Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-27016

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) uniformed frontline and (b) administration staff were employed by the Scottish Prison Service as at 30 June 2009.

Question reference: S3O-07690

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been released from custodial sentences after serving a quarter of their sentences in respect of powers employed by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

Question reference: S3W-26897

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners released on compassionate grounds were foreign nationals and how many of them remained in Scotland on release in each of the last five years

Question reference: S3W-26211

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the prison officer to prisoner ratio has been for each prison in each year since 2000.

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

The information requested is given in the following table.

Prisoner to Prison Officer Ratios

Establishment	Years
	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen	0.53	0.49	0.45	0.41	0.42	0.38	0.38	0.38
Barlinnie	0.38	0.35	0.36	0.36	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.40
Cornton Vale	0.78	0.66	0.71	0.63	0.52	0.53	0.53	0.47
Dumfries	0.81	0.68	0.55	0.48	0.46	0.50	0.50	0.49
Edinburgh	0.48	0.43	0.43	0.40	0.37	0.36	0.36	0.36
Glenochil	0.56	0.56	0.54	0.51	0.57	0.54	0.39	0.39
Greenock	0.39	0.39	0.41	0.39	0.41	0.40	0.40	0.48
Inverness	0.54	0.51	0.47	0.43	0.47	0.45	0.45	0.52
Low Moss	0.37	0.40	0.39	0.35	0.35	0.35	0.00	0.00
Open Estate	0.34	0.31	0.27	0.26	0.19	0.23	0.25	0.22
Perth	0.56	0.51	0.40	0.37	0.58	0.48	0.37	0.37
Peterhead	0.48	0.50	0.45	0.44	0.44	0.44	0.44	0.44
Polmont	0.52	0.51	0.47	0.38	0.37	0.41	0.38	0.37
Shotts	0.54	0.54	0.58	0.48	0.50	0.49	0.49	0.47
Total	0.49	0.47	0.44	0.41	0.41	0.41	0.39	0.39

Question reference: S3W-26219

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 26 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of selling alcohol to under-18s have been detected in the last 6 months, broken down by police force; how many have resulted in a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction of licensees operating (i) on-sales and (ii) off-sales premises, and how many prosecutions for these offences are still pending.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) case management system shows that in the first six months of 2009, 238 charges were reported by the police under the provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 concerning the sale of alcohol to under-18s. The available data does not distinguish between on-sales and off-sales premises and cannot distinguish between accused who are licensees and those who are not.

The following tables show (a) the initial prosecution decisions taken for these charges and (b) for those charges prosecuted, the current position of the court proceedings as at 11 August 2009.

(a) Charges Reported: Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976

Police Force Area	Number of Charges Reported	No Action	Direct Measure Issued	No Decision Taken (at 11th August)	Court Proceedings
Central Scotland	10	4	2	0	4
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1	0	0	1
Fife	30	4	3	0	23
Grampian	47	13	19	3	12
Lothian and Borders	61	10	22	4	25
Northern	6	3	2	0	1
Strathclyde	79	22	24	9	24
Tayside	3	1	0	0	2
Grand Total	238	58	72	16	92

(b) Charges Prosecuted: Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976

Police Force Area	Convicted	Not Convicted	No Further Action	Proceedings still ongoing (at 11th August)	Grand Total
Central Scotland	2	1	0	1	4
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	1	1
Fife	7	1	5	10	23
Grampian	0	0	0	12	12
Lothian and Borders	6	3	0	16	25
Northern	1	0	0	0	1
Strathclyde	3	1	2	18	24
Tayside	0	0	0	2	2
Grand Total	19	6	7	60	92

Notes:

1. Charges where no action or no further action have been marked includes those cases for which there was found to be insufficient evidence to proceed.

2. These tables include offences reported against licensees, their employees and their agents.

3. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

4. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

5. The information in these tables is correct as at 11th August 2009.

Question reference: S3W-26218

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many test purchases were carried out in on-sales between January 2009 and June 2009 and how many resulted in alcohol being sold to an (a) underage person and (b) underage person for the second time, broken down by police force.

The use of test purchasing is an operational decision for each police force. We understand most test purchasing is intelligence-led and deployed in premises with a perceived problem of sales of alcohol to those under the age of 18.

The number of test purchases carried out in on-sales between January 2009 and June 2009 which resulted in alcohol being sold to an (a) underage person and (b) underage person for the second time, broken down by police force, can be found in the following table.

	On-sales Tested	1st Test Purchase Failure	2nd Test Purchase Failure
Central	1	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0
Grampian	10	8	1
Lothian and Borders	0	0	0
Northern	0	0	0
Strathclyde	0	0	0
Tayside	0	0	0
Scotland	11	8	1

Question reference: S3W-26217

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many test purchases were carried out in off-sales between January 2009 and June 2009 and how many resulted in alcohol being sold to an (a) underage person and (b) underage person for the second time, broken down by police force.

The use of test purchasing is an operational decision for each police force. We understand most test purchasing is intelligence-led and deployed in premises with a perceived problem of sales of alcohol to those under the age of 18.

The number of test purchases carried out in off-sales between January 2009 and June 2009 which resulted in alcohol being sold to an (a) underage person and (b) underage person for the second time, broken down by police force, can be found in the following table.

	Off-sales Tested	1st Test Purchase Failure	2nd Test Purchase Failure
Central	3	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0
Fife	70	11	0
Grampian	10	2	1
Lothian and Borders	117	17	0
Northern	5	1	0
Strathclyde	219	23	0
Tayside	0	0	0
Scotland	424	54	1

Question reference: S3F-01797

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Salmond on 25 June 2009

To ask the First Minister how many sentences of six months or less were imposed by the courts in the 12 months to 1 May 2009 and what the average time served was.

There were 12,646 sentences of six months or less handed down during 2007-08. The average time served by prisoners liberated during that period was 40 days.

Three out of four of those sentenced to six months or less in prison will offend again within 2 years compared with just 42% on community service. This is why we have brought forward legislative proposals for a presumption against prison sentences of six months or less.

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

Question reference: S3W-24151

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many court fines there were where no payment was made and what the value was of such fines in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriffdom.

The information is set out in the following tables:

2004

Sheriffdom	Accounts With No Payment Made as at May 2009	Value (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	51	18,330
Lothian and Borders	58	35,796
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	56	48,705
Tayside Central and Fife	34	12,556
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	95	23,570
North Strathclyde	11	4,868
Totals	305	143,825

2005

Sheriffdom	Accounts With No Payment Made as at May 2009	Value (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	143	74,608
Lothian and Borders	160	52,447
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	121	30,386
Tayside Central and Fife	69	79,824
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	119	34,620
North Strathclyde	25	13,313
Totals	637	285,197

2006

Sheriffdom	Accounts With No Payment Made as at May 2009	Value (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	225	73,507
Lothian and Borders	504	157,068
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	229	63,931
Tayside Central and Fife	228	151,783
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	215	115,556
North Strathclyde	238	80,414
Totals	1,639	642,259

2007

Sheriffdom	Accounts With No Payment Made as at May 2009	Value (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	329	123,916
Lothian and Borders	1,113	307,696
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	435	99,086
Tayside Central and Fife	383	117,687
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	642	212,444
North Strathclyde	317	129,503
Totals	3,219	990,331

2008

Sheriffdom	Accounts With No Payment Made as at May 2009	Value (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	1,065	357,767
Lothian and Borders	1,463	794,558
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	689	207,295
Tayside Central and Fife	1,243	589,786
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	1,297	431,139
North Strathclyde	903	265,045
Totals	6,660	2,645,590

Five Year Totals

12,460

4,707,202

Question reference: S3W-24150

Asked by: Bill Aitken, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was unpaid in court fines in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriffdom.

Over the five-year period 2004 to 2008, a total of £125.4 million court fines were imposed. For those fines still to be paid, £4.1 million (3%) is in the process of being collected through agreed instalments and £7.9 million (6%) is currently in arrears, due to part or full payment default. As most fines are payable by instalments the time for repayment, provided by the court, can extend across a number of years.

2004

Sheriffdom	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	4,695,081	14,199	31,860
Lothian and Borders	3,326,717	18,360	51,585
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	7,884,719	14,453	60,956
Tayside Central and Fife	4,440,268	15,823	33,870
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	3,267,337	10,084	36,266
North Strathclyde	2,533,438	17,039	7,200
Totals	26,147,559	89,958	221,737

2005

Sheriffdom	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	6,242,678	16,425	93,915
Lothian and Borders	18,663,941	16,277	77,225
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	1,874,809	8,247	50,874
Tayside Central and Fife	3,789,826	44,770	90,449
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	3,777,112	17,865	90,252
North Strathclyde	2,570,440	32,707	17,029
Totals	36,918,805	136,290	419,744

2006

Sheriffdom	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	3,682,544	78,188	110,360
Lothian and Borders	3,769,993	68,376	221,612
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2,427,640	31,059	235,591
Tayside Central and Fife	4,759,419	85,766	177,445
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	4,113,162	39,629	325,245
North Strathclyde	2,644,408	38,191	115,055
Totals	21,397,166	341,210	1,185,307

2007

Sheriffdom	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	4,079,537	132,216	188,482
Lothian and Borders	3,113,184	142,674	485,766
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2,514,256	101,727	205,895
Tayside Central and Fife	3,911,397	194,813	348,201
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	3,886,490	138,766	400,874
North Strathclyde	2,420,095	104,487	209,450
Totals	19,924,960	814,684	1,838,668

2008

Sheriffdom	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Grampian Highland and Islands	4,251,567	412,705	449,376
Lothian and Borders	3,893,040	447,660	1,288,301
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2,231,544	284,910	512,623
Tayside Central and Fife	3,974,014	744,760	651,717
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	4,540,247	550,394	912,481
North Strathclyde	2,144,120	298,625	444,628
Totals	21,034,532	2,739,053	4,259,127

	Value of Accounts Registered (£)	Balance Being Collected Through Instalments as at May 2009 (£)	Balance in Arrears as at May 2009 (£)
Five Year Totals	125,423,022	4,121,195	7,924,582

Chamber and committees