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-23308

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage retailers to pass on to customers the increase in alcohol duty in the UK Budget 2009.

Question reference: S3W-23311

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to link its planned minimum pricing for alcohol to alcohol duty and, if so, how.

Question reference: S3W-23310

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the UK Government’s alcohol duty escalator.

The Scottish Government believes that the entire system of alcohol duty needs to be reformed. For example, it makes little sense to tax the alcohol content of Scotch Whisky more heavily than that of wine or beer, or to tax 4% ABV lager more heavily than 7.5% ABV cider. Across-the-board increases in alcohol duty, as foreseen by the duty escalator, fail to address this crucial issue and fail to support the Scotch whisky industry.

Question reference: S3W-22820

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many on-licence premises received a test purchasing visit in 2008, broken down by police force.

The following information has been obtained from the Scottish Police Service in respect of on-sales test purchases during 2008:

Police Force	No of Visits
Central Scotland Police	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0
Fife Constabulary	24
Grampian Police	2
Lothian and Borders Police	0
Northern Constabulary	0
Strathclyde Police	15
Tayside Police	0
Total	41

Please note that all alcohol test purchasing is intelligence-led and these visits to on- sales were the direct result of intelligence received.

Question reference: S3W-22821

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many on-sales test purchase visits in 2008 resulted in alcohol being sold to an underage person for the (a) first time and (b) second time; what action was taken against the licensee in each case, and how many licences were suspended.

The following information has been obtained from the Scottish Police Service in respect of on-sales test purchases during 2008, alcohol being sold for:

(a) the first time - seven occasions

(b) the second time “ nil.

The following provides a breakdown of the number of on-sales premises tested per force, the number of failures and the outcome. Please note that there were no suspensions.

	No. of Visits	No. of First Failures.	Outcome
Central Scotland Police	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0
Fife Constabulary	24	4	1. Licensing Board and PF warning letters. 2. Licensing Board warning letter. PF took no proceedings. 3. Licensing Board issued warning letter. PF took no proceedings. 4. Licensing Board issued warning letter. PF issued two fines of £100 each to seller and licensee.
Grampian Police	2	0
Lothian and Borders Police	0	0
Northern Constabulary	0	0
Strathclyde Police	15	3	1. Licensing Board warning letter. No proceeding by PF. 2. Licensing Board warning letter. PF fixed penalty refused, thereafter £400 fine. 3. Licensing Board warning letter. No proceeding by PF.
Tayside Police	0	0
Totals	41	7

Please note that all alcohol test purchasing is intelligence-led and these visits to on- sales were the direct result of intelligence received.

Question reference: S3W-23049

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alleged offenders have entered the criminal justice system for the first time in each of the last 10 years.

The available information is contained in the following table, which shows the number of individual people who were proceeded against in Scottish courts, together with how many of these had not been proceeded against in previous years.

The source of this information is the Scottish Government Court Proceedings database, which is derived from data held on the Criminal History System. Prosecution in court is only one of a range of possible options for dealing with an individual who has been charged with an offence. Other actions include the use of fiscal warnings, diversion to social work, fixed penalty notices and fiscal fines. However, these alternatives to court prosecution are not currently held on the Scottish Government Court Proceedings database and are not included in the following data provided.

Individuals Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts, 1998-99 to 2007-08

Year	Total Individuals Proceeded Against	Individuals not Proceeded Against in any Previous Years¹	Percentage of Individuals not Proceeded Against in any Previous Years
1998-99	65,670	20,913	32%
1999-2000	59,710	18,788	31%
2000-01	61,033	20,995	34%
2001-02	78,922	32,657	41%
2002-03	89,119	39,692	45%
2003-04	96,899	43,612	45%
2004-05	98,598	42,698	43%
2005-06	98,372	41,486	42%
2006-07	102,796	42,465	41%
2007-08	102,989	41,511	40%

Note: 1. Individuals not proceeded against in any of the previous years back to 1 April 1969. The Criminal History System is not designed for statistical purposes. Individuals are identified by their offender reference number; note that the ability to record and maintain unique reference numbers over time has increased over the last 10 years.

Question reference: S3W-23249

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 24 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 11 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support engineering.

The Scottish Government provides a wide range of support to manufacturing companies “ including in the engineering sector “ directly and through Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Development International, local authorities and Skills Development Scotland. This includes innovation and investment grants and practical advice by the recently augmented Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service.

Special projects for engineering include the Advanced Forming Research Centre, Intermediary Technology Institutes projects and Enterprise Fellowships for the engineering sector. Scottish Enterprise is working closely with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Scottish Environmental Technology Network to develop a strategy for the development of opportunities for Scotland to benefit from the demand for new technology and engineering solutions to the issues around climate change and environmental protection.

Question reference: S3W-23440

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has had with the UK Government regarding the e-Borders programme.

Whilst responsibility for border control and immigration matters (including the e-Borders programme) are reserved to the UK Government we have sought to be kept informed on the development of the programme at both official and ministerial level. I met senior officials from UKBA on a visit to Edinburgh Airport on 6 April 2009 and the e-Borders programme was discussed along with a range of issues.

Question reference: S3W-22823

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of its proposal to place a duty on licensing boards to consider raising the minimum age of off-sales purchases within their area to 21, what consideration it has given to the possibility of confusion arising whereby the minimum off-sales age varies across local authority areas and leads to 18 to 20-year olds travelling to neighbouring areas to buy alcohol from off-sales outlets.

In light of consultation responses to our proposal to raise the minimum legal purchase age for off-sales to 21, and the difficulties of carrying such a measure through Parliament, the Scottish Government has decided not to pursue a blanket approach across Scotland. Our revised approach will provide local flexibility by encouraging and facilitating licensing boards to develop local solutions to local problems. This is consistent with the general approach of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 which already allows for conditions to be tailored to particular premises or particular types of premises.

Should a decision by one licensing board to raise the minimum purchase age for off-sales purchases to 21 result in displacement of a problem to neighbouring boards, those boards will have the opportunity to review their own policies as they see appropriate. Chief constables and the local licensing forum will also have powers to request their local licensing board to consider increasing the minimum purchase age for off-sales at any time.

Question reference: S3W-22955

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 May 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the evaluation of the success of the injury surveillance projects in accident and emergency units in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fife will take place.