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-16471

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional police officers were delivered through recruitment in 2007-08, compared with numbers in May 2007.

We are committed to recruiting 1,000 additional police officers during the lifetime of this Parliament. 150 centrally-funded officers were recruited in 2007-08 and an additional 450 will be recruited during this financial year. A further 200 officers will be recruited in each of the two subsequent years. As the member knows, police numbers in Scotland are at record levels with some 16,339 whole time equivalent officers in post at 30 June, an increase of 118 since the previous quarter. It is not for the Scottish Government to dictate to chief constables what size their forces should be, but these figures are set to increase substantially as forces, such as Strathclyde, plan to increase their total complements to unprecedented levels.

The key to the police service''s ability to respond to the demands placed upon it is not just about its size, but its capacity. That is why we are working closely with our partners in COSLA, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and with police boards, to ensure that we have the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on building the capacity of the police service.

Question reference: S3W-16470

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community sentences were handed down in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriffdom and type of community sentence.

The information is given in the following table. People who were tried in the High Court are shown separately.

People with a Charge Proved Whose Main Penalty was a Community Sentence: Breakdown by Sheriffdom and Type of Community Sentence, 2002-03 to 2006-07

Main Result of Proceedings

Sheriffdom	Probation	Community Service Order	Supervised Attendance Order¹	Restriction of Liberty Order	Drug Treatment and Testing Order	Other Community Sentence	Total
2002-03
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,610	805	8	24	175	0	2,622
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,213	711	9	116	98	0	2,147
Lothian and Borders	1,426	970	0	42	14	0	2,452
North Strathclyde	1,054	621	9	31	17	0	1,732
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,641	943	4	369	0	0	2,957
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,430	1,197	24	158	121	0	3,930
High court	64	32	0	3	3	0	102
Total	9,438	5,279	54	743	428	0	15,942
2003-04
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,454	806	0	77	91	0	2,428
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,483	638	9	115	53	0	2,298
Lothian and Borders	1,227	824	1	62	202	0	2,316
North Strathclyde	1,098	735	0	25	135	0	1,993
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,674	843	2	438	30	0	2,987
Tayside, Central and Fife	1,871	1,013	26	329	182	0	3,421
High court	95	22	0	2	3	0	122
Total	8,902	4,881	38	1,048	696	0	15,565
2004-05
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,598	802	1	62	82	0	2,545
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,304	698	13	151	40	0	2,206
Lothian and Borders	1,327	928	1	120	197	0	2,573
North Strathclyde	1,092	805	9	70	152	0	2,128
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,745	969	0	352	94	0	3,160
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,301	1,203	19	557	218	0	4,298
High court	70	27	0	1	5	0	103
Total	9,437	5,432	43	1,313	788	0	17,013
2005-06
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,505	906	0	125	88	0	2,624
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,516	662	9	148	70	6	2,411
Lothian and Borders	1,342	1,040	2	143	269	0	2,796
North Strathclyde	1,150	896	62	80	125	0	2,313
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,676	1,019	2	279	81	1	3,058
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,176	1,118	36	495	197	5	4,027
High court	52	28	0	3	1	0	84
Total²	9,418	5,669	111	1,273	831	12	17,314
2006-07
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,570	860	0	100	108	1	2,639
Grampian, Highland and Islands	1,352	711	5	155	60	11	2,294
Lothian and Borders	1,358	930	4	131	223	0	2,646
North Strathclyde	1,093	897	66	109	133	0	2,298
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,540	1,104	3	280	151	5	3,083
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,262	1,274	44	533	251	6	4,370
High court	33	11	0	1	0	0	45
Total²	9,209	5,787	122	1,309	926	23	17,376

Notes:

1. Of first instance.

2.Totals for 2005-06 and 2006-07 contain a small number of cases where the sheriffdom is unknown.

Question reference: S3W-16469

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what non-custodial sentence options are available in each sheriffdom.

Probation orders, community service orders, drug treatment and testing orders and restriction of liberty orders are available to all sheriff courts across all sheriffdoms. In addition, all sheriff courts have access to supervised attendance orders in dealing with those who have defaulted on their fines.

Justice of the peace (and district) courts are able to impose probation orders and, where an offender has defaulted on a fine, a supervised attendance order.

Question reference: S3W-16467

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reoffending rate after two years is for offenders who have completed community sentences.

Reconviction rates of offenders who successfully completed a community sentence is not held centrally. However, reconviction rates of offenders who were sentenced to a community sentence can be provided.

The two year reconviction rate of offenders who were sentenced to a community sentence (community service order, probation order, restriction of liberty order, drug treatment and testing order or supervised attendance order) in 2004-05 was 55%.

Question reference: S3W-15817

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 25 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed the operation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 in relation to access rights and whether it intends to bring forward proposals for amendment.

Question reference: S3W-16237

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sex crimes have been reported in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriffdom.

The available data is given in the following table. This gives the numbers of crimes of indecency recorded by the police in Scotland from 2002-03 to 2006-07, by local authority. Note that this crime group comprises rape and attempted rape, indecent assault, lewd and indecent behaviour and other crimes of indecency. Other crimes of indecency comprise the following crime categories: incest, unnatural crimes and procuration and other sexual offences. Since the source of this data is police recorded crime, it is not available by sheriffdom.

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	336	420	495	525	604
Aberdeenshire	220	180	229	242	285
Angus	187	138	120	97	139
Argyll and Bute	119	106	83	92	94
City of Edinburgh	765	689	792	654	735
City of Glasgow	1,630	1,729	1,966	1,293	1,159
Clackmannanshire	54	49	44	81	65
Dumfries and Galloway	83	133	106	136	123
Dundee City	210	236	251	296	226
East Ayrshire	98	102	130	103	122
East Dunbartonshire	59	26	37	26	37
East Lothian	101	154	92	89	78
East Renfrewshire	50	34	27	30	24
Eilean Siar	19	47	36	31	25
Falkirk	143	136	133	197	247
Fife	554	504	516	479	476
Highland	230	248	275	258	387
Inverclyde	80	35	59	38	51
Midlothian	102	126	90	134	100
Moray	97	133	134	199	113
North Ayrshire	114	135	165	198	191
North Lanarkshire	333	277	370	288	320
Orkney Islands	8	11	11	9	19
Perth and Kinross	115	123	96	130	117
Renfrewshire	150	121	171	115	133
Scottish Borders	121	133	133	105	76
Shetland Islands	10	19	23	41	24
South Ayrshire	79	104	109	93	124
South Lanarkshire	191	227	224	177	194
Stirling	104	83	70	126	85
West Dunbartonshire	78	111	105	88	110
West Lothian	183	217	232	188	243
All Scotland	6,623	6,786	7,324	6,558	6,726

Question reference: S3W-16468

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reoffending rate after two years is for offenders who have completed custodial sentences.

Question reference: S3W-16239

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will start collecting data for reoffending rates in respect of individual prisons.

The source of Scottish Government reconviction rate statistics is the Scottish Offenders Index (SOI), a database of convictions in Scottish courts. The SOI is based on extracts from the Criminal History System (CHS) held at the Scottish Police Service Authority (SPSA). Details of which prison an offender is sent to, having been sentenced to a custodial sentence, is not recorded on the SOI.

Reconviction rates by individual prison would not necessarily be meaningful, as prisoners can be moved mid-sentence and therefore serve their sentence in more than one prison. In addition, prisoners can be transferred to another prison prior to liberation.

Question reference: S3W-16238

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been convicted for sex crimes in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriffdom.

The information is given in the following table. People who were tried in the High Court are shown separately.

People with a Charge Proved in 2002-03 to 2006-07 whose Main Crime was a Crime of Indecency

Sheriffdom	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Tayside, Central and Fife	82	93	73	104	108
Lothian and Borders	72	80	80	108	94
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	140	159	275	315	324
North Strathclyde	39	46	57	37	47
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	53	57	73	61	62
Grampian, Highland and Islands	52	90	107	117	129
High court	124	141	144	110	77
All	562	666	809	852	841

Question reference: S3W-14911

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the minutes of meetings of the Building Standards Advisory Committee energy working party.