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: S3W-32120

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of carrying a bladed or pointed instrument were recorded in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

The number of crimes of handling an offensive weapon recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, in each of the last five years, is shown in the following tables.

Crimes of Handling an Offensive Weapon, by Police Force Area, 2004-05

Police Force Area	2004-05
Police Force Area	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Central	297	0	112	409
Dumfries and Galloway	102	1	14	117
Fife	180	0	91	271
Grampian	444	0	171	615
Lothian and Borders	804	1	275	1,080
Northern	211	0	76	287
Strathclyde	3,533	0	2,874	6,407
Tayside	223	0	136	359
Scotland	5,794	2	3,749	9,545

Crimes of Handling an Offensive Weapon, by Police Force Area, 2005-06

Police Force Area	2005-06
Police Force Area	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Central	277	0	101	378
Dumfries and Galloway	127	0	10	137
Fife	197	0	76	273
Grampian	431	0	157	588
Lothian and Borders	814	0	396	1,210
Northern	226	2	102	330
Strathclyde	3,697	1	2,679	6,377
Tayside	213	0	122	335
Scotland	5,982	3	3,643	9,628

Crimes of Handling an Offensive Weapon, by Police Force Area, 2006-07

Police Force Area	2006-07
Police Force Area	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Central	309	0	190	499
Dumfries and Galloway	98	0	61	159
Fife	224	0	117	341
Grampian	410	0	195	605
Lothian and Borders	955	0	457	1,412
Northern	312	0	93	405
Strathclyde	3,677	1	2,665	6,343
Tayside	204	0	142	346
Scotland	6,189	1	3,920	10,110

Crimes of Handling an Offensive Weapon, by Police Force Area, 2007-08

Police force area	2007-08
Police force area	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Central	233	0	152	385
Dumfries and Galloway	85	0	48	133
Fife	202	2	110	314
Grampian	346	1	239	586
Lothian and Borders	779	0	407	1,186
Northern	287	0	90	377
Strathclyde	3,299	0	2,389	5,688
Tayside	167	0	153	320
Scotland	5,398	3	3,588	8,989

Crimes of Handling an Offensive Weapon, by Police Force Area, 2008-09

Police force area	2008-09
Police force area	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Central	210	1	215	426
Dumfries and Galloway	74	0	53	127
Fife	247	0	159	406
Grampian	361	0	229	590
Lothian and Borders	756	1	436	1,193
Northern	266	0	94	360
Strathclyde	2,802	6	2,660	5,468
Tayside	176	0	234	410
Scotland	4,892	8	4,080	8,980

Crimes of handling an offensive weapon include crimes of possession of an offensive weapon, restriction of offensive weapons and having in a public place an article with a blade or point.

Question reference: S3W-32122

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of people convicted of carrying a bladed or pointed instrument in the last year has (a) a previous conviction, (b) a previous conviction for the same offence and (c) more than one previous conviction for the same offence.

The available information is given in the following table.

The crime category for handling an offensive weapon includes the offences of having in a public place an article with a blade or point, possession of an offensive weapon and restriction of offensive weapons. Over the last three years overall, the type of weapon has been recorded with around two-thirds of offences. Where the type of weapon has been recorded, for the offence of having in a public place an article with a blade or point, 90 per cent of the weapons are knives, and, for the offence of possession of an offensive weapon, 22 per cent of weapons are knives. There were no main offences of restriction of offensive weapons in 2008-09.

Individuals with a Charge Proved for Offensive Weapon Offences¹, 2008-09

Offence	Individuals with a charge proved	Individuals with a charge proved for any previous offence	Individuals with one previous charge proved for the same offence	Individuals with more than one previous charge proved for the same offence
Possession of an offensive weapon	1,625	1,155	243	116
Having in a public place an object with a blade or point	1,790	1,351	277	165
Total	3,415	2,506	520	281

Offence	% Individuals with a charge proved for any previous offences	% Individuals with one previous charge proved for the same offence	% Individuals with more than one previous charge proved for the same offence
Possession of an offensive weapon	72	15	7
Having in a public place an object with a blade or point	75	15	9
Total	73	15	8

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-32124

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been admitted to hospital due to assault by a sharp object in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) sex, (b) type of admission and (c) NHS board.

The numbers of emergency and elective hospital admissions due to assault by a sharp object, broken down by gender and NHS board of treatment, discharged during financial years ending 31 March 2000 to 2009 are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50445).

Additional data and commentary on assault by a sharp object is published as part of ISD''s Unintentional Injuries publication http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5327.html.

Question reference: S3W-31835

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the age is of the oldest Scot who has a DNA sample and profile retained on the Scottish DNA Database.

Question reference: S3W-31837

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA (a) samples and (b) profiles were retained in the Scottish DNA Database at the end of each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S3W-31841

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA samples and profiles, relating to old or minor convictions, have been weeded and destroyed in each of the last five years as part of ongoing weeding practices.

Question reference: S3W-31836

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the population has its DNA samples and profiles retained in the Scottish DNA Database.

Question reference: S3W-31845

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scots currently have their fingerprint data held on the UK National Fingerprint Database.

Question reference: S3W-31847

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish fingerprint data samples were added to the UK National Fingerprint Database in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S3W-31846

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scots aged under 18 currently have their fingerprint data held on the UK National Fingerprint Database.