Chamber and committees

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

The number of direct sentencedreceptions to prison where the main crime was a drugs crime in each of the lastten financial years are given in the following table:

Year	Male	Female	Total
1996-97	933	58	991
1997-98	955	64	1,019
1998-99	876	84	960
1999-2000	809	70	879
2000-01	763	69	832
2001-02	806	81	887
2002-03	864	85	949
2003-04	867	102	969
2004-05	844	126	970
2005-06	880	125	1,005

 

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

The SPS Annual Report and Accountsfor 2005-2006, copies of which are available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40385) or via the Scottish Prison Service websiteat www.sps.gov.uk provides information in respectof the expenditure incurred in the Scottish Prison Service. The cost per prisonerplace is not available separately for adult prisons and young offender institutions.

In accordance with the NationalStatistics Code of Practice (2002), the Chief Statistician has final responsibilityfor determining, pre-announcing and, if necessary, altering the dates of publicationof National Statistics and other relevant statistics produced by the Executive.

Any decision to change a pre-announcedpublication date will be based on a range of professional considerations.

When dates are changed, detailsare placed on the Executive website and key users are notified.

The Executive has no historicalrecord of the occasions on which a pre-announced publication date was changed inthe last five years. However, we are aware of eight occasions in the 2006 calendaryear. The details are shown in the following table:

Table 1: Changes toPre-Announced Publication Dates, Scottish Executive, 2006

Publication Name	Pre-Announced  Date	Publication  Date	Reason for Change
People Assisted Through Supporting People Funding 2004-2005	31-01-2006	21-02-2006	Delay in receiving and checking data.
Fire Statistics 2004	28-02-2006	16-02-2006	To coincide with publication of UK statistics bulletin.
Operation of Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland: Quarters ending 30 June and 30 September 2005 (temporary accommodation to 31 December 2005)	29-03-2006	28-03-2006	To keep day of the week in line with previous years.
Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture	15-05-2006	17-05-2006	To keep day of the week in line with previous years.
Firearm Certificate Statistics 2005	19-05-2006	25-05-2006	Delay in receiving data.
Bank Advances to Agriculture	01-08-2006	03-08-2006	To keep day of the week in line with previous years.
Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland: National & Local Authority Analyses 2005-06	05-09-2006	26-09-2006	Delay in checking data.
Final Results of the June 2006 Agricultural Census	26-10-2006	25-10-2006	To keep day of the week in line with previous years.

Note: Publications released bythe General Register Office for Scotland and ISD NHS National Services Scotland have not beenincluded.

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

Information on the time spentin custody by persons first released from life sentences can be found in AppendixC of the 2005 Annual Report of the Parole Board for Scotland.A link to this document, which is on the Parole Board for Scotland websiteat:

http://www.scottishparoleboard.gov.uk/pdf/Parole%20Board%202005.pdf.

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

I refer the memberto the answer to question S2W-25930 on 23 May 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

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

Information at that level ofdetail is not collected.

Our policy is not to publishthe legal advice we receive, this being covered by solicitor-client confidentiality.I am satisfied, however, that last year’s decision to set aside convictions in Scotlandunder the Cattle Identification Regulations did not undermine decisions taken topenalise farmers who did not meet the conditions of the bovine subsidy schemes.The application of bovine scheme penalties did not rely on domestic legislation;the requirement to apply penalties, and our authority to do so, was laid down inEU legislation.

Given the scale of the challenge,and the nature of the problem, it is essential to keep drugs policy under review.Despite increased success in seizing drugs, and improvements in rehabilitation,we are currently considering further improvements which could be implemented.

No. Special advisors do not havean entitlement to use the cars operated by the Government Car Service unless accompanyingsomeone who has that entitlement.

Over the period since 2001-02,payments by the Scottish Executive and its agencies for external legal serviceshave been made as follows:

Year	£000
2001-02	159
2002-03	563
2003-04	847
2004-05	2,030
2005-06	2,300
2006-07 (to date)	2,500

 

It is not possible to break thesefigures down to show expenditure by individual departments and agencies withoutincurring disproportionate cost.

For later years, these figuresreflect work outsourced under the terms of a framework contract for the provisionof legal services in place since June 2003.