- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive why Prison Statistics Scotland, 2001 does not give statistics on the length of sentences imposed for crimes of indecency and what the average length of sentence imposed was for those convicted of crimes of indecency in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Individual crimes within crime groups such as "crimes of indecency" can vary widely in terms of seriousness and the length of imprisonment consequently imposed. The information on sentence length by crime published in the statistical bulletin
Prisons Statistics Scotland, 2001 therefore presents the statistics for more specific crimes rather than aggregate information for crime groups.The published information has not given statistics on the average sentence length imposed for crimes with only a small number of receptions each year because individual cases could have had a distorting effect on the figures. Individual crimes of indecency fall into this category. In the light of this parliamentary question, however, the Executive will review this position ahead of the next publication of the statistical bulletins.The average sentence lengths imposed for those convicted of specific crimes of indecency in 2000 and 2001 are given in the table.
Average Length of Sentence Imposed on Offenders Sentenced for Crimes of Indecency by Crime, 2000 and 2001
| Number of Receptions1 | Average Sentence Length in Years |
| Main crime/offence | 2000 | 2001 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Rape | 25 | 43 | 6.21 | 7.20 |
| Assault with intent to rape | 5 | 8 | 3.30 | 3.82 |
| Indecent Assault | 29 | 22 | 2.71 | 2.40 |
| Lewd and indecent behaviour | 95 | 119 | 1.94 | 2.36 |
| Other indecency | 39 | 28 | 3.83 | 4.14 |
| All crimes of indecency | 193 | 220 | | |
Notes:1. The table excludes those who received a life sentence (3 in 2001)"
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out into the prevalence of child sex abuse by teachers and the effect of such abuse on children.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is not aware of any research that focuses specifically on this subject matter. The effect of abuse on children in a wider context has been the focus of numerous pieces of research by various organisations.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been made of the risk to children of being abused by teachers.
Answer
It is a mandatory requirement that all teachers employed in local authority schools in Scotland be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, which since 1989 involves a criminal records check undertaken by the Disclosure Bureau. Teachers can be removed from the register at any time if they are convicted of a criminal offence or if they are considered to have been guilty of professional misconduct.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures or guidelines are in place to ensure that victims of abuse in schools are able to report it.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has issued guidance on child protection in schools, Circular 10/90, which requires all education authorities in Scotland, and the Scottish Council for Independent Schools, to have in place arrangements for responding to issues of child abuse in their schools. It also clearly sets out appropriate staff responses if children or young people disclose abuse. The Scottish Executive is currently revising Circular 10/90, in line with Protecting Children - A Shared Responsibility, which comprises guidance that has been issued specifically for health professionals and also on inter-agency co-operation. The revision of guidance for schools will take account of the findings of the national review of child protection which is due for publication shortly.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to advertise the implementation of the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
A circular giving details of the commencement of the act and the transitional provisions has been sent, together with a copy of the relevant commencement order, to approximately 150 organisations, mainly representative of the legal and voluntary sectors. Notices will also be appearing in two legal journals in October (The Scots Law Times and The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland) to advertise the commencement of the act on 1 November 2002.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether measures announced by the Home Secretary on changes to the sex offenders' register will apply in Scotland and, if so, what information it has received about when such changes will come into effect.
Answer
The notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 apply across the UK. We are keen that this should continue to be the case, where possible. A recent review of the act made a number of recommendations to strengthen and improve its effectiveness. These include a requirement for annual notification and for a new order bringing those convicted for sex offences overseas under the notification requirements. As the Home Secretary made clear, the intention is to bring forward legislation to address these matters at the earliest opportunity.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the ministerial task force on children's services or the National Group to Address Domestic Abuse have looked, or will look, into the effect that experiencing domestic abuse has on young people.
Answer
The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Children's Services will be holding a special meeting later this month, chaired by the First Minister, to discuss child protection, including domestic abuse, in the light of the current multi-disciplinary review, which has been informed by discussion with children and young people. In addition, the Ministers for Education and Young People, for Health and Community Care, and for Social Justice, all participated earlier this month in the launch event for the Listen Louder campaign to highlight the effects of domestic abuse on young people.The National Group is considering the effect of domestic abuse on children as part of its remit to implement the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29191 by Mr Jim Wallace on 25 September 2002, whether it is aware of the Home Office research study, Rape and sexual assault of women: the extent and nature of the problem - Findings from the British Crime Survey, and whether it plans to carry out any similar research when the next Scottish Crime Survey is carried out.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is aware of the Home Office research report on Rape and sexual assault of women: the extent and nature of the problem - Findings from the British Crime Survey. The report utilised the sample from both the 1998 and 2000 British Crime Surveys, which provided a total household sample of just over 34,000 households in England and Wales. As noted in the answer given to question S1W-29191, the smaller Scottish sample does not make analyses of rape and other sexual crimes viable. The Scottish Executive has, however, commissioned a fundamental review of the Scottish Crime Survey that will consider matters such as sample sizes, frequency and coverage.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 16 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether consideration has been given to making domestic violence an aggravated offence and, if so, what the outcome was of any such consideration.
Answer
A working group established by the National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland has carried out a review of legislation relating to domestic abuse and made a number of recommendations about how to increase the protection of women and children who experience such abuse. Discussions about how to implement the working group's recommendations are at an early stage. The working group did give consideration to the fact that domestic abuse is not a specific offence but not to the possibility of providing for an aggravated offence.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many young girls have been placed in secure units for their own safety in each local authority area in each of the last three years.
Answer
Information on the numbers of girls placed in secure units for their own safety from each local authority area between 1998-99 and 2000-01 is given in the following table.The figures include only placements which are either a place of safety order or warrant made under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, or where committal to a place of safety or other temporary detention is made under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act (1995).
| Area of Residence Prior to Admission | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 |
| Aberdeen City | .. | .. | .. |
| Aberdeenshire | .. | 0 | .. |
| Angus | .. | 6 | .. |
| Argyll and Bute | 0 | 0 | .. |
| Clackmannanshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | .. | 0 | 0 |
| Dundee City | .. | 7 | .. |
| East Ayrshire | .. | 0 | 0 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Lothian | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Renfrewshire | .. | 0 | 0 |
| Edinburgh, City of | .. | 0 | 0 |
| Eilean Siar | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Falkirk | 0 | .. | .. |
| Fife | .. | 0 | .. |
| Glasgow City | .. | .. | .. |
| Highland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Inverclyde | 0 | 0 | .. |
| Midlothian | 0 | 0 | .. |
| Moray | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | .. |
| North Lanarkshire | 0 | 0 | .. |
| Orkney | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth and Kinross | 0 | .. | .. |
| Renfrewshire. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scottish Borders | .. | 0 | 0 |
| Shetland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Lanarkshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stirling | 0 | 0 | .. |
| West Dunbartonshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| West Lothian | .. | .. | .. |
| Area not recorded | 0 | 0 | .. |
Source: Scottish Executive R1C residential care for children statistics.Note: Cells shown as .. contain between one and four children, but the exact number cannot be shown to ensure confidentiality of the children, in line with the National Statistics code of practice.
