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-29337

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much security at sheriff courts has cost in each year since 1999.

Scottish Court Service Costs for Security at Supreme and sheriff courts.

The costs contained in the followingtable are for both sheriff and Supreme Courts. The Scottish CourtService does not hold this information on a disaggregated basis.

Year	Security Costs
1999-2000	£771,273
2000-01	£792,206
2001-02	£1,017,398
2002-03	£933,112
2003-04	£945,353
2004-05	£1,070,320
2005-06	£1,355,960

Question reference: S2W-29311

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office is required to act in the broader public interest and not only as a prosecution service.

The Crown Office isthe head office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The COPFSis a department of the Scottish Executive, headed by the Lord Advocate, whose positionas the head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths inScotland is enshrined in the Scotland Act.

It is a key objective of the COPFS to ensure that all crimes made known to theProcurator Fiscal are investigated “in the public interest”.

As well as being the sole public prosecution authorityin Scotland, the COPFS has the duty to investigate, inthe public interest, all sudden, suspicious or unexplained deaths throughout Scotland.

COPFS adopted the International Association of Prosecutors’Standards of Professional Responsibility in 1999. This states that “the useof prosecutorial discretion… should be exercised independently and be free frompolitical interference” and requires prosecutors to “perform their duties withoutfear, favour or prejudice.”

The factors relevant to a ProcuratorFiscal’s assessment of the public interest are described in the Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service’s Prosecution Code, at Section 6 (page 8) “PublicInterest Considerations”. A copy of the Code is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 37201) and on the COPFS website at:

www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/2001/05/prosecutioncode.

Question reference: S2W-29298

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners serving sentences of more than four years there were in each year from 1999 to 2005 and what the estimated numbers of such prisoners are for each year from 2006 to 2010.

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

The average daily prison populationfor prisoners sentenced to four years or more including life and recalls from 1999-2000to 2005-06 is provided in the following table:

1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
2,509	2,540	2,599	2,675	2,816	2,923	2,889

The projected average daily populationof prisoners sentenced to four years or more including life and recalls from 2006-07to 2010-11, as calculated in October 2005 projections exercise, is provided in thefollowing table:

2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
2,900	3,000	3,100	3,100	3,200

The results of the September2006 prison population projections will be published on 10 November and updatedfigures on the projected number of prisoners sentenced to four years or more willbe available then.

Question reference: S2W-29301

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many custodial sentences have been imposed for breaches of community service orders in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-29304

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been for individuals to commence work on a community service order in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-29314

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by Visitscotland in New Zealand in each year since 1999.

VisitBritain is the lead agencyin the delivery of the Scotland brand in New Zealand. VisitScotland works in partnership with VisitBritainto market Scotland as a visitor destination in New Zealand, with Scotland a majorpart of the Britain brand. In addition, VisitScotland currently invests approximately£200,000 per year in marketing Scotland across the world through its Ancestral Tourismmarketing strategy, with New Zealand forming an important strand of this work.

Question reference: S2W-29313

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by Visitscotland on advertising in the United States of America in each year since 1999; in how many states advertising was displayed; what media were used to advertise Scotland, and, if television advertising was used, in what states and over what period.

VisitScotland spent the followingsums on marketing Scotland in the US since 1999:

Year	(£000)
1999-2000	1,215
2000-01	1,810
2001-02	2,570
2002-03	2,444
2003-04	2,658
2004-05	2,458

Figures for 2005-06 will be availablewhen VisitScotland publishes its accounts later this year.

VisitScotland’s marketing strategyin the US is to concentrate consumer marketing on states which provide the greatestopportunity to attract visitors to Scotland. Factors include predisposition to travel to Europe andthe UK, access to international airline services, and access to direct airlineservices to Scotland. Based on these factors, VisitScotland’s marketing hasfor some time focussed on the areas around New York, Washington, Philadelphiaand Chicago, and since 2004 on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Atlanta areaincluding working closely with Continental and Delta airlines. In addition, theBoston area will be included in collaboration with FlyGlobespan from May 2007. However,VisitScotland makes extensive use of online marketing channels, which by their natureensure that its message does not only reach target markets, but is accessible acrossthe US as a whole.

VisitScotland’s US marketingstrategy does not include regular TV advertising, although it does include winningcoverage for Scotland on TV programmes targeting particular market segmentssuch as golf and touring. The primary channels are print and online marketing, includingdirect marketing to VisitScotland’s US online databases and those of its airlinepartners. PR is an important part of the strategy, and VisitScotland retains a PRagency in the US to maximise publicity for Scotland. Event marketing is alsoa feature, not least the major programme of activities around the Scottish Villageduring Tartan Week.

Question reference: S2W-29310

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cabinet meetings the Lord Advocate has not attended in each year since 1999.

All dates when the Scottish Cabinethas met since 1999 are available under the cabinet-related information providedon the Scottish Executive website.

I am not a member of the Scottishcabinet but usually attend cabinet each week in order to provide legal advice andto represent my own ministerial interest.

Information relating to the proceedingsof the Scottish Cabinet is considered exempt from disclosure under sections 29 (a)and (b) and 30(a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S2W-29307

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have been employed in Scottish prisons in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-29299

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what average number of hours of community service has been imposed in each year since 1999.

Year	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Number	525	508	473	372	469	398