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-10896

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 how often a child in need of a foster placement has been placed in an (a) secure unit and (b) young people’s unit as a result of a lack of available foster accommodation in each of the last five years.

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-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.

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-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-10387

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 1 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive who has planning competence over Network Rail in relation to their permitted development rights, which allow the rollout of Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM-R) masts in excess of 15 metres in the Strathclyde area.

Question reference: S2W-10766

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its civil servants have been (a) seconded from, (b) transferred from, (c) seconded to and (d) transferred to other UK departments in each year since 1999.

The number of staff who have moved between the Scottish Executive and other government departments is set out in the following table.

A move on a temporary basis to another Government organisation operating a Civil Service pension scheme is defined as a loan rather than a secondment. The figures therefore provided in reply to parts (a) and (c) of the question relate to loans to other government departments.

Number of Civil Servants who have Moved Between the Scottish Executive and other Government Departments since January 1999

Year	(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)
Outward Loans	Outward transfers	Inward Loans	Inward transfers
1999	57*	32	4	89
2000	25	25	3	45
2001	16	27	4	67
2002	19	52	5	71
2003	10	53	9	71
2004 (to Aug)	13	64	4	16

Note: *This figure includes Executive staff seconded to the Scottish Parliament when it was first established.

Question reference: S2W-10757

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 1 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions have taken place under the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 in each year since it came into force, broken down by sheriff court.

Question reference: S2O-03392

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive who has ultimate managerial responsibility for staff working for the Scottish Executive.