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-16259

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children aged under 16 have been detained in HM Prison Kilmarnock in each of the last six years; how old they were; how long they were detained; what the reasons were for their detention, and why they were detained in prison rather than an establishment for children.

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

There are two circumstances in which a child or young person may be admitted to the custody of the Scottish Prison Service. In the first, a child or young person remanded or committed for trial and considered by the sheriff to be unruly may be detained in prison on an “unruly certificate”. In the second, a child who has been convicted on indictment and sentenced to be detained in such a place as the Scottish ministers direct may be held in a prison or young offenders institution.

The available information on the number of children so held in Kilmarnock Prison are set out in the tables which follow.

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 2004

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	4	0	4	12

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 2003

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	1	0	1	3

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 2002

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	0	0	0	0

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 2001

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	2	0	2	86

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 2000

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	2	0	2	32

Details of all under 16s who were held in HM Prison Kilmarnock, 1999

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Kilmarnock	2	0	2	12

Question reference: S2W-16260

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children aged under 16 have been detained in each public sector prison in each of the last six years; how old they were; how long they were detained; what the reasons were for their detention, and why they were detained in prison rather than an establishment for children.

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

There are two circumstances in which a child or young person may be admitted to the custody of the Scottish Prison Service. In the first, a child or young person remanded or committed for trial and considered by the Sheriff to be unruly may be detained in prison on an “unruly certificate”. In the second, a child who has been convicted on indictment and sentenced to be detained in such a place as the Scottish ministers direct may be held in a prison or young offenders institution.

The available information on the number of children so held in Scottish Prisons are set out in the tables which follow.

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 2004

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	7	2	5	227
Cornton Vale	1	1	0	4
Dumfries	1	0	1	5
Edinburgh	1	0	1	15
Greenock	2	0	2	5
Polmont	16	3	13	538

Details of all Under 16s Who Were Held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 2003

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	9	4	5	10
Cornton Vale	1	0	1	10
Dumfries	2	0	2	22
Edinburgh	1	0	1	3
Greenock	3	1	2	31
Inverness	1	0	1	6
Perth	1	0	1	7
Polmont	15	5	10	221

Details of all under 16s who were held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 2002

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	13	0	13	20
Aberdeen	1	0	1	8
Cornton Vale	2	1	1	18
Dumfries	1	0	1	2
Edinburgh	1	0	1	8
Greenock	2	0	2	11
Perth	4	0	4	16
Polmont	16	0	16	363

Details of All Under 16s Who Were Held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 2001

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	3	0	3	3
Aberdeen	1	1	0	5
Cornton Vale	1	0	1	1
Edinburgh	1	0	1	9
Greenock	6	0	6	104
Inverness	1	0	1	106
Perth	1	0	1	2
Polmont	9	1	8	112

Details of All Under 16s Who Were Held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 2000

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	9	3	6	248
Dumfries	1	0	1	15
Edinburgh	2	1	1	25
Longriggend	2	0	2	98
Perth	1	0	1	9
Polmont	8	4	4	102

Details of All Under 16s Who Were Held in a Scottish Penal Establishment, 1999

	Number of Individuals	Individuals Aged 14	Individuals Aged 15	Total Number of Days or Part Days
Barlinnie	3	0	3	9
Greenock	1	0	1	11
Longriggend	6	0	6	87
Perth	4	1	3	81
Polmont	2	0	2	50

Note: Although the tables provide a breakdown of the number of individuals held in an establishment a number of the individuals will have been held in more than one establishment therefore there will be an element of double counting.

Question reference: S2W-16253

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether HM Chief Inspector of Prisons receives performance-related pay and, if so, what his performance targets have been since his appointment; what his actual performance has been against each of these targets, and what impact these targets have had on his level of remuneration.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) is a member of the Senior Civil Service. The pay of all Senior Civil Servants is determined in accordance with the arrangements set out in accordance with the annual Review Body on Senior Salaries report and the Cabinet Office Guide to Performance Management and Reward in the Senior Civil Service, both documents are available at: www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_information/senior_civil_service/index.aspThe performance targets for HMCIP were set out in the answer to question S2W-15424 on 14 April 2005. 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/webapp/wa.search .

The details of performance appraisals of individual members of staff are personal information which it is not our practice to disclose.

Question reference: S2W-16347

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 May 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16219 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 May 2005, whether its Justice Department will now produce updated information on that contained in this annexe to the inspection report on HM Prison Kilmarnock.

Question reference: S2W-16453

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2005
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16252 by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2005, what the timetable is for HM Chief Inspector of Prisons to finalise his plansto inspect the conditions in which prisoners are transported or held in pursuance of prisoner escort arrangements.

Question reference: S2W-16262

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how, and what timescale it will establish whether, and to what extent, the recommendations contained in Sheriff Colin McKay's fatal accident inquiry report into the suicide of James Barclay in January 2002 are being implemented by Premier Prison Services.

Question reference: S2W-16159

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its advice was sought by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in respect of my request to attend the media conference in HM Prison Kilmarnock on 26 April 2005 and, if so, what advice was given and by whom.

Question reference: S2W-16176

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive why the report into HM Prison Kilmarnock by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, due to be published on 26 April 2005, was released to the press 24 hours before being given to MSPs.

Question reference: S2W-15720

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP practices have withdrawn minor injuries services as a result of the NHS board opting not to fund the enhanced payments scheme for provision of these services under the new GP contract.

The information is not available centrally.

All practices are expected to provide to all of their patients essential and those additional services they are contracted to provide under the terms of the new General Medical Services contract. Minor injury services are defined under the contract as enhanced services and NHS boards decide whether or not there is a local need for the provision of these more specialised services. NHS boards also determine the location of such services. To prevent any erosion of services the new General Medical Services contract is underpinned by a Patient Services Guarantee which states that it is the responsibility of the NHS board to ensure continuation of the full range of services to patients under the new contract, as was available under the previous contract.

Question reference: S2W-15713

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 May 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of requests by GPs for an ambulance within one hour, not including immediate or non-urgent requests, were met within the hour in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The figures for 2000-01 and 2001-02 are not available. The percentage of requests by GPs for an ambulance within an hour which were met within the hour for 2002-05 are set out in the following table. The information is not available for the earlier two years.

Health Board Area	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Argyll and Clyde	72.6%	72.9%	63.3%
Ayrshire and Arran	87.5%	76.5%	67.6%
Borders	64.0%	60.0%	63.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	86.9%	75.6%	45.5%
Fife	83.8%	74.7%	53.2%
Forth Valley	81.1%	70.6%	62.5%
Grampian	87.0%	94.7%	99.1%
Greater Glasgow	51.2%	42.5%	37.4%
Highland	90.2%	95.3%	98.6%
Lanarkshire	59.2%	53.1%	45.0%
Lothian	63.0%	61.4%	55.7%
Orkney	91.2%	94.4%	98.7%
Shetland	86.8%	96.2%	100.0%
Tayside	83.4%	71.1%	63.0%
Western Isles	90.5%	95.8%	99.3%
Scotland Total	72.1%	69.3%	85.6%

The reduction in performance in some areas, especially those with sizeable urban conurbations, may be seen as an indicator of the progress the Scottish Ambulance Service is making towards delivery of its eight minute response time target for category A (life threatening) calls. An accident and emergency unit on its way to a GPs urgent call can be diverted to a category A emergency incident if that is the nearest available unit. This prioritisation of the category A emergency call over the GPs urgent call reflects the comparative risk of the emergency call over the GPs urgent. The balance of risk also takes account of the fact that, as a rule, GPs urgent calls will mean that the GP has been with the patient and will in many circumstances still be with the patient while the ambulance is on its way. GPs can also call for an emergency response including in circumstances where they may have already made an urgent request but where there is a change to the patient’s condition indicating the need for the call to be upgraded.