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-12688

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been of people who have caused road accidents that have caused the death of one or more people by careless driving while under the influence of drink and drugs in the last year for which figures are available and in each of the previous five years.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Causing Death by Careless Driving while Under the Influence of Drink or Drugs¹, 1997-2002

Year of Sentence	Number of Persons
1997	4
1998	3
1999	1
2000	2
2001	3
2002²	1

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Figure may be an underestimate due to time taken to record details of some court proceedings.

Question reference: S2W-12598

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of sex offence cases brought to court resulted in a conviction in each of the last five years.

The available information is given in the following table.

Percentage of Persons Proceeded Against for Crimes of Indecency¹ with a Charge Proved, 1998-2002

Crimes of Indecency	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002²
Rape and attempted rape	61	58	58	66	60
Indecent assault	81	80	67	71	76
Lewd and indecent behaviour	80	78	79	78	80
Other	96	94	86	81	84
Total	88	84	78	77	79

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-12597

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence in bus stations have been reported to the police in each of the last four years for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-12594

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of reported crimes were (a) injured and (b) killed by knives or other bladed weapons in each year since 1999.

The information available centrally relates to homicide victims killed by a sharp instrument. Figures for the period 1999 to 2003 are given in the following table. Information on the number of victims of reported crimes injured by knives or other bladed weapons is not held centrally.

Homicide Victims Killed by a Sharp Instrument, Scotland, 1999-2003

Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Number of victims	66	43	49	68	55

Question reference: S2W-12595

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the net expenditure on policing has been in each year since 1979, expressed in real terms at today’s prices and broken down by police force area.

The information requested is shown in the following tables.

(£ millIon)	Central	Dumfries & Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Lothian & Borders	Northern	Strathclyde	Tayside
1979-80	18	11	23	34	80	24	249	37
1980-81	19	11	24	34	85	24	251	37
1981-82	20	11	24	37	92	26	267	40
1982-83	20	12	25	38	92	27	272	43
1983-84	21	13	26	40	97	29	283	43
1984-85	22	13	29	41	103	29	290	44
1985-86	21	14	27	43	100	28	278	44
1986-87	23	14	30	45	104	30	289	47
1987-88	25	15	31	47	102	31	307	48
1988-89	26	16	32	49	106	31	302	48
1989-90	27	16	34	52	118	34	318	49
1990-91	29	18	34	56	125	35	325	51
1991-92	31	19	36	56	122	36	327	51
1992-93	32	20	39	60	131	38	337	54
1993-94	33	21	40	60	132	38	351	57
1994-95	33	21	41	62	134	40	354	57
1995-96	35	22	38	65	136	40	378	59
1996-97	34	22	44	66	141	40	392	59
1997-98	37	23	45	70	157	45	410	61
1998-99	36	23	45	72	149	44	407	63
1999-2000	38	25	45	73	150	45	410	63
2000-01	39	25	48	74	152	47	407	65
2001-02	40	26	49	78	158	49	415	68
2002-03	40	26	49	80	163	49	422	68

Note: Figures derived as police net expenditure (as published in HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s Annual Reports) deflated using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator available from HM Treasury’s website, rounded to the nearest £ million.

Question reference: S2W-12596

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what its target number is in respect of the number of police officers per head of population in (a) urban and (b) rural areas.

Question reference: S2W-12549

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what information or reports it or its agencies have regarding the relationship between poverty and imprisonment; whether such information is, or will be, published, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-12545

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance or regulations there are in respect of social workers dealing with children and families and, in particular, on the level at which decisions should be taken.

Three volumes of Regulations and Guidance on the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 were published in 1997. They cover:

Volume 1 – Support and Protection for Children and Their Families.

Volume 2 – Children Looked After by Local Authorities.

Volume 3 – Adoption and Parental Responsibilities Orders.

The statutory duties and responsibilities relevant to social workers under the act fall to local authorities as the statutory body. The majority of the regulations and guidance deal therefore with how the local authority should fulfil these duties. Operational management decisions about the levels at which decisions are taken are a matter for local authorities.

Question reference: S2W-12546

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders have been imprisoned as a result of fine defaults and how many nights were spent in prison by (a) male, (b) female, (c) youth and (d) adult fine defaulters in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-12550

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what catagories of offences have been dealt with by way of a fixed penalty or fiscal fine in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) offence and (b) sheriff court.

The available information on police conditional offers of fixed penalties for moving vehicle offences and police fixed penalty notices for stationary vehicle offences is given in the following tables. The information held by Crown Office in respect of fiscal fines records detailed charge codes, of which there are some 3,000 active codes, rather than generalised offence categories. This information cannot be readily extracted from the Crown Office database.

Police Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalties for Moving Vehicle Offences, by Type of Offence and Police Force Area, 1999-2002

Offence and Police Force Area	1999²	2000²	2001³	2002³
Speeding restricted areas
Central	n/a	3,706	4,598	3,997
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	1,470	1,489	915
Fife	n/a	4,103	3,939	8,388
Grampian	n/a	4,949	3,654	4,994
Lothian and Borders	n/a	8,780	10,864	8,854
Northern	n/a	1,459	986	1,150
Strathclyde	n/a	32,314	41,663	33,345
Tayside	n/a	2,372	3,818	2,039
Scotland	n/a	59,153	71,011	63,682
Speeding other
Central	n/a	1,102	764	1,005
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	5,663	5,080	4,494
Fife	n/a	558	549	546
Grampian	n/a	4,277	3,447	2,801
Lothian and Borders	n/a	11,479	8,039	5,800
Northern	n/a	2,217	1,087	1,071
Strathclyde	n/a	9,157	5,452	12,386
Tayside	n/a	8,355	13,468	13,012
Scotland	n/a	42,808	37,886	41,115
Traffic direction offences
Central	n/a	115	133	151
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	143	114	90
Fife	n/a	160	160	219
Grampian	n/a	555	412	510
Lothian and Borders	n/a	3,084	3,559	4,594
Northern	n/a	269	76	57
Strathclyde	n/a	7,663	9,162	10,150
Tayside	n/a	427	751	500
Scotland	n/a	12,416	14,367	16,271
Other offences¹
Central	n/a	2,820	2,655	2,912
Dumfries and Galloway	n/a	593	347	451
Fife	n/a	2,255	1,959	2,253
Grampian	n/a	2,813	2,631	2,321
Lothian and Borders	n/a	8,695	7,938	7,326
Northern	n/a	2,396	948	1,112
Strathclyde	n/a	24,321	29,309	22,234
Tayside	n/a	1,512	6,133	1,683
Scotland	n/a	45,405	51,920	40,292
All offences
Central	11,296	7,743	8,150	8,065
Dumfries and Galloway	9,131	7,869	7,030	5,950
Fife	7,297	7,076	6,607	11,406
Grampian	13,145	12,594	10,144	10,626
Lothian and Borders	28,826	32,038	30,400	26,574
Northern	6,341	6,341	3,097	3,390
Strathclyde	80,162	73,455	85,586	78,115
Tayside	12,000	12,666	24,170	17,234
Scotland	168,198	159,782	175,184	161,360

Notes:

1. Includes construction and use offences, driving licence offences and other offences.

2. Estimated data for Central and Northern.

3. Estimated data for Northern.

Police Fixed Penalties for Stationary Vehicle Offences, by Type of Offence and police force area, 1999-2002

Offence and police force area	1999²	2000²	2001²	2002²
Parking and waiting offences
Central	10,833	8,527	9,874	9,095
Dumfries and Galloway	3,410	3,050	3,069	2,408
Fife	8,371	5,237	6,253	5,373
Grampian	28,143	22,028	16,569	14,373
Lothian and Borders	20,529	26,443	26,066	19,819
Northern	9,146	7,932	6,449	5,318
Strathclyde	89,100	30,659	32,813	38,763
Tayside	20,081	18,294	15,399	12,790
Scotland	189,613	122,170	116,492	107,939
Failing to display a valid excise licence
Central	3,488	3,023	3,603	2,766
Dumfries and Galloway	2,166	2,159	1,934	2,004
Fife	6,026	6,203	6,655	5,986
Grampian	6,349	7,775	6,855	4,233
Lothian and Borders	9,239	8,353	9,415	10,018
Northern	2,094	2,094	1,704	1,405
Strathclyde	39,069	27,061	26,024	23,836
Tayside	5,754	6,763	6,168	5,767
Scotland	74,185	63,431	62,358	56,015
All offences¹
Central	14,321	11,550	13,477	11,861
Dumfries and Galloway	5,762	5,422	5,266	4,414
Fife	14,397	11,440	12,908	11,359
Grampian	34,500	29,872	23,459	18,643
Lothian and Borders	36,729	34,837	35,835	29,837
Northern	11,296	10,082	8,194	6,757
Strathclyde	153,226	57,721	58,841	62,601
Tayside	26,137	25,063	21,573	18,565
Scotland	296,368	185,987	179,553	164,037

Notes:

1. Totals include a small number of other offences.

2. Estimated data for Northern