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-10872

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners who have been placed on the sex offenders’ register and released on licence have reoffended within (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years of release in each year since 1999.

The information requested cannot be provided from the information held centrally.

The available data on the number of persons released on licence from a determinate custodial sentence who were recalled to prison because they faced charges of a sexual nature is given in the following table.

Number of Persons Recalled to Custody and not Subsequently Released Where Facing Charges of a Sexual Nature

Year	Non-Parole Licensees	Parole Licensees	Total
1999	4	1	5
2000	2	0	2
2001	1	0	1
2002	2	0	2
2003	2	0	2

Source: Parole Board Annual Reports.

Further information on reoffending by convicted sex offenders is contained in a published Scottish Prison Service research monograph, Sexual offending in Scottish Prisons: some preliminary data on risk and recidivism a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33996).

Question reference: S2W-10868

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders who have been on the sex offenders’ register but have not been sentenced to a period of imprisonment have reoffended within a period of (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years in each year since 1999.

Offenders on a sex offenders register cannot be separately identified in the convictions data held on the Scottish Executive Justice Department court proceedings statistical database. Police Force Record Offices operate a variety of recording systems for monitoring and maintaining information on registered sex offenders locally but data from these operational systems cannot be readily extracted for statistical purposes.

Question reference: S2W-10865

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to restrict the sale and promotion of knives.

We are deeply concernedabout the knife culture and its contribution to violent crime.

There are already extensiveprovisions under the existing law which restrict the sale and promotion ofknives.

The Criminal Justice Act1988 makes it an offence to sell to anyone under 16 any knife, blade, razorblade, axe, or any other bladed or sharply pointed article made or adapted forcausing personal injury. That act also makes it an offence to import,manufacture, sell or hire a specified offensive weapon or expose or possesssuch a weapon for the purposes of sale or hire. The weapons which have beenspecified as offensive weapons include various types of knife such as butterflyknives and push daggers. The Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 makes itan offence to manufacture, sell or hire a flick knife or a gravity knife.

In addition, the Knives Act1997 makes it an offence to market a knife in a way which indicates that it issuitable for combat or in a way which is likely to encourage violent behaviourinvolving the use of the knife as a weapon.

As promised in ourPartnership Agreement, we are reviewing the enforcement of these measures.

Question reference: S2W-10886

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the mandatory direction of accused persons to the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office will be reduced or abolished; if so, when and to what extent and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-10867

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under 16 have been prosecuted in (a) sheriff courts and (b) the high court in each year since 1999, broken down into (i) solemn and (ii) summary proceedings.

The available information is given in the following table:

Persons Aged Under 16 Proceeded Against in Sheriff Courts and the High Court, 1999-2002

Court type	1999	2000	2001	2002
High Court¹	9	19	8	11
Sheriff Solemn	17	16	27	27
Sheriff Summary	74	50	64	98
Total	100	85	99	136

Note: 1. Figure for 2002 may be an underestimate due to time taken to record details of some court proceedings in SCRO system.

Question reference: S2W-10862

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to increase the number of, and remuneration for, safeguarders.

Question reference: S2W-10870

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children from each local authority have been placed in the young people’s unit as a result of the non-availability of foster accommodation in each month in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-10863

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many spaces for children in secure units (a) have been available in each year since 1999 and (b) are estimated to be available in each year to 2007.

The table shows the number of spaces for children in secure units since 1999.

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Places	86	97	94	96	96	96	96

When complete by 2007 the secure estate will consist of:

Eighteen mixed at St Philip’s by end of 2005.

Twelve girls only at Good Shepherd, by end of 2006.

Eighteen boys only Kibble, by end of 2006.

Twelve mixed at Kerelaw, by end of 2007.

Eighteen mixed at Rossie, by end of 2007.

Thirty-one Mixed in St Mary’s, existing unit.

Twelve mixed in Edinburgh, existing unit.

Four mixed in The Elms, existing unit.

The work will be phased to ensure that there is no drop in availability below the current provision of 96 places.

Question reference: S2W-10891

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what data are held in respect of supervision orders; how the success of such orders is monitored, and how an order is followed up and acted upon.

Data on supervision requirements is held by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. More detail on the types of Supervision and outcomes for looked after children is given in the Children’s Social Work Statistics 2002-03 (ISSN 1479-7569) which was published by the Scottish Executive in October 2003.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to give effect to decisions made by Children’s Hearings. The success of measures contained in supervision requirements is reviewed at Children’s Hearings. In its role of ensuring the best possible value for money is achieved by councils, Audit Scotland looked at this area in 2002 and in 2003 conducted a follow up report Dealing with Offending by Young People; Audit Scotland also collect and publish information relating to statutory indicators on the performanceof authorities in implementing decisions; more detail can be found on:

http://www.accounts-commission.gov.uk/publications.

Question reference: S2W-10869

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring of the STOP programme is being carried out and by whom; when its results will be published, and to whom they will be made available.

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

An evaluation of the STOP programme, which was accredited by a Panel of independent experts in September 2001, is currently being undertaken by Analytical Services of the Scottish Prison Service. The results will be available in 2005 and will be published as part of the SPS Occasional Paper Series, copies of which are lodged in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.