- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what specialist assistance is available for victims of miscarriages of justice and whether such support extends to relatives of those found to have been wrongly convicted.
Answer
Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act1968, ex-prisoners including those released following an appeal against convictionand, or sentence, may voluntarily request assistance from their local authoritywithin 12 months of their release from prison. Under these provisions, local authoritiesprovide and facilitate a range of supportive services to help prisoners and theirfamilies with resettlement.
The relatives may also contactFamilies Outside to seek assistance. Families Outside is a Scottish charity whichoffers support to families affected by imprisonment regardless of the circumstancesthat resulted in custody.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 9 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2140 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 19 September 2003, whether City of Edinburgh and Midlothian councils would be required to publish the reasons for rejecting the options of redevelopment of the existing ground, development within urban areas or development on vacant, derelict or underused land before approving the adjustment of greenbelt boundaries to allow construction of a new stadium.
Answer
As noted in Scottish DevelopmentDepartment Circular 24-1985: Development in the Countryside and Greenbelts,local plans should define the precise boundaries of any green belt within the areacovered by the plan. Any review of green belt boundaries is taken through the localplan process where options will require to be fully justified and open to publicconsultation. Objectors to a local plan have a right to have their concerns exploredat a public local inquiry.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether victims of miscarriages of justice receive an official apology following their release from prison.
Answer
The ground for appeal againstconviction and,or sentence in Scotland is that there has been a miscarriage of justice. It isnot the practice to apologise to those who have successfully appealed.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures of redress a wrongfully-convicted person has following a successful court appeal.
Answer
Compensation is not generallypayable where persons have been acquitted at trial or subsequently on appeal withintime simply because the prosecution was unable to sustain the burden of proof beyonda reasonable doubt in relation to the specific charge that was brought.
Section 133 of the Criminal JusticeAct 1988 provides that Scottish ministers are required to pay compensation wherea person has been convicted of a criminal offence and his conviction has subsequentlybeen reversed or he has been pardoned, on the ground that a new, or newly discoveredfact shows beyond reasonable doubt that there has been a miscarriage of justice(provided that the non-disclosure of the new evidence was not attributable to theapplicant). Further, ex gratia payment may be made in certain circumstancesto persons who have been held in custody following a wrongful conviction or chargewhere this has resulted from serious default on the part of a member of a policeforce or some other public authority and in exceptional circumstances in cases outsidethese categories.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 25 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the City of Edinburgh Council's Education Department and what issues were discussed.
Answer
I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2O-344 on 4 September 2003, which is available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/search.I have not met with representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council since.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what si'e a development must be for a green transport plan to have to be produced, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland, and whether a new football stadium development at Straiton is of such a si'e.
Answer
The Scottish Executive wants to promote Green Transport Plans amongst businesses, schools, hospitalsand other significant travel-generating uses. There is, however, no threshold figurefor the size of a development and it is a matter for the local planning authoritywhether to require a green transport plan to be produced.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Sentencing Information System became operational within the Scottish Court Service.
Answer
While a number of judges hadaccess to the software during the development stage, the final operational versionof the system was delivered to the High Court of Justiciary at the end of September2002. All High Court judges have had access to the system from that date.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the effectiveness of the Sentencing Information System within the Scottish Court Service.
Answer
The Sentencing Information Systemwas developed as a tool for the High Court of Justiciary. Monitoring the use andeffectiveness of the system is a matter for the court.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to judges on the use of the Sentencing Information System within the Scottish Court Service.
Answer
No guidance has been issued tojudges on the use of the Sentencing Information System.
The system is a tool to assistjudges by providing information on the range of sentences passed by the court inprevious cases in an accessible format. It is an aid to the exercise of judicialdiscretion.
The determination of the sentenceis entirely a matter for the judge.
- Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many judges have undergone training in the use of the Sentencing Information System within the Scottish Court Service.
Answer
While some judges haveundertaken training in the use of the Sentencing Information System, all judgesare able to access the information in the system whether or not they havepersonally undertaken training in its use, as they have the option to ask theirclerk to obtain information from the system on their behalf. All clerks ofcourt in the High Court of Justiciary have been trained in the use of thesystem.
