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-15876

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the responses it has given to European Commission consultations in each of the last three years.

The Executive has responded tonumerous European Commission consultations through the UK Government in each of the last three years. This is the normal way we respond to such consultations; tocompile a list of all of these responses would incur a disproportionate cost.

There are a number of occasionswhere the Executive has submitted a response directly to European Commission aspart of a Commission consultation. These are:

Year of Response	EC Consultation	SE Department
2003	Green paper on Entrepreneurship	Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department
2003	Guidelines on Criteria and Modalities of Implementation of Structural Funds in Support of Electronic Communications	Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department
2004	Green Paper on the approximation, mutual recognition and enforcement of criminal sanctions in the European Union.	Justice Department
2004	Green Paper on Maintenance Obligations	Justice Department
2005	Green Paper on the mutual recognition of non-custodial pre-trial supervision measures	Justice Department

Question reference: S2W-15910

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive why the prison escort and court custody services summary in respect of its prisoner escort contract with Reliance has not been updated since September 2004 and what time interval there is between the payment of Reliance for its services and the publication of the performance summary.

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

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-8431 on 8 June 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The performance data to December2005 have just been agreed and published on the SPS website.

Question reference: S2W-15903

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive why the prisoner escort and court custody services summary in respect of its prisoner escort contract with Reliance does not include figures for (a) prisoners injured whilst in custody, (b) assaults by prisoners in custody on (i) other prisoners, (ii) prison custody and security officers and (iii) others and (c) prisoners in custody found to be in possession of unauthorised items.

Question reference: S2W-15878

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) have been issued (a) in respect of persons domiciled in Scotland and (b) by Scottish authorities in each quarter since the introduction of EAWs.

Crown Office has received five European Arrest Warrants in respect of persons apparently domiciled in Scotland. In addition Scottish authorities have issued the following European Arrest Warrants since the measure was introduced namely:

(i) 1 January – 31 March 2004 – 2 EAWs.

(ii) 1 April – 30 June, 5 EAWs.

(iii) 1 July – 30 September 7 EAWs.

(iv) 1 October – 31 December no EAWs.

(v) 1 January – 31 March 2005 1 EAW.

Question reference: S2W-15875

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether contempt of court committed by publication of statements on the internet would constitute computer-related crime for the purposes of the European Arrest Warrant.

I can of course only answer this question from the perspective of Scots Law: other jurisdictions will define computer related crime according to their own domestic legal systems.

However, the position in Scots Law is that it is likely that any publication of statements on the internet which was in contempt of court, would be prosecuted in Scotland as a contempt of court. There may additionally be offences related to the use of computers but a charge either at common law or under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is the more likely outcome. Contempt of court is not one of the crimes listed in the European Arrest Warrant Framework Decision, and as a result, it would be necessary to establish dual criminality before extradition proceedings could be commenced.

Question reference: S2W-15874

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how it envisages the relationship between a European Fundamental Rights Agency and a Scottish Human Rights Commission would operate.

Question reference: S2W-15961

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it or its agencies have on the number of (a) playing fields and (b) artificial turf pitches that there are; if no such information is available, whether there are plans to collate it in future, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, it is estimated that there are around 5,900 playing fields and sports pitches in Scotland.

Scottish Executive Planning advice and guidance encourages local authorities to prepare playing field and open space strategies. Sportscotland is working with a number of local authorities on the preparation of playing field strategies. These strategies will identify the number and type of playing fields. Sportscotland stands ready to assist other local authorities.

Question reference: S2W-15293

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people charged with (a) murder and (b) culpable homicide have (i) applied for, (ii) been granted and (iii) been refused bail in each year since 1999.

The available statistics on the number of murder and culpable homicide charges on bail orders granted are given in the table. Statistical information on total applications for bail and refusals of bail is not held centrally.

Number of Murder and Culpable Homicide Charges on Bail Orders Granted¹, Scotland, 1999-2004

Year	Murder	Culpable Homicide
1999	3	7
2000	29	12
2001	34	2
2002	57	13
2003	50	14
2004	55	7

Note: 1. Excludes modifications to existing bail orders.

The increase since 2000 in the number of persons who have been charged with murder and who have been granted bail reflects the repeal in that year of the statutory exclusion to bail for those charged with murder.

Question reference: S2W-15877

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how Scottish police forces are represented on (a) Europol, (b) the European Police Chiefs' Task Force and (c) the governing board of the European Police College.

Mr Graeme Pearson, Director of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland lead on serious organised crime, is the Scottish link at strategic level with Europol. This involves sharing information and experience with fellow senior European law enforcement officers in a number of ways, including attendance at seminars.

The UK is represented on the European Police Chiefs’ Task Force by the Director General of the National Crime Squad. Mr Pearson is kept fully aware of the activities of this body and is a contributor to its knowledge base.

Mr David Garbutt, the Director of the Scottish Police College, is a member of the European Police College (CEPOL) Governing Board and is the nominated representative holding voting rights for the United Kingdom. Mr Garbutt is also Chair of the CEPOL Annual Programme Committee and will take up the Presidency of the European Police College for six months in July of this year.

Question reference: S2W-15400

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what it believes the impact on devolved areas of responsibility will be if Trident missiles in Scotland are (a) replaced and (b) removed.