

Question reference: S2W-14802

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have been referred to the Glasgow drugs court and, of these, how many have been charged with soliciting since the beginning of the drugs court pilot scheme, broken down by month.

The following table detailsthe number of women referred to the Drug Court each month since the start of the pilot. (Where no month is given, no referrals of women were received).

No women have appeared inthe Drug Court as a result of a charge of soliciting. Soliciting isan offence in terms of section 46 of the Civic Government (Scotland)Act 1982 which does not carry a penalty of imprisonment. Such offences areusually prosecuted at the District Court and would not be eligible for the Drug Court wherethe chances of receiving a custodial sentence are much higher.

Month	Number of Women Referred
November 2001	2
December 2001	2
February 2002	1
May 2002	1
July 2002	2
February 2003	1
March 2003	1
May 2003	1
June 2003	1
January 2004	1
February 2004	3
March 2004	1
April 2004	3
May 2004	1
August 2004	2
Total	23

Question reference: S2W-14849

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners' receptions of women there have been in each of the last (a) 12 months and (b) three years.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Provisional data for 2004 isgiven in the table:

Female Receptions to PenalEstablishments

Month	Total
January	275
February	307
March	372
April	307
May	281
June	312
July	232
August	276
September	254
October	231
November	264
December	243

Information on female prisonreceptions in the last three years is given in table 12B of Prison StatisticsScotland, 2003 published by the Scottish Executive in August 2004, copies ofwhich are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33610).

Question reference: S2W-14798

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is monitoring the work of the Time Out centre in Glasgow.

Question reference: S2W-14801

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the status is of A Better Way: The Report of the Ministerial Working Group on Offending.

A Better Way was published in February 2002 and has formed thebasis for developing sentencing options for women who offend. The report didnot make specific recommendations but drew some important conclusions. As a result,the Executive has taken forward or introduced a number of initiatives,including:

The 218 Time Out Centre, nowestablished in Glasgow as a criminal justice focussed community resourcefor women offenders.

The current piloting ofmandatory Supervised Attendance Orders in Glasgow District Court (including theStipendiary Court) and Ayr Sheriff Court to deal with minor fine defaulters.

The national roll-out of DrugTreatment and Testing Orders, due for completion later this year.

The current piloting of sixArrest Referral schemes, three of which have a particular focus on women.

The forthcoming StructuredDeferred Sentence pilots in four areas, two of which will have a specific focuson women.

Question reference: S2W-14800

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is monitoring the number of women sent to the Time Out centre in Glasgow who would otherwise be in custody.

It is not possible todetermine what sentence or disposal might otherwise have been imposed by thecourts on women who offend, had Time Out not been available, except in veryspecific circumstances (for example, on bail with a condition of residence).

However, the independentevaluation currently being carried out by Stirling University, due for completion in October, will examine thisissue and draw on data from a range of different sources.

Question reference: S2W-14799

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners' receptions of women there have been at HM Prison Greenock in each of the last 12 months.

Question reference: S2W-14797

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with progress being made in reducing the number of women in custody.

Sentencing must remain a matterfor the courts. The Executive, however, remains committed to reducing the numbersof women sentenced to custody who might benefit from a community penalty. We haveincreased the sentencing options available to the courts over the last five yearswith the introduction of Restriction of Liberty Orders and Drug Treatment and TestingOrders and pilots for the mandatory use of Supervised Attendance Orders. In addition,we are investing £1 million a year in bail information and supervision schemes andhave introduced arrest referral and deferred sentence pilots. We fund the 218 TimeOut centre in Glasgow and have provided sheriffs with Information on Non-CustodialDisposals packs to keep them informed of the options.