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-23089

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 8 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the general members of the Mental Health Tribunal fell into each of the six sub-categories for the appointment of general members.

Question reference: S2W-22794

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22332 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 January 2006, (a) whether it will confirm that all eight police forces maintain the three types of list referred to in paragraph 1.4 of Registering the Risk: Review of Notification Requirements, Risk Assessment and Risk Management of Sex Offenders and (b) why access to information on the number of people on each list is restricted to law enforcement agencies.

I can confirm that all eight police forces gather and maintain intelligence on registered sex offenders, non-registered sex offenders, violent offenders, dangerous offenders, and potentially dangerous persons. These are the agreed common definition of terms, defined with reference to the Violent Offender and Sex Offender Register, in the National Concordat on sharing information on sex offenders, found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/77843/0018811.pdf.

The police use the intelligence information they gather in preventing and investigating crime and for the purposes of risk assessment. As such this intelligence information is generally restricted to law enforcement agencies.

The Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) now publish numbers of registered sex offenders for each force on SCRO’s Publication Scheme, found at http://www.scro.police.uk/foi/?id=28. Release of information on the other categories of offender and dangerous persons held by the police would be a matter for individual forces to consider.

Question reference: S2W-22760

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 6.8 of the report of the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee's Review of Remuneration Arrangements for Local Authority Councillors, whether the Committee’s understanding “that tax and national insurance will be payable at the appropriate statutory rates” is based on an assumption that the whole amount of a severance payment is taxable as income in the year of payment or whether it is the Committee’s understanding that the taxation rules applicable to termination payments will apply to such severance payments.

The SLARC report notes that HM Revenue and Customs are not able to give a view on the taxation rules that may apply to the scheme until the details are set out in regulations. HM Revenue and Customs has indicated that it will consider the taxation consequences of the severance scheme as soon as the details have been set out in regulations. Ministers are presently considering the recommendations made by SLARC in respect of the severance scheme, and all other aspects of remuneration for councillors.

Question reference: S2W-22019

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 2 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many debt arrangement schemes were entered into in the year to 30 November 2005, broken down by local authority area, showing the (a) total amount of debt covered by the schemes and (b) estimated average cost of administering each scheme.

Ninety-one debt payment programmes were approved in the year up to 30 November 2005.

As of the 30 November 2005 the estimated average cost of administering each approved programme was £470 per case. Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) is administered nationally, and the average cost of administering each scheme does not vary from area to area.

The table shows the breakdown of programmes by local authority area, and allocates a pro rata share of the total estimated administration costs for each area:

Local Authority	No. of DAS Programmes	Estimated Administration Costs (£)
Argyll and Bute	2	940
Dumfries and Galloway	12	5,640
Edinburgh City	1	470
Fife	2	940
Glasgow	1	470
North Ayrshire	1	470
North Lanarkshire	72	33,840
Total	91	42,770

Question reference: S2W-22620

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 2 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has established a childcare voucher scheme for its employees.

Question reference: S2W-22312

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were placed on the sex offenders' register as a result of Operation Ore.

Question reference: S2W-22619

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 31 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-departmental public bodies have established childcare voucher schemes for their employees.

Question reference: S2W-22618

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 31 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have established childcare voucher schemes for their employees.

Question reference: S2W-22332

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the information in respect of registration categories in paragraph 1.4 of Registering the Risk: Review of Notification Requirements, Risk Assessment and Risk Management of Sex Offenders, published in October 2005, whether it will (a) specify those police authorities who maintain the lists of “unregistered” and “non-registered” cases and “un-convicted” persons referred to in that paragraph and (b) publish the number of cases and/or persons registered under each of these three categories, broken down by police authority.

Every Scottish force maintains force-wide intelligence systems and has access to national databases such as the Violent Offender and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR). ViSOR allows forces to share information and will help them to assess and manage the risk posed by sex offenders and individuals, without convictions or a relevant offence, who are demonstrating behaviour that the police deem to pose a significant risk of harm to the public. Access to this information is restricted to law enforcement agencies.

Question reference: S2W-22308

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 30 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many warning letters have been issued by procurators fiscal in each of the last five years, broken down by category of alleged crime.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database records all the charges against each accused person in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. Charge information is held at this detailed level in order to meet the Department’s business needs in relation to the processing of criminal reports. It is not grouped into categories of crimes/offences.

The total number of cases closed by Procurators Fiscal by the issue of a warning in each year since 2000-01 was as set out in the table below.

Cases Closed By Issue Of Warning

Year	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
No. of Cases	18,641	19,339	15,928	21,920	32,150

While it is not possible to provide information in relation to broad categories of offence, the table below lists the more common charges reported in the last 3 financial years for persons issued with a warning.

Charge Frequencies: Warnings

Crime/Offence	Description of Offence	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Breach of the Peace	Breach of the peace	7,050	8,884	11,295
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, S201,202&203	Consuming alcohol in a designated public place	2,856	3,899	5,628
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, S5(2)	Possession of controlled drug	2,101	2,842	3,804
Assault	Assault	1,644	2,042	3,069
Theft by shoplifting	Theft by shoplifting	1,547	1,893	2,409
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, S47	Urinating/Defecating	1,071	1,671	1,874
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, S52(1)&(3)	Vandalism	554	746	1,066
Communications Act 2003, S363(2)&(4)	Using/installing TV receiver without licence	0	0	687
Theft	Theft	399	504	679
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, S50(1)	Drunk and incapable	471	670	495
Road Traffic Act 1988, S14(3)	Driver failure to wear seatbelt	230	237	472
Road Traffic Act 1988, S3	Careless driving (non fatal accident)	301	377	413
Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, S1(1)	Using TV without licence	279	971	377
Road Traffic Act 1988, S47(1)	No MOT	344	361	357
Police (Scotland) Act 1967, S41(1)(a)	Resisting, obstructing, molesting or hindering a police officer	193	233	326
Environmental Protection Act 1990, S87(1)	Littering	126	203	281
Attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice	Attempt to pervert course of justice	150	225	239
Police (Scotland) Act 1967, S41(1)(a)	Resisting, obstructing, molesting or hindering a police officer	133	146	215
Assault to Injury	Assault to injury	156	164	203
Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, S29	Keeping vehicle with no vehicle excise licence	8	161	182
Road Traffic Act 1988, S42(a)	Causing and permitting vehicle to stand on road so as to cause an unnecessary obstruction	50	167	178
Communications Act 2003, S127(1)(a)	Sending offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing message	0	37	170
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, S47(1)	Offensive weapon	82	85	152
Byelaws for Prohibiting the Consumption of Alcoholic Liquor in Designated Places 1995, B2	Consuming alcohol in a designated place	192	189	148
Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937, S12(1)	Wilfully ill-treating, neglecting or abandoning a child under 16	127	129	144
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, S201, 202 & 203	Found to be in possession of an open container containing alcoholic liquor	18	38	138
Wasting Police Time	Wasting police time	90	104	136
Police (Scotland) Act 1967, S41(1)(a)	Assault	104	110	132
British Transport Commission Act 1949, S55	Trespass on railway	55	104	128
Road Traffic Act 1988, S143(1)&(2)	Driving without insurance	72	76	125
Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, R23(1)	Parts and accessories	56	55	115
Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, S68(3)&(7)	Acting as agent for person under 18 in purchase of alcohol	40	57	112
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, S54(1)(c)	Operating radio etc to annoyance	58	79	104
Fraud	Fraud	87	130	102

Notes:

1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies.

2. The table is sorted using the totals for 2004-05.

3. The table has been limited to those charges with a frequency of at least 100 in financial year 2004-05 (which accounts for 86 per cent of charges dealt with as warnings that year).

4. In 2004-05, there were a total of 42,059 charge records relating to 36,723 accused persons where the charge was dealt with as a warning. In total there were 954 different charges (i.e. different crimes/offences) where one or more of the charges was dealt with by means of a warning.

5. Where a piece of legislation is referred to more than once in the table, this indicates that there is more than one offence under the relevant section of the act.

6. A case may involve more than one accused and/or more than one charge. A case disposed of by the issue of a warning may therefore have involved more than one charge.