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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 965 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S1W-28819

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any member of staff of the Scottish Prison Service has been offered and/or has received in the last six years any enhancement of salary for concluding or progressing contracts for private prisons and, if so, whether it will provide details.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Yes. The SPS, in line with Government pay policy operates a system of performance related pay. Separate schemes apply to staff within the main staff group, nursing staff and those within the Senior Civil Service.Personal performance targets are agreed between an individual and their line manager. These targets are related to the role the individual performs and linked to the SPS aims and objectives. In respect of any contracting out process this would only be one in a number of elements of the overall performance assessment for an appraisal period.The SPS in line with other departments also operates a Special Bonus Scheme to recognise and reward staff for exceptional performance, either individually or as part of a team. Such awards are non-pensionable and non-consolidated. The members of the Custodial Contracts Team were awarded such bonuses in 1997. The size of individual awards was £500.

Question reference: S1W-28818

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any member of staff of the Scottish Prison Service has been offered and/or has received in the last three years any enhancement of salary for concluding or progressing the contracting-out of social work services in prisons and, if so, whether it will provide details.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:No. The SPS in line with Government pay policy operates a system of performance related pay. Separate schemes apply to staff within the main staff group, nursing staff and those within the Senior Civil Service. Personal performance targets are agreed between an individual and their line manager. These targets are related to the role the individual performs and linked to the organisation's aims and objectives. In respect of any contracting out process this would only be one of a number of elements of the overall performance assessment for an appraisal period.

Question reference: S1W-30100

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what services are under consideration for out-sourcing in the review of all common police services.

Work on the review has been taken forward jointly by representatives from the Scottish Executive, the Police Associations, the Police Authority Conveners' Forum and Unison. Those involved have examined options for the delivery of a wide range of police support services grouped under the broad headings of finance and procurement; information management; forensic science services; and human resources. I am advised that the option of out-sourcing was considered alongside other options in a number of cases. I expect shortly to see the initial recommendations emerging from the review work. In the interim, I understand that Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland has reported that the work has already revealed opportunities for better co-ordination, joint working and challenging the current cost of some service provision.

Question reference: S1W-30107

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what pilot projects have been funded wholly or partly by its Justice Department in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The following table gives details of the range of pilot projects on different aspects of the justice system in each local authority area. In many cases pilot funding has ceased when the service has gone on to be part of mainstream service provision.

Project	Local Authority	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), Glasgow District Court - development of Police Fixed Penalties	Glasgow City					x
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), Glasgow District Court - development of links to SCRO and COPFS	Glasgow City				x	x
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), Pilot project to develop links between criminal justice social work, Sheriff Courts and SCRO	East Dunbartonshire		x	x	x	x
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), District Court Link - Aberdeen District Court piloted the link to allow electronic exchange of information between District Courts Procurators Fiscal and SCRO	Aberdeen City			x	x
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), Pilot in Aberdeen District Court to assess Court Officer Availability System (COAS) in fixing trial dates and citing police witnesses	Aberdeen City					x
Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS), DVLA Pilot - to allow District Court electronic access to DVLA records and to send information electronically to DVLA	West Lothian					x
Apex, Q10, get offenders back to work project	Fife	x	x	x
Drugs and Leisure, to deter young people from drugs and offer them healthier pursuits	Aberdeen City				x
	Dumfries and Galloway				x	x
	Glasgow City				x
	South Lanarkshire				x
Freagarrach	Clackmannanshire	x	x	x
	Falkirk	x	x	x
	Stirling	x	x	x
Communities that Care	City of Edinburgh			x	x	x
Communities that Care	Glasgow City			x	x	x
Glasgow Pilot Drugs Court	Glasgow City					x
Restriction of Liberty Orders Pilot Project- Hamilton Sheriff Court	North Lanarkshire		x	x	x	x
	South Lanarkshire		x	x	x	x
Restriction of Liberty Orders Pilot Project-Peterhead Sheriff Court	Aberdeenshire		x	x	x	x
Restriction of Liberty Orders Pilot Project-Aberdeen Sheriff Court	Aberdeen City		x	x	x	x
	Aberdeenshire		x	x	x	x
Witness Service	South Ayrshire	x	x
	South Lanarkshire	x	x
	Fife	x	x
Diversion From Prosecution	Aberdeen City		x	x
	City of Edinburgh		x	x
	Clackmannanshire		x	x
	Dumfries and Galloway		x	x
	East Ayrshire		x	x
	Glasgow City		x	x
	Highland		x	x
	Inverclyde		x	x
	Midlothian		x	x
	Perth and Kinross		x	x
	North Ayrshire		x	x
	North Lanarkshire		x	x
	Scottish Borders		x	x
	South Lanarkshire		x	x
	West Dunbartonshire		x	x
	Orkney		x	x
	Shetlands		x	x
	Eilean Siar, Comhairle nan
Bail Information and Supervision	City of Edinburgh		x	x
	Glasgow City		x	x
	Midlothian		x	x
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders	Glasgow City			x	x	x
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders	Fife				x	x
Public Defence Solicitors Office, Edinburgh	City of Edinburgh	x	x	x	x	x
In Court Adviser - Edinburgh Sheriff Court	City of Edinburgh	x	x	x	x	x
Streetwork Edinburgh	City of Edinburgh					x
Citizens Advice Scotland, covering Barra, Caithness, Harris, Lewis, Moray, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh, Uist	Eilean Siar, Comhairle nan					x
	Highland
	Moray
West Lothian Advice Partnership	West Lothian					x

Question reference: S1W-28653

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all notices it has received under paragraph 6.6. of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock and the dates on which the notices were received.

Question reference: S1W-28651

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all payments made under paragraph 6.3 of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock, including the dates on which the payments were made and the reasons for the payment.

Question reference: S1W-28652

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all costs incurred in employing an independent engineer under paragraph 6.3.1. of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock, detailing what the costs were in respect of.

Question reference: S1W-30591

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, for those aged (a) 16 to 17, (b) 18 to 20 and (c) 16 to 20 accused of an offence, what the average time was in days from the (i) incident to a report being made to the procurator fiscal, (ii) report to the procurator fiscal to the marking of the report, (iii) marking of the report to the trial and (iv) trial to disposal in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Question reference: S1W-29756

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 21 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how the membership of the accreditation panel for community programmes for offenders will be selected, as referred to in target 9 in the justice section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.

Individuals will be selected so that the panel provides a balance of expertise in programme development/delivery and the principles of effective practice or accreditation. The membership will draw on experience gained in academic institutions, existing accreditation processes, local authorities and the voluntary sector although individual members will be independent and not act as representatives of any of these groups. I hope to be in a position to announce details of the chair and membership of the panel within the next few weeks.

Question reference: S1W-30311

Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports of offences under sections (a) 3(1), (b) 4(1) and (c) 5(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 were marked no proceedings in respect of each category recognised by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service computer in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court district.