Chamber and committees

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

This information is not available. However, the 2008 SPS Prisoner Survey reports that one in five prisoners have accessed their current establishment''s mental health services, and that around a third of prisoners do not feel optimistic about their future, good about themselves or cheerful.

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

Medical assessments by a member of the establishment''s Nursing team and General Practitioner are carried out on all prisoners when admitted to an establishment. This includes a screening for mental health problems.

Additionally a prisoner can request, at any time, a mental health assessment through the submission of a self referral. Provisions are also available for staff to refer on behalf of the prisoner or where they have concern for the prisoner''s mental health and wellbeing. On receipt of these referrals assessments are conducted by a Registered Mental Health Nurse.

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

This information is not available.

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

Centrally collated data regarding all transfers to medical facilities of prisoners experiencing mental health problems is only available from October 2005. Prior to this date the transfer of untried prisoners was not centrally recorded. The following table provides details of the numbers of prisoners transferred from 2004-08, however, data for 2004 and the majority of 2005 related to sentenced prisoners only.

Year	No. of Sentenced Prisoners Transferred	No. of Untried Transferred
2008	27	30
2007	29	20
2006	41	34
2005	30	6
2004	26	N/A

 

The UK Government''s e-Borders programme relates to travellers entering and leaving the UK. The programme does not include domestic travel, so there are no implications for ferry journeys between the Scottish mainland and Scottish islands.

Funding for teachers'' continuous professional development was a £13.5 million strand of the National Priorities Action Fund which was rolled up into the 2008‘09 local government finance revenue settlement. It is for each local authority to determine how that money should be spent.

No assessment has been made of the impact on consumption of the rising cost of alcohol following the increase in alcohol duty in the UK Budget 2009. However, we note that the UK Government''s position is that the purpose of alcohol duty is to raise revenue and not to tackle alcohol-related harm. In addition, any increase in taxation on alcohol is not always reflected in the price the consumer pays. Unlike minimum pricing, any increase in taxation on alcoholic drinks can be absorbed by the retailer, passed on to the customer through other products, or absorbed by the producer. Even with the tax rise, alcoholic drinks can still be sold at irresponsibly low prices.

The current system of alcohol taxation is a historical anomaly in need of urgent review. Increasing taxes on alcohol shows that the UK Government agrees with our long-standing position that alcohol is not an ordinary commodity, but the UK Budget 2009 persists with the situation that allows high strength cheap cider to be taxed at a lower level than comparable beers and lagers. The Scottish Government wishes to link alcohol duty directly to alcohol content in order to better reflect the needs and interests of Scotland''s economy and society.

The Scottish Government''s overall alcohol policy objective is to change Scotland''s relationship with alcohol, and our Framework for Action (Bib. number 47805) sets out a series of measures to work towards achieving this. Some are specific legislative measures designed to effect change in the short-term and others focus on creating cultural change over a much longer period. There is strong and consistent evidence linking the price of alcohol to the demand for alcohol - increasing the price of alcohol reduces consumption and alcohol-related harm. That is why minimum pricing is one of the measures we are proposing to introduce. The increase in alcohol duty in the UK Budget 2009 is a 2% rise in all duty rates for alcohol, which maintains the position whereby, for instance, Scotch whisky is taxed unfairly compared to other alcohol products. A policy of minimum pricing targets price increases at drinks that are sold cheaply relative to their alcohol content, and cheaper alcoholic drinks tend to be bought more by harmful and hazardous drinkers than moderate drinkers. Studies show that such drinks are also attractive to young people.

The Grant Offer Letters for the 2009-10 financial year that were issued to the Scottish Science Centres on 1 May again include an element of funding to support transport costs of visitors to the centres from remote, economically and/or socially disadvantaged communities. As in the 2008-09 financial year, each centre is set a target number of visitors whose transport costs it is required to support with this funding, this being a proportion of its total annual visitor target. And it is again left to each centre to determine how and where to allocate the transport funding. Recipients of the funding may include school visitors and/or other community groups.