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: S3W-40196

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school pupils have been sent home as a result of alcohol misuse in each local authority area in each year since 2007-08.

Nationally, the number of primary school pupils recorded as being excluded from school as a result of alcohol misuse in each year since 2007-08 is as follows

2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
8	8	5 or fewer

Figures are presented nationally to reduce the risk of individuals being identified through the publication of these statistics. In the vast majority of local authorities, there were no primary school pupils recorded as being excluded as a result of alcohol misuse.

Question reference: S3W-40543

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of offenders sentenced to a work placement as part of a community service order in the Lothians region have commenced actual work on the placement within (a) 7, (b) 8 to 14, (c) 15 to 21, (d) 22 to 31, (e) 31 to 62, (f) 63 to 93 or (g) longer than 93 days in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government has published an audit of speed and immediacy for community service based on a snapshot of performance of community service in November 2008 and 2009. Data on community service during November 2010 is currently being compiled and publication is planned for May 2011.

The findings of the audit for 2008 are available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/offender-management/offender/community/examples/6822/cs-audit-2008

The findings of the audit for 2009 are available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/offender-management/offender/community/examples/6822/2009-cs-audit

Question reference: S3W-39712

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of petrol being stolen from cars have been reported in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

Question reference: S3W-40202

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many off-licences in the Lothians region were found to have sold alcohol to people under 18 in 2009-10, broken down by local authority area.

The number of offences recorded by the police, in which a licensed person has sold alcohol to a person under 18, by local authority, 2009-10.

Local Authority Area	2009-10
East Lothian	5
Edinburgh City	27
Midlothian	4
Scottish Borders	15
West Lothian	14
Lothian and Borders	65

Data on recorded crime is based on an aggregate return and cannot be interrogated on details of the perpetrator. It is therefore not possible to break the above data down further to separately identify off-licenses.

Question reference: S3W-40195

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many arrests for drug-related offences have been made in the Lothian and Borders Police force area in each year since 2007-08.

Information on the number of arrests made by the police is not held centrally, only the number of crimes recorded. The following table shows the number of drug-related crimes and offences recorded by Lothian and Borders Police Force from 2007-08 to 2009-10:

Description	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Non-sexual crimes of violence:
Drugging	15	8	10
Other Crimes:
Illegal importation of drugs	4	6	10
Production, manufacture or cultivation of drugs	112	111	165
Supply, possession with intent to supply of drugs	2,221	2,128	1,785
Possession of drugs	3,501	3,730	3,651
Drugs, money laundering related offences	0	0	0
Drugs, other offences	61	99	40
Total crimes and offences	5,914	6,082	5,661

The common definition, used within police forces, is that a crime of drugging is committed when drugs are surreptitiously or dishonestly administered with the intent of incapacitating the victim.

There are three further crimes/offences for which drugs may be a contributory factor causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs and being in charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs. We are not able to identify the number of such crimes/offences specifically relating to drugs and as such have not included these figures in the table.

Question reference: S3W-40201

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many arrests for drug-related offences have been made in the Lothian and Borders Police force area in each year since 2007-08.

Question reference: S3W-39713

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been charged with stealing petrol from cars in each of the last three years, broken down by sheriff court.

Question reference: S3W-38598

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis it has carried out of the impact on jobs of its proposed rise to business rates for large retail premises.

Question reference: S3W-38603

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons it has chosen the retail sector for its proposed increase in business rates.

On balance it was decided that, in light of the £1.3 billion budget cut from the UK Government, it was only fair to ask some of the largest businesses in Scotland to contribute a little more in business rates income. Increasing the rates paid by the very largest retailers, particularly those not in town centres, will also go some way to help protect small shops in our town centres which can sometimes struggle to compete.

The proposed £30 million the large retail property supplement will raise amounts to around 0.1 per cent of annual Scottish retail turnover. For those who pay it, it will increase their business rate bills from an average of around 2 per cent of their turnover to around 2.3 per cent.

Because these proposals impact on only a very small proportion, around 225, or 0.1%, out of over 215,000 non domestic properties in Scotland, it would be disproportionate to carry out a full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

Question reference: S3W-38601

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how the proposed rise to business rates for large retail premises fits with its aim of ensuring that Scotland is the most attractive place for doing business in Europe.

The large retail supplement will increase business rates paid for just 0.1 per cent of properties in Scotland. For those businesses affected, the business rates paid currently account for around 2% of their turnover. With the large retail supplement, this will increase to an estimated 2.3%.

However, our continuing commitment not to go above the English poundage rate along with our decision to put in place the most generous package of reliefs available in the United Kingdom, worth £2.4 billion over the five years to 2014-15, which removes or reduces business rates for around half of all Scottish businesses, together demonstrates that we are serious in our commitment to make Scotland the most attractive place for doing business in Europe.