Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-27466

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were (a) prosecuted, (b) convicted and (c) given a custodial sentence in cases involving domestic abuse in each of the last 10 years, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons proceeded against for an offence with a domestic aggravator recorded¹, 2005-06 to 2007-08:

Police Force	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central
Proceeded against	8	119	277
Convicted	8	104	247
Custodial sentence	2	9	19
Dumfries and Galloway
Proceeded against	185	210	219
Convicted	161	192	195
Custodial sentence	17	16	22
Fife
Proceeded against	21	23	45
Convicted	19	21	36
Custodial sentence	0	2	5
Grampian
Proceeded against	47	210	247
Convicted	39	192	221
Custodial sentence	4	15	12
Lothian and Borders
Proceeded against	598	747	693
Convicted	553	666	635
Custodial sentence	46	63	64
Northern
Proceeded against	117	234	260
Convicted	109	225	247
Custodial sentence	6	18	26
Strathclyde
Proceeded against	3,664	3,998	3,647
Convicted	3,117	3,509	3,176
Custodial sentence	351	373	396
Tayside
Proceeded against	319	322	305
Convicted	291	282	272
Custodial sentence	32	25	35
Scotland
Proceeded against	4,959	5,863	5,693
Convicted	4,297	5,191	5,029
Custodial sentence	458	521	579

Note: 1. The recording of aggravators has improved with time therefore caution is needed when comparing changes over time. 2005-06 is the first year where it has been considered that the use and recording of domestic abuse aggravator codes from the Scottish Government Court Proceedings Database has been of sufficient coverage to be used.

Question reference: S3W-27465

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of domestic abuse against (a) women and (b) men have been recorded by the police in each of the last 10 years, broken down by police force.

The following table shows the information available on the number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by police force area, where sex of victim was recorded, Scotland, 1999-2000 to 2007-08. Approximately half of all incidents recorded lead to a crime or offence being recorded by the police.

Police Force	1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02
	All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Central	1,300	121	1,407	129	1,781	149
Dumfries and Galloway	653	47	626	72	876	113
Fife	2,569	180	2,013	87	1,868	60
Grampian	3,660	343	3,848	363	3,607	327
Lothian and Borders	6,390	384	6,598	341	6,196	484
Northern	495	53	1,584	237	1,560	197
Strathclyde	13,135	1,244	13,228	1,268	13,572	1,564
Tayside	2,311	152	2,935	376	2,540	316
Scotland	30,513	2,524	32,239	2,873	32,000	3,210

Police Force	2002-03		2003-04		2004-05
	All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Central	1,471	149	1,651	162	1,863	181
Dumfries and Galloway	802	98	751	108	931	124
Fife	1,851	69	2,020	100	2,523	205
Grampian	3,693	435	3,756	513	3,810	563
Lothian and Borders	6,516	648	6,862	714	6,974	861
Northern	1,444	136	1,453	162	1,358	167
Strathclyde	13,533	1,630	16,096	2,000	17,642	2,390
Tayside	2,967	385	3,549	281	3,049	466
Scotland	32,277	3,550	36,138	4,040	38,150	4,957

Police Force	2005-06		2006-07		2007-08
	All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded		All Incidents Where Sex Recorded
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Central	1,787	177	2,249	203	2,887	384
Dumfries and Galloway	1,015	176	1,057	180	1,057	147
Fife	2,980	259	3,325	364	3,460	460
Grampian	3,106	454	2,760	377	2,979	427
Lothian and Borders	7,708	916	8,614	1,002	7,788	1,178
Northern	1,383	171	1,086	138	1,014	123
Strathclyde	18,615	2,760	20,091	3,215	20,185	3,497
Tayside	3,246	534	3,182	525	3,132	537
Scotland	39,840	5,447	42,364	6,004	42,502	6,753

Data for 2008-09 will be available in the statistical bulletin Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2008-09 which is due to be published on 24 November 2009.

Question reference: S3W-27467

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities offer (a) residential places and (b) non-residential community-based services, broken down by NHS board.

Information on the number of drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities is not held centrally. However, information from the National Directory of Drug Services, maintained by the Scottish Drugs Forum, showed that 27 facilities currently offer residential places for rehabilitation. Non-residential community-based services include a range of interventions that have the purpose of tackling the wider social and psychological problems experienced by clients (such as housing, employment/training/education, relationship/family problems, debt and benefits). Information obtained from SDF''s National Directory of Drug Services showed that 215 providers offered non-residential community-based services.

The SDF Directory is available online at:

http://www.scottishdrugservices.com/sdd/homepage.htm.

The Scottish Alcohol Needs Assessment report (published by the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams) mapped the number of publicly-funded alcohol treatment provision falling within Tiers 2, 3 and 4 modalities of care as defined by Models of Care for Alcohol Misusers (The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2006). It identified 97 services in Scotland in 2006-07 as providing specialist alcohol interventions of which 10 were residential agencies and the remainder (87) were community-based. The majority (59.4%) provided services for both drug and alcohol misusers and 37.5% provided exclusively alcohol services. The report did not provide a breakdown or services by individual health boards (just groups of health boards) or the number of places available.

Question reference: S3W-27471

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities have the potential to be used further to help meet the current high demand for treatment services.

Question reference: S3W-27470

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities are used to their full capacity.

The provision of services is for each local area to consider, taking account of local needs, circumstances and resources. It is for individual NHS boards, local authorities and alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) to ensure that appropriate health care services are provided to meet the needs of their resident populations.

Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of each patient. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual.

It is important that there are a range of services available when people need them. That''s why the Scottish Government is investing record funding and introducing an NHS target to improve access to treatment across Scotland.

Question reference: S3O-07947

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation places are available and what action it is taking to support their use to full capacity.

Information from the National Directory of Drug Services, maintained by the Scottish Drugs Forum, showed that there is currently a total of 451 beds across 28 residential services in Scotland.

The number of beds does not equate to the number of places which depends on occupancy rates and length of programme.

It is important that there are a range of services available when people need them. That''s why the Scottish Government is investing record funding and introducing an NHS target to improve access to treatment across Scotland.

The provision of services is for each local area to consider, taking account of local needs, circumstances and resources. It is for individual NHS boards, local authorities and alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) to ensure that appropriate health care services are provided to meet the needs of their resident populations.

Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of each patient. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual.

Question reference: S3W-27123

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 24 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been convicted of possession of illegal drugs, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) type of drug.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Proved for Possession of Drugs¹ by Police Force and Drug Type, 1999-2000 to 2007-08

Police Force/Drug Type	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central
Drug type unknown	180	173	261	218	164	169	160	194	172
Cannabis	0	0	4	27	107	94	71	54	48
Heroin	0	0	4	23	28	40	40	37	37
Cocaine	0	0	0	4	9	13	7	39	11
Amphetamines	0	0	1	4	4	10	7	10	7
Ecstasy	0	0	1	6	17	16	18	22	33
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	5
Other Class B	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	1	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	2	3	6	7	11	7
Central total	180	173	272	285	334	348	312	374	320
Dumfries and Galloway
Drug type unknown	99	75	62	47	37	28	48	64	66
Cannabis	0	0	3	11	22	45	36	17	31
Heroin	0	0	7	23	27	17	27	45	19
Cocaine	0	0	0	2	4	0	3	9	9
Amphetamines	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	3	4
Ecstasy	0	0	0	3	4	18	9	4	11
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	3	2
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1
Dumfries and Galloway	99	75	72	86	95	114	129	148	143
Fife
Drug type unknown	164	95	92	61	28	32	23	40	51
Cannabis	0	0	1	29	20	24	32	33	29
Heroin	0	0	2	12	25	43	41	47	41
Cocaine	0	0	0	1	2	3	5	5	11
Amphetamines	0	0	1	4	8	10	11	8	10
Ecstasy	0	0	2	10	10	12	13	8	9
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	2	1	2	0	0
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	2
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
Fife total	164	95	98	117	97	125	127	149	154
Grampian
Drug type unknown	447	352	467	245	306	234	197	191	199
Cannabis	0	0	14	59	69	51	44	49	24
Heroin	0	0	16	74	125	122	168	201	171
Cocaine	0	0	4	20	26	27	45	74	93
Amphetamines	0	0	0	6	11	8	13	16	4
Ecstasy	0	0	5	30	35	24	19	18	26
Other Class A	0	0	3	1	6	4	5	2	5
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	2	3	4	8	6	4
Grampian total	447	352	509	438	581	476	499	559	526
Lothian and Borders
Drug type unknown	593	537	502	336	299	281	462	518	453
Cannabis	0	0	8	28	38	102	71	77	60
Heroin	0	0	2	18	52	118	92	124	115
Cocaine	0	0	0	6	9	29	35	45	62
Amphetamines	0	0	2	3	5	14	14	17	7
Ecstasy	0	0	1	5	27	46	39	40	56
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	1	4	1	2	1
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	0	5	2	4	10
Lothian and Borders total	593	537	515	396	431	599	716	828	765
Northern
Drug type unknown	260	220	269	184	167	125	155	180	212
Cannabis	0	0	11	54	107	111	67	82	68
Heroin	0	0	2	16	12	16	28	49	48
Cocaine	0	0	0	2	9	10	9	43	78
Amphetamines	0	0	5	8	12	13	18	23	15
Ecstasy	0	0	7	33	38	29	41	73	99
Other Class A	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	4	14
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	2
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	3	3	2	3	6
Northern	260	220	294	300	352	311	324	458	542
Strathclyde
Drug type unknown	2,524	2,152	2,331	1,553	1,370	1,121	1,100	1,203	1,396
Cannabis	0	0	19	501	786	901	867	953	699
Heroin	0	0	10	293	546	643	590	690	609
Cocaine	0	0	1	39	109	169	176	486	242
Amphetamines	0	0	3	54	93	91	87	145	57
Ecstasy	0	0	2	117	245	295	309	243	317
Other Class A	0	0	0	8	17	21	30	33	28
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	4	4	7	2	3
Other Class C	0	0	0	17	92	132	108	149	106
Strathclyde total	2,524	2,152	2,366	2,583	3,262	3,377	3,274	3,904	3,457
Tayside
Drug type unknown	369	342	385	249	346	243	213	284	238
Cannabis	0	0	9	39	41	37	33	44	22
Heroin	0	0	4	20	21	43	50	115	108
Cocaine	0	0	1	12	21	13	28	56	25
Amphetamines	0	0	0	7	7	3	6	13	6
Ecstasy	0	0	14	33	26	37	21	58	20
Other Class A	0	0	0	2	4	5	5	9	0
Other Class B	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	3	5	4	2	8	6
Tayside total	369	342	414	366	472	385	358	587	425
Scotland
Drug type unknown	4,636	3,946	4,369	2,893	2,717	2,233	2,358	2,674	2,787
Cannabis	0	0	69	748	1,190	1,365	1,221	1,309	981
Heroin	0	0	47	479	836	1,042	1,036	1,308	1,148
Cocaine	0	0	6	86	189	264	308	757	531
Amphetamines	0	0	12	86	141	150	160	235	110
Ecstasy	0	0	32	237	402	477	469	466	571
Other Class A	0	0	3	13	33	43	49	59	55
Other Class B	0	0	2	5	10	6	8	9	8
Other Class C	0	0	0	24	106	155	130	190	141
Scotland total	4,636	3,946	4,540	4,571	5,624	5,735	5,739	7,007	6,332

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-27122

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 24 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been prosecuted for possession of illegal drugs in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) type of drug.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Proceeded Against for Possession of Drugs¹ by Police Force and Drug Type, 1999-2000 to 2007-08

Police Force/Drug Type	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central
Drug type unknown	194	194	280	232	174	176	171	197	177
Cannabis	0	0	4	27	109	100	77	58	54
Heroin	0	0	4	26	29	42	41	38	38
Cocaine	0	0	0	4	9	14	7	39	12
Amphetamines	0	0	1	4	4	11	9	10	8
Ecstasy	0	0	1	6	17	16	19	22	33
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	7	6
Other Class B	0	0	1	1	1	0	2	1	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	2	3	6	8	12	10
Central total	194	194	291	302	347	366	336	384	338
Dumfries and Galloway
Drug type unknown	111	81	65	54	40	32	49	65	67
Cannabis	0	0	3	13	23	49	36	18	35
Heroin	0	0	8	24	30	21	28	47	19
Cocaine	0	0	0	3	5	0	3	9	10
Amphetamines	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	3	4
Ecstasy	0	0	0	3	4	20	10	4	11
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	3	2
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	2	1
Dumfries and Galloway total	111	81	76	97	103	130	133	152	149
Fife
Drug type unknown	204	110	102	65	30	35	27	42	58
Cannabis	0	0	1	32	20	27	36	38	33
Heroin	0	0	3	18	29	47	45	51	41
Cocaine	0	0	0	3	2	4	6	5	12
Amphetamines	0	0	1	5	9	11	11	9	10
Ecstasy	0	0	2	10	13	12	15	8	11
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	1	0
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	2
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	1
Fife total	204	110	109	133	107	138	143	163	168
Grampian
Drug type unknown	474	389	505	259	326	253	214	203	216
Cannabis	0	0	16	63	71	56	51	54	29
Heroin	0	0	19	80	133	129	178	210	179
Cocaine	0	0	4	20	26	28	50	79	102
Amphetamines	0	0	0	6	11	9	15	17	4
Ecstasy	0	0	5	30	38	25	20	18	27
Other Class A	0	0	3	2	6	4	8	3	6
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	3	3	5	11	7	6
Grampian total	474	389	552	464	614	511	547	593	569
Lothian and Borders
Drug type unknown	630	577	527	355	321	305	484	545	491
Cannabis	0	0	9	33	43	115	81	88	70
Heroin	0	0	2	21	56	125	95	131	120
Cocaine	0	0	0	6	9	29	36	46	64
Amphetamines	0	0	2	3	5	17	14	18	8
Ecstasy	0	0	1	5	29	50	40	42	60
Other Class A	0	0	0	0	1	4	2	2	2
Other Class B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Other Class C	0	0	0	1	0	5	2	4	12
Lothian and Borders total	630	577	541	424	464	650	754	877	828
Northern
Drug type unknown	279	239	273	201	175	131	163	190	227
Cannabis	0	0	11	58	110	117	74	92	80
Heroin	0	0	2	16	13	16	29	50	49
Cocaine	0	0	0	2	9	11	10	43	79
Amphetamines	0	0	5	8	13	15	20	25	19
Ecstasy	0	0	7	33	38	30	42	76	104
Other Class A	0	0	0	2	2	5	4	4	14
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	2
Other Class C	0	0	0	0	4	3	4	3	7
Northern total	279	239	298	321	366	328	346	484	581
Strathclyde
Drug type unknown	2,944	2,576	2,727	1,573	1,379	1,148	1,142	1,247	1,487
Cannabis	0	0	20	541	872	1,009	985	1,028	770
Heroin	0	0	13	311	589	689	623	754	651
Cocaine	0	0	1	41	116	180	188	505	263
Amphetamines	0	0	4	56	105	102	96	151	64
Ecstasy	0	0	2	123	267	313	321	258	340
Other Class A	0	0	0	8	17	24	33	41	32
Other Class B	0	0	0	1	5	4	7	2	3
Other Class C	0	0	0	21	107	146	118	159	118
Strathclyde total	2,944	2,576	2,767	2,675	3,457	3,615	3,513	4,145	3,728
Tayside
Drug type unknown	423	383	426	273	365	260	228	301	255
Cannabis	0	0	10	44	49	43	36	47	25
Heroin	0	0	5	22	22	49	52	121	111
Cocaine	0	0	1	14	22	13	29	61	26
Amphetamines	0	0	0	7	7	3	7	13	6
Ecstasy	0	0	14	35	26	38	25	58	20
Other Class A	0	0	0	2	6	5	5	10	0
Other Class B	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Other Class C	0	0	0	3	5	4	2	9	7
Tayside total	423	383	457	401	503	415	384	620	450
Scotland
Drug type unknown	5,259	4,549	4,905	3,012	2,810	2,340	2,478	2,790	2,978
Cannabis	0	0	74	811	1,297	1,516	1,376	1,423	1,096
Heroin	0	0	56	518	901	1,118	1,091	1,402	1,208
Cocaine	0	0	6	93	198	279	329	787	568
Amphetamines	0	0	13	89	155	170	177	246	123
Ecstasy	0	0	32	245	432	504	492	486	606
Other Class A	0	0	3	14	35	48	58	71	62
Other Class B	0	0	2	5	11	6	9	9	8
Other Class C	0	0	0	30	122	172	146	204	162
Scotland total	5,259	4,549	5,091	4,817	5,961	6,153	6,156	7,418	6,811

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-27062

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 23 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any future meetings are planned between Scottish ministers and officials and representatives of the Qatar Investment Authority.

Question reference: S3W-27065

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has the power to order disclosure of the evidence compiled by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission regarding Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi’s recently dropped second appeal and, if so, whether he will do so.

No, I do not have the power to order disclosure of evidence. Section 194J of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 prevents the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission from disclosing any information obtained by it in the exercise of its functions, subject to exceptions set out in section 194K. I am considering making an Order under section 194K(1)(f), which would relax this restriction. Other restrictions, such as those in the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998, would remain in place and would need to be considered to determine what information could be disclosed.

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