Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-15626

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been released under the electronic monitoring scheme since May 2002; what the categories of offences were for which such prisoners had been sentenced; how many such prisoners were electronically tagged in each category, and what the average length of sentence received was in each category.

The measures in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 enabling the Parole Board to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of a release licence came into force on 1 January 2004. To date, one young offender who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for various dishonesty offences and contravention of the Road Traffic Act 1988 has been released with a licence that included a condition to comply with electronic monitoring.

Electronic monitoring is a valuable addition to the licence conditions available to the Parole Board and can help maintain an offender’s risk at an acceptable level. I have urged the Parole Board to consider making greater use of this as an additional safeguard.

Question reference: S2W-15812

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7842 by Elish Angiolini QC on 25 February 2005, whether it will publish an updated version of the answer reconciling the totals with the data in the table.

The original answer to question S2W-7842 has been corrected to remove the error in the final column. A copy of the corrected table is as follows:

Financial Year 2002-03

Police Force	Number of Cases	No Proceedings on Account of Delay by Reporting Agency	Proceeded to Trial: Evidence led from Witnesses	Reports Resulting in a Conviction	Pending Cases
Central Scotland Police	14,879	264	407	6,547	647
Dumfries and Galloway Police	7,640	60	189	3,718	319
Fife Constabulary	14,776	221	386	6,135	1,173
Grampian Police	18,019	213	552	10,365	1,316
Lothian and Borders Police	34,934	1,482	1,484	15,485	1,664
Northern Constabulary	13,437	142	464	6,534	556
Strathclyde Police	148,175	12,921	5,674	46,661	13,071
Tayside Police	23,115	97	970	11,908	1,527
British Transport Police	1,692	9	40	466	134
Other	64	2	8	10	8
Total	276,731	15,411	10,174	107,829	20,415

Notes:

1. Delay by reporting agency figures now also include those marked no-pro time-bar as being time-barred upon receipt.

2. “Reports Resulting in a Conviction” includes cases where accused pleaded guilty before trial.

3. ”Pending Cases” includes cases which do not have a status of “closed” in our case management system as at 1 June 2004. It includes cases where criminal proceedings have started but not yet concluded, cases where there is an outstanding warrant and cases which have resulted in conviction but the sentence has been deferred or proceedings have been re-activated because of a breach of community order or a current appeal. It is therefore possible that a case will also be recorded in another column in this table.

Question reference: S2W-15984

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sheriffs there are and, of these, how many have participated in training of any kind within the last (a) 12 months, (b) 24 months, and (c) five years and how many have never participated in training since their appointment.

The responsibility for trainingof the judiciary rests with the independent Judicial Studies Committee, chairedby Lord Wheatley. There are 140 sheriffs in post. Since 1997, all new appointeeshave been required to participate in an induction course of five days duration beforesitting alone. In the last five years, all sheriffs have attended at least one refreshercourse of three days duration. Most sheriffs regularly attend at least one othertraining event each year. In addition, sheriffs attend training events and lecturesrun by outside organisations such as the Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency.

Question reference: S2W-15912

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean, (b) median and (c) mode level of fines imposed for assaulting a police officer has been in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area

The available information, which relates to convictions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, is given in the table. This section of the 1967 Act provides that any person who assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable shall be guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a police officer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offences in the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which may result in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identified separately in the available statistics.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967¹, by Police Force Area, 1997-2003: Persons Fined

Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
	Number of Persons:
Central	73	43	58	64	77	104	88
Dumfries and Galloway	43	40	29	31	32	32	59
Fife	94	82	59	59	72	62	65
Grampian	187	186	137	95	131	159	202
Lothian and Borders	249	273	191	214	208	213	250
Strathclyde	996	811	612	496	596	632	576
Northern	69	82	64	77	93	84	110
Tayside	107	124	125	101	113	156	139
Scotland	1,818	1,641	1,275	1,137	1,322	1,442	1,489
	Mean ():
Central	223	289	282	260	250	284	256
Dumfries and Galloway	324	268	317	396	352	380	358
Fife	231	188	174	198	238	182	231
Grampian	228	212	240	230	246	283	259
Lothian and Borders	245	243	250	248	260	261	297
Strathclyde	265	258	258	262	267	258	273
Northern	277	302	244	309	335	425	359
Tayside	242	223	227	212	227	211	232
Scotland	255	248	250	256	265	267	278
	Median ():
Central	200	200	250	200	250	250	213
Dumfries and Galloway	300	250	200	400	375	350	400
Fife	213	150	170	180	200	180	200
Grampian	175	178	200	200	200	250	200
Lothian and Borders	200	200	200	200	250	250	250
Strathclyde	250	225	225	225	250	228	250
Northern	250	250	213	225	250	325	288
Tayside	200	178	200	200	200	200	200
Scotland	225	200	200	200	250	250	250
	Mode ():
Central	100	100	250	150	200	100	200
Dumfries and Galloway	350	100	200	400	400	200	400
Fife	250	150	200	200	200	100	200
Grampian	100	100	250	200	100	150	100
Lothian and Borders	200	200	250	200	250	150	300
Strathclyde	250	250	150	150	200	200	250
Northern	250	250	150	200	250	250	250
Tayside	150	150	200	100	150	100	100
Scotland	250	150	150	150	200	200	250

Notes:

1. Where main offence. Average values shown relate to total penalty imposed for conviction.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15916

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions for assault of a police officer resulted in (a) custody, (b) a financial penalty and (c) a community sentence in each year since 1994, broken down by police force area.

The available information, which relates to convictions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, is given in the table. This section of the 1967 Act provides that any person who assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable shall be guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a police officer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offences in the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which may result in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identified separately in the available statistics.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967¹, by Selected Type of Sentence and police Force Area, 1994-2003

Police Force Area	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
	Custody:
Central	26	17	23	12	15	18	18	25	24	25
Dumfries and Galloway	10	12	10	17	10	15	14	14	10	13
Fife	25	26	26	26	22	14	23	23	17	31
Grampian	43	33	31	32	32	28	18	28	46	30
Lothian and Borders	41	65	60	58	71	81	74	76	87	77
Northern	38	28	25	25	26	22	32	34	38	31
Strathclyde	294	259	307	274	235	200	207	196	214	252
Tayside	33	30	25	43	56	47	43	49	60	67
Scotland	510	470	507	487	467	425	429	445	496	526
	Financial penalty:
Central	117	134	122	74	44	61	65	84	105	96
Dumfries and Galloway	60	54	44	42	40	29	31	30	32	58
Fife	116	92	81	94	79	60	59	72	61	64
Grampian	207	224	173	185	187	135	96	128	157	200
Lothian and Borders	233	272	222	251	273	192	213	203	211	239
Northern	104	107	100	70	82	64	76	91	81	106
Strathclyde	906	903	975	992	796	602	485	595	635	676
Tayside	83	122	97	106	120	123	99	112	156	134
Scotland	1,826	1,908	1,814	1,814	1,621	1,266	1,124	1,315	1,438	1,573
	Community sentence:
Central	13	15	20	20	16	13	16	20	28	26
Dumfries and Galloway	15	3	4	11	9	5	8	7	11	18
Fife	15	16	25	21	29	12	19	27	42	47
Grampian	21	40	25	19	22	21	20	19	27	48
Lothian and Borders	41	39	61	51	65	78	67	71	83	70
Northern	27	24	19	19	21	20	20	33	27	39
Strathclyde	143	151	176	204	199	151	152	174	218	287
Tayside	22	24	30	55	52	57	40	49	77	69
Scotland	297	312	360	400	413	357	342	400	513	604

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15852

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons had a charge proved for the crimes of dishonesty (a) housebreaking, (b) theft by opening a lockfast place, (c) theft of a motor vehicle, (d) shoplifting, (e) other theft, (f) fraud and (g) other offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, by Police Force Area, 1997- 2003

Offence/Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
Housebreaking
Central	159	102	139	109	160	154	150
Dumfries and Galloway	99	118	105	109	104	97	86
Fife	347	297	330	292	334	268	275
Grampian	497	469	470	429	415	351	363
Lothian and Borders	486	369	331	388	347	416	353
Northern	125	106	104	71	102	76	103
Strathclyde	1,288	1,293	1,358	1,096	1,075	1,122	1,004
Tayside	274	223	184	192	174	251	198
Total	3,275	2,977	3,021	2,686	2,711	2,735	2,532
Theft by Opening a Lockfast Place
Central	113	91	81	55	66	73	73
Dumfries and Galloway	26	23	18	28	25	17	39
Fife	192	159	158	147	135	134	120
Grampian	182	192	141	171	137	134	122
Lothian and Borders	320	269	228	175	242	202	171
Northern	42	39	33	40	28	37	30
Strathclyde	1,075	928	892	768	765	757	633
Tayside	142	101	107	113	103	118	101
Total	2,092	1,802	1,658	1,497	1,501	1,472	1,289
Theft of a Motor Vehicle
Central	89	85	67	77	60	72	55
Dumfries and Galloway	34	28	24	24	31	54	64
Fife	119	126	112	114	148	106	100
Grampian	169	178	168	172	137	113	124
Lothian and Borders	349	290	223	218	217	261	222
Northern	46	40	48	56	65	57	78
Strathclyde	1,135	948	858	692	594	635	568
Tayside	205	158	142	96	124	128	84
Total	2,146	1,853	1,642	1,449	1,376	1,426	1,295
Shoplifting
Central	270	257	391	477	641	595	481
Dumfries and Galloway	93	109	135	195	176	212	234
Fife	306	384	451	480	518	446	424
Grampian	947	1,133	803	814	894	969	852
Lothian and Borders	1,286	1,258	1,166	1,194	1,172	1,335	1,173
Northern	217	213	216	163	208	254	239
Strathclyde	3,185	3,586	3,777	3,412	3,728	4,311	3,802
Tayside	890	671	710	684	786	809	788
Total	7,194	7,611	7,649	7,419	8,123	8,931	7,993
Other Theft
Central	385	292	281	245	260	271	212
Dumfries and Galloway	224	243	201	184	180	199	140
Fife	348	311	335	270	273	253	242
Grampian	558	552	457	468	441	363	397
Lothian and Borders	847	828	638	637	636	629	525
Northern	284	209	176	172	169	175	194
Strathclyde	2,899	2,927	2,819	2,198	2,019	1,681	1,435
Tayside	415	339	353	319	306	305	342
Total	5,960	5,701	5,260	4,493	4,284	3,876	3,487
Fraud
Central	77	75	81	66	76	88	106
Dumfries and Galloway	85	65	78	48	46	52	53
Fife	152	106	90	108	110	80	80
Grampian	213	234	151	171	156	134	132
Lothian and Borders	395	435	292	270	288	378	335
Northern	76	92	103	69	60	71	71
Strathclyde	870	829	726	581	619	528	525
Tayside	142	138	114	145	135	120	120
Total	2,010	1,974	1,635	1,458	1,490	1,451	1,422
Other Dishonesty Offences
Central	103	137	100	82	120	117	91
Dumfries and Galloway	82	62	61	34	46	53	51
Fife	141	109	106	87	129	100	98
Grampian	351	353	307	189	196	230	195
Lothian and Borders	412	348	328	310	327	344	258
Northern	95	85	74	51	64	70	80
Strathclyde	1,508	1,474	1,242	925	872	814	730
Tayside	297	242	210	186	207	185	252
Total	2,989	2,810	2,428	1,864	1,961	1,913	1,755

Notes:

1. Were main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15850

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons had a charge proved for the crimes of indecency (a) rape, (b) attempted rape, (c) indecent assault, (d) lewd and indecent behaviour and (e) other offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, by Police Force Area, 1997-2003

Offence/Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003³
Rape
Central	-	3	2	1	-	-	3
Dumfries and Galloway	2	-	1	2	1	-	1
Fife	2	11	2	-	6	2	5
Grampian	1	3	6	1	2	2	3
Lothian and Borders	6	6	8	10	9	7	4
Northern	1	2	1	2	3	1	5
Strathclyde	13	11	9	11	16	17	15
Tayside	6	1	-	1	5	-	8
Total	31	37	29	28	42	29	44
Attempted Rape
Central	2	-	-	-	1	1	2
Dumfries and Galloway	-	1	1	-	-	1	-
Fife	4	2	3	3	2	-	1
Grampian	-	1	2	-	-	2	1
Lothian and Borders	3	1	5	2	8	1	3
Northern	1	2	-	1	-	-	-
Strathclyde	8	12	6	7	12	5	10
Tayside	4	6	5	2	3	3	1
Total	22	25	22	15	27²	13	18
Indecent Assault
Central	4	3	3	2	4	1	5
Dumfries and Galloway	3	-	1	1	1	-	2
Fife	8	4	9	6	6	9	8
Grampian	6	10	15	4	4	4	3
Lothian and Borders	15	20	14	9	8	11	19
Northern	5	8	6	7	6	6	4
Strathclyde	29	34	28	31	18	18	36
Tayside	14	7	6	6	4	7	5
Total	84	86	82	66	52²	56	82
Lewd and Indecent Behaviour
Central	24	18	9	14	17	15	12
Dumfries and Galloway	7	7	4	14	14	3	3
Fife	26	31	34	19	23	26	18
Grampian	25	24	13	18	25	21	27
Lothian and Borders	78	61	76	44	52	48	48
Northern	18	15	18	8	18	22	22
Strathclyde	133	135	130	109	110	130	106
Tayside	23	33	32	26	30	26	28
Total	334	324	316	252	289	291	264
Other Crimes of Indecency
Central	10	8	2	9	3	1	9
Dumfries and Galloway	8	7	1	1	3	2	1
Fife	5	5	9	4	4	8	10
Grampian	100	109	30	15	11	13	15
Lothian and Borders	38	33	26	20	19	13	23
Northern	7	4	6	10	10	4	13
Strathclyde	551	674	375	227	152	122	107
Tayside	11	16	12	11	10	13	12
Total	730	856	461	297	212	176	190

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes one case where force is unknown.

3. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15851

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons had a charge proved for the non-sexual crimes of violence (a) homicide, (b) serious assault and attempted murder, (c) robbery and (d) other offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, by Police Force Area, 1997- 2003

Offence/Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003³
Homicide
Central	7	6	6	1	3	5	2
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1	-	-	4	6	1
Fife	9	3	1	1	7	5	2
Grampian	8	2	14	5	11	8	9
Lothian and Borders	12	18	11	10	8	17	10
Northern	5	4	7	6	5	2	6
Strathclyde	62	50	64	64	58	42	47
Tayside	3	4	4	8	5	9	6
Total	108	88	107	95	101	94	83
Serious Assault and Attempted Murder
Central	38	56	64	59	56	85	84
Dumfries and Galloway	33	29	27	25	27	41	34
Fife	55	58	57	51	71	99	60
Grampian	70	75	91	68	71	74	93
Lothian and Borders	184	144	142	169	173	227	228
Northern	22	39	36	57	43	45	67
Strathclyde	552	516	589	526	585	604	744
Tayside	83	85	80	94	95	123	100
Total	1,037	1,002	1,086	1,050²	1,121	1,298	1,410
Robbery
Central	22	17	20	20	27	23	32
Dumfries and Galloway	15	6	12	17	22	19	14
Fife	42	32	42	36	41	38	49
Grampian	34	55	40	33	50	51	70
Lothian and Borders	125	84	96	83	79	102	70
Northern	5	9	9	2	6	6	5
Strathclyde	380	389	425	405	383	356	362
Tayside	41	35	38	29	22	30	29
Total	664	627	682	625	632²	625	631
Other Crimes of Violence
Central	4	4	3	6	6	9	8
Dumfries and Galloway	4	9	2	4	4	1	1
Fife	9	13	12	6	8	10	9
Grampian	27	26	19	14	8	12	15
Lothian and Borders	34	29	25	30	19	32	49
Northern	16	6	12	8	10	8	6
Strathclyde	91	105	105	87	98	123	152
Tayside	33	31	27	33	28	25	23
Total	218	223	205	188	181	220	263

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes a small number of cases where force is unknown.

3. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15854

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons had a charge proved for (a) crimes against public justice, (b) handling an offensive weapon and (c) drugs in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selected Offences¹, by Police Force Area, 1997-2003

Offence/Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
Crimes Against Public Justice
Central	385	234	322	415	508	443	378
Dumfries and Galloway	156	111	139	142	151	103	115
Fife	414	445	416	312	331	237	262
Grampian	486	435	371	307	364	444	492
Lothian and Borders	656	728	636	652	605	590	546
Northern	112	85	101	93	129	143	180
Strathclyde	2,646	2,216	2,072	1,908	1,946	2,055	2,049
Tayside	491	484	565	1016	1283	983	1073
Total	5,346	4,738	4,622	4,845	5,317	4,998	5,095
Handling an Offensive Weapon
Central	62	53	50	54	70	62	85
Dumfries and Galloway	48	37	47	35	32	44	50
Fife	50	33	43	41	74	55	58
Grampian	87	97	74	63	118	102	111
Lothian and Borders	278	271	211	204	278	325	254
Northern	43	43	34	31	46	46	53
Strathclyde	1,482	1,397	1,499	1,680	1,939	1,821	2,048
Tayside	144	131	122	130	138	134	140
Total	2,194	2,062	2,080	2,238	2,695	2,589	2,799
Drugs
Central	283	244	259	235	342	373	452
Dumfries and Galloway	256	183	172	130	97	133	146
Fife	367	325	296	148	160	207	174
Grampian	889	861	656	455	613	564	743
Lothian and Borders	969	841	796	738	776	567	587
Northern	415	382	311	267	349	384	412
Strathclyde	3,400	3,644	3,442	2,984	2,931	3,052	4,009
Tayside	448	447	507	469	468	521	582
Total	7,027	6,927	6,439	5,426	5,736	5,801	7,105

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15540

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many whole-time equivalent NHS dentists there have been per capita in each year since 1997 and how many offered NHS treatment in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board.

Information is collected centrally on whole-time equivalent NHS dentists per capita working in hospital, community and public health services since 1997. However, information on the whole-time equivalent status of dentists working in the General Dental Service and how many offered NHS treatment is not held centrally.

Given the amount of detail required to answer the question, I will write to the member separately and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 36143).

Chamber and committees