Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-38623

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what bonuses have been paid to Scottish Prison Service staff in each of the last five years, broken down by grade, and for what purpose.

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

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has paid two types of bonus to its staff over the last five years:

1. Performance Bonus: paid to staff who achieve the highest performance rating under the SPS Personal Performance Management System (PPMS).

2. Special Bonus Payments: Paid to staff in recognition of a particular piece of outstanding endeavour. The annual budget for which was £100,000

It should be noted that both schemes have been suspended and no bonuses will be paid under either scheme in 2011.

A breakdown by grade of the number of recipients and the total spent is as follows.

Performance Bonus Payments October 2006 to September 2007

Pay Band	Number of Recipients (CEE)	CEE Bonus Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	13	7,877
C	75	68,222
D	190	222,749
E	114	154,225
F	32	57,012
G	20	38,674
H	8	18,251
I	11	27,735
Practitioner Nurse	11	12,990
Clinical Manager	4	5,456
Health Centre Manager	4	7,095
Totals	482	620,286
Staff Costs (2005-06)		127,019,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.5%

Special Bonus Payments 2006

Pay Band	Number of Recipients	Special Bonuses Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	24	4,865
C	65	11,115
D	164	23,375
E	61	10,240
F	7	1,505
G	10	2,505
H	4	1,055
I	2	500
Practitioner Nurse	4	680
Clinical Manager	2	330
Health Centre Manager	0	0
Totals	343	56,170
Staff Costs (2005-06)		127,019,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.04%

Performance Bonus Payments October 2007 to September 2008

Pay Band	Number of Recipients (CEE)	CEE Bonus Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	23	15,749
C	83	76,124
D	198	244,291
E	111	159,874
F	32	54,556
G	28	52,891
H	8	18,888
I	13	33,408
Practitioner Nurse	10	11,679
Clinical Manager	4	5,935
Health Centre Manager	4	7,256
Totals	514	680,651
Staff Costs (2006-07)		131,984,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.5%

Special Bonus Payments 2007

Pay Band	Number of Recipients	Special Bonuses Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	44	7,825
C	91	13,425
D	234	37,090
E	82	16,825
F	38	8,550
G	24	7,175
H	4	925
I	2	700
Practitioner Nurse	7	1,200
Clinical Manager	2	400
Health Centre Manager	0	0
Totals	528	94,115
Staff Costs (2006-07)		131,984,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.07%

Performance Bonus Payments October 2008 to September 2009

Pay Band	Number of Recipients (CEE)	CEE Bonus Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	14	9,948
C	75	73,576
D	210	261,737
E	81	121,643
F	33	56,466
G	17	32,686
H	7	16,360
I	6	17,349
Practitioner Nurse	11	12,912
Clinical Manager	2	3,178
Health Centre Manager	0	0
Totals	456	605,855
Staff Costs (2007-08)		132,329,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.5%

Special Bonus Payments 2008

Pay Band	Number of Recipients	Special Bonuses Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	27	4,700
C	81	15,705
D	229	44,704
E	65	16,280
F	24	7,085
G	5	1,000
H	1	500
I	2	900
Practitioner Nurse	11	2,050
Clinical Manager	5	1,150
Health Centre Manager	1	300
Totals	451	94,374
Staff Costs (2007-08)		132,329,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.07%

Performance Bonus Payments October 2009 to September 2010

Pay Band	Number of Recipients (CEE)	CEE Bonus Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	18	11,725
C	87	78,227
D	203	265,109
E	92	145,754
F	32	53,973
G	23	46,640
H	9	22,714
I	7	18,860
Practitioner Nurse	10	12,936
Clinical Manager	3	4,899
Health Centre Manager	2	4,008
Totals	486	664,845
Staff Costs (2008-09)		135,936,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.5%

Special Bonus Payments 2009

Pay Band	Number of Recipients	Special Bonuses Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	28	5,872
C	106	19,090
D	233	43,509
E	58	11,955
F	25	7,300
G	6	2,583
H	1	500
I	0	0
Practitioner Nurse	24	3,350
Clinical Manager	3	450
Health Centre Manager	1	250
Totals	485	94,860
Staff Costs (2008-09)		135,936,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.07%

Performance Bonus Payments October 2010 to December 2010

Pay Band	Number of Recipients (CEE)	CEE Bonus Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	14	8,748
C	71	74,200
D	214	295,092
E	75	123,979
F	24	43,795
G	23	53,319
H	9	25,260
I	6	19,165
Practitioner Nurse	5	6,930
Clinical Manager	5	8,360
Health Centre Manager	3	6,156
Totals	449	665,004
Staff Costs (2009-10)		137,343,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.5%

Special Bonus Payments 2010

Pay Band	Number of Recipients	Special Bonuses Payments (£)
A	0	0
B	22	5,111
C	65	12,831
D	109	23,823
E	20	5,350
F	13	2,680
G	1	300
H	0	0
I	0	0
Practitioner Nurse	1	200
Clinical Manager	1	150
Health Centre Manager	0	0
Totals	232	50,446
Staff Costs (2009-10)		137,343,000
Bonus Cost as % of Total Staff Costs		0.04%

Note: Total staff costs taken from the SPS Annual Report and Accounts.

Question reference: S3W-38622

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional prison place funding has been paid to each prison in each of the last five years and for what purpose.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

The additional prisoner place funding paid to each public sector establishment over the last five years is as follows:

2010-11 Until December 10
Aberdeen	£8,500
Barlinnie	£696,110
Cornton Vale	£290
Dumfries	£5,900
Edinburgh	£67,560
Greenock	£46,630
Inverness	£24,690
Perth	£19,405
Total Net Funding for 2010-11	£253,875

2009-10
Aberdeen	£30,630
Barlinnie	£1,535,610
Cornton Vale	£5,480
Edinburgh	£45,080
Greenock	£45,500
Inverness	£51,630
Polmont	£95,450
Shotts	£3,690
Total Net Funding for 2009-10	£994,710

2008-09
Aberdeen	£35,580
Barlinnie	£1,751,930
Cornton Vale	£115,450
Dumfries	£34,060
Edinburgh	£197,750
Glenochil	£214,810
Greenock	£218,100
Inverness	£75,560
Perth	£139,750
Polmont	£220,690
Shotts	£7,740
Total Net Funding for 2008-09	£2,550,890

2007-08
Aberdeen	£23,520
Barlinnie	£799,960
Cornton Vale	£120,010
Dumfries	£20,450
Edinburgh	£135,930
Greenock	£44,230
Polmont	£149,130
Total Net Funding for 2007-08	£819,630

2006-07
Barlinnie	£1,088,040
Cornton Vale	£60,550
Edinburgh	£97,460
Greenock	£14,870
Perth	£19,080
Polmont	£123,490
Total Net Funding for 2006-07	£1,204,980

The purpose of this funding is to compensate prisons for the expenditure associated with holding prisoners in addition to the number they are resourced to hold.

Private sector prisons are contracted to provide a baseline number of available prisoner places. Additional places can be purchased in tranches up to a maximum level and the contractual payment mechanism defines how each tranche is priced. Contracts are published on the SPS website.

The net funding position for each financial year includes reductions in funding for those establishments that have been holding less prisoners than the number that they are resourced to hold.

Question reference: S3W-38888

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions each prison breached its assessed operational limit in 2010.

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

The assessed operational limit (AOL) was last reported in the answer to question S3W-32621 on 15 April 2010. However it has not been actively used for some time.

The AOL was introduced in 2008 to assist in managing the consequential risks associated with the pressure on the prison system. It was used to establish the numerical level at which prison management assessed they could safety operate the establishment in the short term.

The AOL is a dynamic risk assessment of the number of prisoners beyond which Governors assess there to be unacceptable risks taking into account the health and safety of both prisoners and staff, the need to deliver an acceptable regime, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and other minimum requirements

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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-38514

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are being prescribed methadone, broken down by NHS board.

There is currently no national routine information which reports the number of people in Scotland who are being prescribed methadone, broken down by NHS board. This data has never been available.

Work is underway to collect this information via the Scottish Drugs Misuse Database (SDMD). The SDMD offers a profile of people with drug problems, based on reports submitted on individuals when they first attend a service for assessment of their drug misuse problems.

The development of a follow-up reporting system for the SDMD, which is currently being rolled-out across Scotland, will allow patients to be tracked through the treatment system and will give us more information on the numbers of people engaging with treatment provision at any given time, what interventions have been delivered and treatment outcomes. This will include information on the numbers of people receiving specialist prescribing interventions related to the treatment of their drug use. Data will be collected from individuals at a three month follow-up session and subsequently annually thereafter.

Information Services Division Scotland anticipates that follow-up data for 2011-12 (the first full years worth of data) will be reported from December 2012, but plans to release interim reports in 2011.

Information on the number of prescriptions for methadone oral solution is currently reported by NHS Information Services Division Scotland. In 2009-10 there were 510,063 prescriptions for methadone oral solution, around 98 prescriptions per 1,000 population. In addition, prescribing rates of methadone oral solution remained stable at 96 methadone prescriptions per 1,000 population in the three years between 2006-07 to 2008-09, with a slight increase to 98 prescriptions per 1,000 population in 2009-10. Overall, methadone oral solution prescribing rates have risen by 9% over the last five years, from 90 per 1,000 population in 2005-06 to 98 prescriptions per 1,000 population in 2009-10.

(Source: Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland 2010 published online by NHS Information Services Division Scotland in December 2010)

It should be noted that individuals may have more than one prescription and therefore the number of prescriptions does not equate to the number of individuals.

Question reference: S3W-38523

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37905 by Kenny MacAskill on 7 December 2010, how many daily work places are available in prison work parties, broken down by establishment.

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

There are a range of activities and work opportunities offered to prisoners in jail which are defined as purposeful activities. The number of places currently available are recorded in the following table.

Prisoner Purposeful Activity Places by Establishment

Establishment	Number of Purposeful Activity Places Available
HMP Aberdeen	184
HMP Barlinnie	448
HMP Cornton Vale	150
HMP Dumfries	123
HMP Edinburgh	556
HMP Glenochil	446
HMP Greenock	148 (41 Female) (107 Male)
HMP Inverness	79
Open Estate : HMP Castle Huntly	285
Open Estate: HMP Noranside	140
HMP Perth	571
HMP Peterhead	150
HMYOI Polmont	443
HMP Shotts	351

mso-

Question reference: S3W-38522

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37905 by Kenny MacAskill on 7 December 2010, whether it can estimate what proportion of prisoners are employed in work parties at any one time.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

There are a range of activities and work opportunities offered to prisoners in jail which are defined as purposeful activities. The number of places currently available are recorded in the following attached.

Prisoner Purposeful Activity Places by Establishment

Establishment	Number of Purposeful Activity Places Available	% of Eligible Prisoners¹ Working
HMP Aberdeen	184	75%²
HMP Barlinnie	448	57%
HMP Cornton Vale	150	60%
HMP Dumfries	123	68%
HMP Edinburgh	556	63%
HMP Glenochil	446	61%
HMP Greenock	148 (41 Female) (107 Male)	79% Female 71% Male

Notes:

1. Eligible Prisoners “ all convicted prisoners who are fit to participate in work or in an approved form of purposeful activity. The % shown excludes those who refuse to attend or takes into account the % of the total in the circumstances for whom an approved activity is not available.

2. The figure shown is expressed as a % of the total population as activity is offered to a number of untried prisoners.

Establishment	Number of Purposeful Activity Places Available	% of Eligible Prisoners³ Working
HMP Inverness	79	75%
Open Estate: HMP Castle Huntly	285	97%
Open Estate: HMP Noranside	140	97%
HMP Perth	571	60%
HMP Peterhead	150	90+%
HMYOI Polmont	443	60%
HMP Shotts	351	55%

Note: 3. Eligible Prisoners “ all convicted prisoners who are fit to participate in work or in an approved form of purposeful activity. The % shown excludes those who refuse to attend or takes into account the % of the total in the circumstances for whom an approved activity is not available.

It is estimated that overall within the SPS about 65% of eligible prisoners take part in work and purposeful activity each day, Monday to Friday.

Question reference: S3W-38620

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service owns or rents HMP (a) Noranside and (b) Castle Huntly.

Question reference: S3W-38626

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that methods of road surfacing are sufficiently robust to ensure that urban streets are safe and usable by motor vehicles and pedestrians and whether it is conducting research into the issue.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places a statutory responsibility for the repair, maintenance and improvement of local roads on local authorities. Local authorities have been allocated an increased share of public spending but it is for them to choose how to spend it based on their own priorities. Neither the Scottish Ministers nor the Scottish Government can instruct the local authorities in such matters.

Question reference: S3W-38627

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the (a) extra cost of gritting and (b) cost of repair to roads, streets and pavements to ensure a safe standard due to the recent severe weather conditions.

The Scottish Government will make an extra £15 million available to local authorities to deal with urgent repairs on local roads and cover the extra costs of winter roads maintenance. Transport Scotland, which is responsible for trunk roads and motorways in Scotland, will also be provided with an additional £12 million to cover the cost of repairs on the trunk road network and to procure the strategic salt stock.

Question reference: S3W-38624

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to follow the example of other countries that collect and recycle road grit.

Chamber and committees