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: S1W-23464

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 11 March 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-4594 by Mr Andy Kerr on 7 February 2002, whether it will detail any specific quantitative assessments which have been commissioned or completed of any impact on the economy in rural areas of the introduction of broadband services in the south of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands and whether it will publish any such assessments.

Specific quantitative assessments of the impact on the economy in the Pathfinder areas have not been commissioned. Such assessments are not straightforward as indicated in UK Online: the broadband future, a report to the Prime Minister published in February 2001. The report noted that quantifying the benefits of broadband "is not feasible at present, but evidence from the US and advice from UK industry suggests that it is likely that they will be a significant factor in determining national competitiveness over the coming years". Pathfinder areas were selected on the basis that the market is unlikely to meet anticipated demand under current conditions, including procurement practices.

Question reference: S1W-23104

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 March 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under the Rural Stewardship Scheme have been approved in the current financial year to date.

Question reference: S1W-23465

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 March 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints the Scottish Prison Service received regarding any difficulties or incidents experienced during visits by visitors to sex offenders held in institutions that also held other categories of prisoner in each year since 1997.

Question reference: S1W-22678

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 26 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is currently taking to progress the introduction of clear country of origin labelling on food products and what timescale it envisages for completing the introduction of such labelling.

On matters of food safety and standards the Scottish Executive is advised by the Food Standards Agency. Currently, the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 require particulars of the place of origin or provenance of a food to be shown if failure to give such information might mislead a purchaser to a material degree as to the true origin or provenance of the food. I am advised by the agency that they are committed to pressing for changes in EU rules to widen the requirement for origin labelling. Discussions are still at an early stage and such changes necessarily take time to bring about. In recognition of this, the agency is also currently consulting publicly on revised Country of Origin Guidance notes for use by industry and enforcement officers.

Question reference: S1W-22446

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of "serious sex offenders" is used when sex offenders are so categorised.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:SPS makes the assumption that all offenders who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment are considered serious offenders. As such, all sex offenders in custody are considered "serious". The Executive proposes to introduce, in the forthcoming Criminal Justice Bill, statutory criteria defining the highest risk offenders. In addition, the proposed Risk Management Authority will produce common standard guidelines to assist with categorising the risk such offenders pose to the public.

Question reference: S1W-22505

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what role the ideas contained in The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics by Jakow Trachtenberg have played in the teaching of arithmetic.

Question reference: S1W-22444

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated prison populations are (a) in total and (b) broken down by each category of prisoner for each of the years (i) 2003, (ii) 2008, (iii) 2013, (iv) 2018, (v) 2023 and (vi) 2028 or, if such information is not available, what information it can provide on this matter, at proportionate cost, to show the basis of planning for prison populations over the next 25 years.

The available information is given in the following table, which contains the projected prison population, disaggregated by type of prisoner. The projections do not distinguish the crimes committed by prisoners.Prison Population Projections, by Type of Prisoner

Year	Remand	Short-Term	Long-Term	Other	Total
1990	751	2,465	1,484	24	4,724
1991	770	2,506	1,538	25	4,839
1992	876	2,706	1,648	27	5,257
1993	948	2,868	1,786	35	5,637
1994	1,015	2,690	1,851	29	5,585
1995	998	2,635	1,951	42	5,626
1996	1,000	2,758	2,085	19	5,862
1997	947	2,751	2,363	21	6,082
1998	938	2,561	2,498	20	6,017
1999	1,012	2,488	2,500	29	6,029
2000	894	2,408	2,535	32	5,869
2001 (proj.)	976	2,615	2,542	31	6,164
2002 (proj.)	985	2,699	2,632	31	6,347
2003 (proj.)	993	2,755	2,719	31	6,498
2004 (proj.)	1,000	2,812	2,828	31	6,671
2005 (proj.)	1,011	2,875	2,909	31	6,825
2006 (proj.)	1,022	2,944	2,991	31	6,987
2007 (proj.)	1,034	3,013	3,071	31	7,149
2008 (proj.)	1,045	3,081	3,164	31	7,321
2009 (proj.)	1,055	3,145	3,246	31	7,478
2010 (proj.)	1,065	3,206	3,320	31	7,623

The prison population projections, which were prepared in September 2001, are based on projecting the numbers of receptions based on trends observed over the past 10 to 18 years. These are then converted to population projections by allowing for the time spent in custody. The projections therefore assume that the trends in sentencing behaviour observed in the past will continue. Two variants for future numbers have also been prepared, based on alternative extrapolations of past trends; these are given in the following table. The prison population projections do not extend beyond 2010-11. Prison Population Projections to 2010-11

Year	Lowest Variant	Projections prepared in September 2001	Highest Variant
2000-01 (actual)	5,900	5,900	5,900
2001-02	5,900	6,200	6,300
2002-03	5,900	6,400	6,500
2003-04	5,900	6,500	6,700
2004-05	6,100	6,700	6,900
2005-06	6,200	6,900	7,200
2006-07	6,300	7,000	7,400
2007-08	6,400	7,200	7,700
2008-09	6,500	7,400	8,000
2009-10	6,600	7,500	8,200
2010-11	6,700	7,700	8,500

Question reference: S1W-22445

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the estimated prison populations for each of the years (a) 2003, (b) 2008, (c) 2013, (d) 2018, (e) 2023 and (f) 2028 is expected to be serious sex offenders or, if such information is not available, what information it can provide on this matter, at proportionate cost, to show the basis of planning for prison populations over the next 25 years.

Question reference: S1W-22447

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it plans to give to NHS boards and any other organisations in order to ensure that the prevention and treatment of asthma is accorded a priority commensurate with the number of deaths it causes each year.

The care of people with asthma is primarily a matter for NHS boards, and there are no immediate plans for further guidance. However, the Executive endorses the recommendations of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network on self-management for people with asthma and is funding the Scottish Asthma Management Initiative, one aim of which is to help general practitioners to identify suitable patients and devise self-management regimes. The Executive also provides grant funding to the National Asthma Campaign Scotland, which works to support people with asthma and encourage them to take control of the condition.

Question reference: S1O-04594

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of any impact on the economy in rural areas of the introduction of broadband services in the South of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands.