- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) licence holders and (b) employees were issued fines for supplying alcoholic liquor to a drunken person in licensed premises under section 76 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 in (i) 2008 and (ii) 2009.
Answer
Information for 2008-09 will be available on 9 March 2010 (when the 2008-09 Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts Statistical Bulletin will be published). I will write to the member with the answer as soon as possible after that date. The answer will also be placed with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50319)
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) young and (b) adult offenders convicted in the last year for which information is available had (i) no, (ii) one to four, (iii) five to 10 and (iv) over 10 previous convictions.
Answer
Information for 2008-09 will be available on 9 March 2010 (when the 2008-09 Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts Statistical Bulletin will be published). I will write to the member with the answer as soon as possible after that date. The answer will also be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50321).
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for selling alcohol to a drunk person under section 113 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 since it came into force and what the level of fine was in each case.
Answer
Section 113 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 came into force on 1 September 2009, following the transition period from the 1976 Act regime to the 2005 Act regime. Although the latest Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts Statistical Bulletin (and associated data) will be available on 9 March 2010, it will only include data to April 2009. The 2009-10 criminal proceedings data is not likely to be available until late 2010 or early 2011.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 2 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether police or Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service procedures are in place to encourage best practice in the handling of stalking and harassment cases and, if so, whether it will publish the relevant procedures.
Answer
The Police and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service take cases of stalking and harassment very seriously. There are no specific offences of stalking or harassment in Scots law but such cases can be prosecuted as breach of the peace or threats and can be prosecuted in the High Court of Justiciary depending on the seriousness of the offence.
Where a person is convicted of an offence involving harassment of the victim, the prosecutor may apply to the court to make an non-harassment order against the offender, requiring the offender to refrain from such conduct as the court prescribes. Breach of a non-harassment order is a criminal offence.
Guidance to Prosecutors is contained in Chapter 22 of the Book of Regulations, which is available on our website at www.copfs.gov.uk. In addition, Lord Advocate''s Guidelines to Chief Constables on Stalking were issued in 1999 by the then Lord Advocate, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) recently revised their Joint Protocol In Partnership: Tackling Domestic Abuse which targets abusive behaviour between partners and ex-partners, some of which may constitute stalking and harassment. The Protocol is also available on the COPFS website.
The Scottish Government has lodged an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill setting out a new charge which deals comprehensively with behaviour which would amount to stalking or harassment. If passed, all relevant guidelines will be reviewed and where necessary updated to take account of these changes.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 1 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the paper on the analysis of capital projects issued by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 2 February 2010, what the implications are of the reduction of £3 million in the 2010-11 capital budget allocated to the Glasgow School of Art rebuilding project.
Answer
The Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council has advised that there is no cut in the overall project budget for the Glasgow School of Art and the project is being delivered as planned. As the complete business case is still being finalised to ensure it is completely robust, the project will not require as much spending in the next financial year as originally planned. This is the reason for the change in the planned budget for 2010-11.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 1 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued against landlords under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Information on antisocial behaviour notices served by local authorities is not held centrally. Provision of such information requires local authorities to gather and maintain data. Subsequent submission of this information to the Scottish government for national collation would incur additional costs to the tax payer.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 1 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what information is available to help local authorities check whether individuals are acting as landlords and require to be registered under the terms of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
Each local authority has their own procedure for identifying unregistered landlords. This will include liaison with housing and planning departments. The range of information utilised includes new applications for housing benefit or council tax. Councils may also engage with letting agents and local newspapers encouraging them to only accept business from landlords who can demonstrate they are registered.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce or other business organisations on its decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
Answer
I met with members of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce on 25 November 2009 and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth is due to meet with them on 3 March 2010. Whilst we appreciate the Chamber''s views on the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, the overall affordability position on the Scottish Budget meant we had reluctantly to cancel the project. It should be remembered that significant investment in the Glasgow to Paisley rail corridor continues under the Paisley Corridor Improvements project.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of (a) stalking and (b) harassment have been reported to the police and how many resulted in (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction in each of the last three years.
Answer
There are no offences of stalking and harassment in Scots Law. Any such provable conduct reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service would be prosecuted as a breach of the peace. As a result it is not possible to say how may convictions there have been for conduct which could be considered stalking or harassment.
The figures provided in the following table relate to breaches of non-harassment orders, however it should be noted that such orders can be breached by conduct which of itself does not relate to amount to stalking or harassment.
The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Also a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year.
Police Recorded Crime for Breach of Non-Harassment Order Offences, 2006-07 to 2008-09
| Offence | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| Breach of non-harassment order (criminal court)2 | 36 | 34 | 24 |
| Breach of non-harassment order (civil court)3 | 70 | 45 | 32 |
| Total | 106 | 79 | 56 |
Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Breach of Non-Harassment Order Offences1, 2005-06 to 2007-08
| Offence | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Breach of non-harassment order (criminal court)2 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| Breach of non-harassment order (civil court)3 | 7 | 12 | 11 |
| Total | 20 | 23 | 23 |
Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Breach of Non-Harassment Order Offences1, 2005-06 to 2007-08
| Offence | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Breach of non harassment order (criminal court)2 | 13 | 10 | 9 |
| Breach of non harassment order (civil court)3 | 5 | 12 | 11 |
| Total | 18 | 22 | 20 |
Notes:
1. Where main offence.
2. Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
3. Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 11 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the number of foster parents.
Answer
The Scottish Government values the role played by foster carers to improve the life chances for children and young people in the care system. It is for local authorities to consider whether there are sufficient foster carers in their area.
The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities by working closely with, and funding activities through, The Fostering Network which support the recruitment and retention of foster carers.
In particular we have, since October 2008, been funding a project which aims to build on the good practice already in place between fostering services. The project''s current phase of work is intended to develop joint working and sharing of resources between authorities, particularly in relation to the recruitment, assessment, training and support for foster carers.
