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-32324

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fixed penalty notices issued in the Lothian and Borders police force area in relation to antisocial behaviour offences in the last three years were to (a) first time and (b) repeat offenders.

Question reference: S3W-32269

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many adults in the Lothians region reported using drugs in the last month in crime and justice surveys in the last three years, broken down by type of drug.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09 is the only source for this information at sub-Scotland level. Information is not available at regional level however information is available for Lothian and Borders Police Force Area.

The following estimates for Lothian and Borders Police Force Area are based on self-reported data, gathered through a household survey, on illicit drug use amongst adults in the general population aged 16 years or over.

Self-Reported Drug Use in Lothian and Borders Police Force Area in the Month Prior to Survey Interview

	Estimated number in Lothian and Borders	Estimated % of adults in Lothian and Borders
Amphetamine	1,000	0.1%
Cannabis	31,000	4.0%
Cocaine	11,000	1.4%
Crack	1,000	0.1%
Ecstasy	8,000	1.0%
Heroin	1,000	0.1%
LSD	2,000	0.3%
Magic Mushrooms	3,000	0.4%
Methadone/Physeptone	1,000	0.2%
Temazepam	*	0.1%
Valium	1,000	0.2%
Anabolic Steroids	-	-
Poppers	2,000	0.2%
Crystal Meth	-	-
Ketamine	3,000	0.3%
Glues, Solvents, Gas or Aerosols	-	-
Taken any drug in last month	35,000	4.5%
Not taken any drug in last month	735,000	95.5%

Source: Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09 (Lothian and Borders: 1,595 respondents). Estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand. Respondents may have taken more than one kind of drug in the last month.

Notes:

*Indicates that data are not available in data tables as unweighted base is below 50.

-Indicates that no respondents gave an answer in the category.

Question reference: S3W-32153

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were arrested for possession of child pornography in the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by police force.

Information on the number of arrests made by the police is not held centrally, only the number of crimes recorded and cleared up.

The following table shows the number of possession of obscene materials offences¹ recorded by the police in the Lothian and Borders police force area, broken down by local authority, 2004-05 to 2008-09:

	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07²	2007-08	2008-09
City of Edinburgh	6	158	123	137	138
East Lothian	0	10	5	23	13
Midlothian	0	15	59	27	16
West Lothian	10	62	27	37	37
Scottish Borders	0	33	14	17	11
Lothian and Borders police force area	16	278	228	241	215

Notes:

1. Offences include handling obscene material (not specifically related to children) and taking, distributing and possessing indecent photos of children.

2. Offence of taking, distributing and possessing indecent photos of children came into force in 2006-07.

Question reference: S3W-32154

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals were applied to people convicted of possession of child pornography in the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a charge proved in Scottish courts for offences under sections 52 or 52A of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982¹, in Lothians region, by sheriff court, 2004-05 to 2008-09:

Sheriff Court/Disposal	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Edinburgh
Community Service Order	2	0	0	1	0
Fine	1	0	0	0	1
Imprisonment	4	8	4	1	9
Probation	1	0	1	3	2
Probation & CSO	5	2	1	2	2
Total	13	10	6	7	14
Haddington
Imprisonment	1	0	1	0	0
Total	1	0	1	0	0
Linlithgow	0	2	0	0	0
Fine
Imprisonment	0	0	1	0	4
Probation	1	0	1	0	1
Probation & CSO	0	2	0	0	0
Total	1	4	2	0	5
All Lothians sheriff courts
Community Service Order	2	0	0	1	0
Fine	1	2	0	0	1
Imprisonment	5	8	6	1	13
Probation	2	0	2	3	3
Probation & CSO	5	4	1	2	2
Total	15	14	9	7	19

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-32268

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many adults in the City of Edinburgh reported using drugs in the last month in crime and justice surveys in the last three years, broken down by type of drug.

Question reference: S3W-32155

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average ambulance call-out time was in (i) the NHS Lothian area and (ii) Scotland in each of the last five years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29061 on 1 December 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the longest and shortest ambulance call-out times. However, where the emergency response time standard relevant to the call priority is not met then the reasons for that are investigated and are recorded by the Scottish Ambulance Service. This helps to inform the service''s efforts towards securing continuous service improvement.

Question reference: S3W-32090

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals were applied to people convicted of carrying a knife or other bladed weapon in the Lothians region in 2008-09.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Convicted of Carrying an Offensive Weapon¹ in Lothians Region, in 2008-09, by Disposal

Offences/Disposals	2008-09
Having in a public place an article with a blade or point
Custody	72
Community sentence	62
Monetary	53
Admonished	26
Other	1
Total	214
Possession of an offensive weapon
Custody	36
Community sentence	50
Monetary	72
Admonished	14
Other	0
Total	172
All offences
Custody	108
Community sentence	112
Monetary	125
Admonished	40
Other	1
Total	386

Note: 1. Where main offence. Handling an offensive weapon covers the crime categories: possession of an offensive weapon, restriction of an offensive weapon and having in a public place an article with a blade or point.

Question reference: S3W-32089

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are incarcerated at HMP Edinburgh for carrying a knife or other offensive weapon.

Question reference: S3W-31945

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related accident and emergency admissions there were in NHS Lothian in each of the last three years, broken down by hospital.

While the number of accident and emergency (A&E) admissions is collected for hospitals in NHS Lothian, information on how many alcohol-related accident and emergency (A&E) admissions there were in NHS Lothian is not available centrally.

The number of A&E attendances that resulted in an inpatient stay and alcohol-related discharge from hospitals in NHS Lothian is shown in table 1. The most recent year for which information on alcohol-related discharges is available is 2008-09.

Table 1: General acute¹ inpatient and day case² discharges with an alcohol-related diagnosis^3,4, in any position, where the patient was referred from an A&E department to hospitals in Lothian Health Board of treatment: Financial Years 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09:

2006-07	2007-08	2008-09^P
2,823	4,297	4,751

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in a general acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organization''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Alcohol-related: F10, K70, X45, X65, Y15, Y90, Y91, E24.4, E51.2, G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K86.0, O35.4, P04.3, Q86.0, T51.0, T51.1, T51.9, Y57.3, R78.0, Z50.2, Z71.4, Z72.1.

4. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of alcohol-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital. The information in table 1 is likely to be a significant underestimate of the number of alcohol-related A&E attendances as not all people attending A&E for alcohol-related problems will subsequently be admitted to hospital. Also this table will not include alcohol-related A&E referrals where the alcohol-related problem has not been recorded on the patients SMR01 diagnosis summary.

Question reference: S3W-31946

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug-related accident and emergency admissions there were in NHS Lothian in each of the last three years, broken down by hospital.