- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the community justice services’ budget is set aside for intensive support packages and how much has been in each year since 2007.
Answer
Community based monitoring is met from existing local authority budgets. ISPs are provided on a “demand led” basis. For financial years 2007-08 to 2011-12 inclusive the actual expenditure provided by the Scottish Government each year for intensive support packages is as follows.
| Year | Payments made (£) |
| 2007-08 | 553,079 |
| 2008-09 | 1,129,932 |
| 2009-10 | 1,210,613 |
| 2010-11 | 734,258 |
| 2011-12 | 121,443 |
As this is a demand-led funding stream, funding between years can vary considerably and expenditure incurred in 2012-13 for all intensive support packages whose costs cannot be covered by the respective Community Justice Authority will require to be met from within the overall criminal justice social work services budget. The Scottish Government have not made any payments for intensive support packages to date in this financial year.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been given to the Scottish Court Service regarding the use of enforcement measures to recover unpaid fines and arrears and how long to wait before imposing them.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not given the Scottish Court Service any guidance on this, as it is an operational matter.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been given to (a) police forces and (b) the Scottish Court Service regarding the use of fines as an alternative punishment to community service orders or custodial sentences.
Answer
Decisions of the courts on the use of fines are a matter for judges and are made independently of Government, within the framework set by legislation.
Police fixed penalty notices are alternatives to prosecution and are not alternative punishments to community service orders or custodial sentences. The range of offences for which police fixed penalty notices may be used are set out in legislation and guidance on the circumstances in which they should be used is determined by the Lord Advocate’s Guidelines.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a correlation between the value of an unpaid fine or arrears and the length of a supervised attendance order imposed on offenders unable to pay and, if so, what ratio is used.
Answer
Judicial decisions on sentencing take account of many factors, in light of the case presented and sanctions available. The value of the outstanding fine is likely to be one such factor in determining the length of a supervised attendance order, but the Scottish Government does not hold data that would allow the level of correlation to be determined.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07699 by Kenny MacAskill on 18 June 2012 and the letter from the Justice Directorate to Neil Powrie of the Association of Visiting Committees dated 8 June 2012, what its final position is on whether the proposed prison monitoring service will be able to deal with individual prisoner complaints.
Answer
The functions of the prison monitors will be detailed in the section 14 order under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. The draft order will be laid in September.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive what duties other than monitoring people working in the proposed prison monitoring service will be assigned.
Answer
The duties of the senior monitors will be detailed in the section 14 order under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) civilian staff and (b) police officers were employed by each police force to carry out checks on Disclosure Scotland applications in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008, (iii) 2009 and (iv) 2010.
Answer
Disclosure Scotland has held information about civilian staff and constables employed in relevant police forces in Scotland to carry out checks on Disclosure Scotland applications only since the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme went live on 28 February 2011.
Disclosure Scotland has not at any time held information about staff employed in relevant police forces outwith Scotland.
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-07308 on 28 May 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money the Scottish Court Service has recovered through the use of (a) seizure of vehicle orders, (b) arrestment of funds orders, (c) deduction from benefits orders and (d) earnings arrestment orders from unpaid and in arrears Justice of the Peace court fines in each year since 2007.
Answer
This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money the Scottish Court Service has recovered through the use of (a) seizure of vehicle orders, (b) arrestment of funds orders, (c) deduction from benefits orders and (d) earnings arrestment orders from unpaid and in arrears fiscal penalties each year since 2007.
Answer
This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions the Scottish Court Service has used (a) a seizure of vehicle order, (b) an arrestment of funds order, (c) a deduction from benefits order and (d) an earnings arrestment order to recover unpaid fines and arrears from fiscal penalties in each year since 2007.
Answer
This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.