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-36720

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners in HMP Addiewell have been tested for drugs in each year since it opened, broken down by the number of positive tests and substances identified.

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

The prison opened on 12 December 2008.

In 2008-09: nil. As the population was in build up phase during this period.

In 2009-10: 139 tested, 12 of which proved positive. The substances found were:

Opiates: 7

Cannabis: 4

Amphetamine: 4

Methadone: 3

Buprenorphine: 4

Benzodiazepine: 3

In addition in 2009-10, Addiewell tested prisoners as part of the SPS Addictions Prevalence Testing programme. This involves the testing of prisoners on admission and prior to liberation during one month.

Of the 62 prisoners tested on admission 41 (66%) tested positive for drugs.

The substances found were:

Benzodiazepine: 36

Opiates: 24

Methadone: 2

Amphetamine: 1

Cocaine: 11

Of the 69 prisoners tested prior to liberation 19 (28%) tested positive for drugs.

The substances found were:

Benzodiazepine: 13

Opiates: 5

Buprenorphine: 3

Question reference: S3W-36715

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Edinburgh was assessed as having an alcohol problem in 2009-10.

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

Every prisoner admitted to HMP Edinburgh goes through an initial health screening by a nurse. Prisoners are all asked about historical and current alcohol misuse to ascertain immediate clinical need. Prisoners serving over 31 days in custody, identified with an alcohol misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment:

In 2009-10 there were 748 substance misuse referrals made of which 15% (114) were assessed for further alcohol intervention.

Question reference: S3W-36718

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Addiewell has been assessed as having a substance abuse problem in each year since it opened.

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

Prisoners in HMP Addiewell serving over 31 days in custody, identified with a substance misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment.

The prison opened on 12 December 2008.

In 2008-09 of the 206 referrals made 38% (78) were assessed as having an a substance abuse problem.

In 2009-10 of the 493 referrals made 37% (182) were assessed as having a substance abuse problem.

Referrals continue to be made to the addictions team after the initial assessment and the team estimate that of the total prison population of 700 around 75% (525) have a substance abuse problem.

Question reference: S3W-36722

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of the prisoner progression and community reintegration facilities available at HMP (a) Edinburgh and (b) Addiewell.

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

HMP Edinburgh and HMP Addiewell offer a full range of progression facilities for all prisoners sent into their custody identified through the initial screening process and through the subsequent integrated case management (ICM) process. All prisoners have initial risk and needs identified through core screen assessments and are referred for subsequent offender management and throughcare assessment as required. As part of the enhanced ICM process, prisoners are referred to criminal justice social work with an identified community based criminal justice social worker who agrees a community integration plan with the establishment and attends regular ICM case conferences.

Each establishment also operates a link centre where multi-agency and multi‘discipline assessment and referral takes place to assist with sentence progression and reintegration with the community for those prisoners not on the enhanced ICM process.

Each establishment has well established risk management processes including multi-disciplinary progression management groups that ensure appropriate assessment to allow for internal progression through the prison estate to national top-end and open conditions. In addition, both establishments facilitate home detention curfew for those eligible prisoners who qualify for early release on licence.

Question reference: S3W-36721

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the training available to Scottish Prison Service staff at HMP (a) Edinburgh and (b) Addiewell.

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

Staff at HMP Edinburgh comprise a diverse range of roles and professions, some requiring prior qualification and membership of professional bodies. As such their competence requirements are also very diverse. A broad range of training tools and interventions are deployed to support them, both locally and led by the SPS college at Polmont.

Kalyx are sub-contracted by Addiewell Prison Limited to manage HMP Addiewell on behalf of Scottish Ministers. A copy of the contract is published on the SPS website.

With the exception of the SPS controllers team, the staff are employees of Kalyx. The contract requires that Kalyx staff are trained and competent to carry out their role.

Question reference: S3W-36719

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners in HMP Edinburgh have been tested for drugs in each year since 2008, broken down by the number of positive tests and substances identified.

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

Since 1 January 2009 until 30 September 2010 a total of 2,592 mandatory drug tests have been carried out in HMP Edinburgh with 838 resulting in a positive drug test.

The following table provides greater detail:

Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Positive Result
Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Cannabis	Opiates	Benzodiazepines	Methadone	Cocaine	Buprenorphine
January 2008	86	31	2	12	1	23	1	1
February 2008	94	26	2	16	1	10		1
March 2008	90	22	2	7	2	10
April 2008	88	26		10	2	16		1
May 2008	69	24	1	13	2	13		1
June 2008	104	25	1	9		16		1
July 2008	95	37	10	17	4	17		1
August 2008	107	33	17	10	8	15		5
September 2008	108	29	5	10	4	13	1	4
October 2008	70	16		4	1	12
November 2008	84	26	3	8	5	13		2
December 2008	64	22	4	9	1	15		3
Total	1059	317	47	125	31	173	2	20

Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Positive Result
Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Cannabis	Opiates	Benzodiazepines	Methadone	Cocaine	Buprenorphine
January 2009	109	43	1	7	8	27		7
February 2009	78	28		5	5	22		5
March 2009	63	20		4		14		5
April 2009	87	24	2	10	6	19		8
May 2009	62	29		5	4	14		2
June 2009	50	11	3	5	2	6		2
July 2009	24	9	4	4	1	6
August 2009	78	26	3	17	6	14		3
September 2009	96	28		12	3	17		1
October 2009	64	29	1	18	3	18		3
November 2009	48	16		6		13		2
December 2009	75	29	2	15	2	13	3	4
Total	834	292	16	108	40	183	3	42

Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Positive Result
Month	No. of Tests	Result Positive	Cannabis	Opiates	Benzodiazepines	Methadone	Cocaine	Buprenorphine
January 2010	65	14		4		9		1
February 2010	79	26		7	3	20		1
March 2010	81	31		13	4	23		1
April 2010	75	31	5	13	2	23		4
May 2010	88	30	2	10	3	17		3
June 2010	69	19		8	2	20
July 2010	52	16		7	1	10
August 2010	99	34		10	1	23		1
September 2010	91	28		9		20
Total	699	229	7	81	16	165	0	11
Totals	2592	838	70	314	87	521	5	73

Question reference: S3W-36716

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Edinburgh was assessed as having a substance abuse problem in 2009-10.

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

Every prisoner admitted to HMP Edinburgh goes through an initial health screening by a nurse. Prisoners are all asked about historical and current substance misuse to ascertain immediate clinical need. Prisoners serving over 31 days in custody, identified with a substance misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment,:

In 2009-10 there were 748 referrals made of which 70% (529) undertook an assessment.

52% (389) of those referred were assessed for drugs;

15% (114) of those referred were assessed for alcohol; and

3% (26) of those referred were assessed for both drugs and alcohol.

It should be noted that data relating to assessments carried out for both drugs and alcohol only began being collated in April 2010.

Question reference: S3W-36717

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Addiewell has been assessed as having an alcohol problem in each year since it opened.

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

Prisoners in HMP Addiewell serving over 31 days in custody, identified with a substance misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment.

The prison opened on 12 December 2008.

In 2008-09 of the 206 referrals made 8% (16) were assessed as having an alcohol problem.

In 2009-10 of the 493 referrals made 6% (30) were assessed as having an alcohol problem.

Referrals continue to be made to the addictions team after the initial assessment and the team estimate that of the total prison population of 700 30% (210) have an alcohol problem.

Question reference: S3W-36665

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 21 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of the meetings of the summer Cabinet programme 2010 held in (a) Dornoch, (b) Stirling, (c) the Isle of Bute and (d) Kilmarnock, also broken down by (i) staff time, (ii) staff travel, (iii) staff accommodation, (iv) ministerial accommodation, (v) venue hire and set up and (vi) publicity.

Question reference: S3W-36604

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 14 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it responded to the UK Government consultation, Financing a private sector recovery, and, if so, on what date it lodged its submission and what it contained.

The Scottish Government submitted its response to the UK Government''s consultation on Financing a private sector recovery on 17 September 2010.

This response covered the breadth of subject matter covered by the consultation paper, including regulatory frameworks; equity and debt capital markets; competition; risk; the banking sector environment, and international trade. The response took account of the views of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Development International and identified areas of concern for Scotland (such as the difficulties in accessing finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as evidenced by the Scottish Government''s own research into SME Access to Finance), as well as outlining topics of specific interest to Scotland, such as the Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Scottish Loan Fund.