Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-21932

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-6169 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2009, to what extent selling agents believe that home reports are stimulating the housing market.

Question reference: S3W-21930

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-6169 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2009, how many selling agents believe that home reports are stimulating the housing market.

Question reference: S3W-21931

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-6169 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2009, what percentage of selling agents believe that home reports are stimulating the housing market.

Question reference: S3W-21941

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much shoplifting costs small business annually.

Question reference: S3W-21944

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of shoplifters was made up of repeat offenders in 2007-08, broken down by local authority area.

Data from 2007-08 will not be published until 28 April 2009. Information from 2006-07 (the most recent year available) on the number of persons convicted of shoplifting with a previous conviction in the period back to 1April 1997 is given in the following table:

Percentage of Persons with a Charge Proved for Shoplifting Offences¹ in 2006-07 with a Previous Conviction by Approximate Local Authority Area²

Local Authority	Percentage with a Previous Conviction for any Offence	Percentage with a Previous Shoplifting Conviction
Aberdeen City	90.6	67.6
Aberdeenshire	97.4	64.1
Angus	90.1	69.3
Argyll and Bute	90.0	45.0
Clackmannanshire	92.4	55.7
Dumfries and Galloway	94.3	70.2
Dundee City	92.9	70.0
East Ayrshire	95.6	71.3
East Dunbartonshire	-	-
East Lothian	92.0	48.0
East Renfrewshire	88.9	66.7
Edinburgh, City of	85.8	57.3
Eilean Siar	90.9	9.1
Falkirk	92.8	62.5
Fife	90.3	65.0
Glasgow City	93.1	66.3
Highland	88.3	57.1
Inverclyde	90.7	66.7
Midlothian	72.4	41.4
Moray	96.8	54.8
North Ayrshire	75.0	25.0
North Lanarkshire	93.2	55.9
Orkney Islands	100.0	0.0
Perth and Kinross	96.1	66.1
Renfrewshire	85.8	55.0
Scottish Borders	85.5	40.6
Shetland Islands	100.0	50.0
South Ayrshire	95.9	66.9
South Lanarkshire	89.8	63.3
Stirling	89.3	63.1
West Dunbartonshire	93.6	59.1
West Lothian	91.5	56.2
Scotland	91.2	63.0

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

Question reference: S3W-21945

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals were applied to people caught shoplifting in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

The available information is given in the following table:

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Shoplifting Crimes¹ by Approximate Local Authority Area² and Disposal, 2004-05 to 2006-07

Local Authority/Disposal	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City
Custody	168	201	162
Community sentence	164	210	150
Monetary	212	238	236
Other	99	122	138
Total	643	771	686
Aberdeenshire
Custody	30	42	17
Community sentence	32	26	24
Monetary	102	80	64
Other	20	23	11
Total	184	171	116
Angus
Custody	17	36	54
Community sentence	10	16	32
Monetary	24	50	75
Other	19	12	32
Total	70	114	193
Argyll and Bute
Custody	10	2	5
Community sentence	1	6	6
Monetary	12	8	6
Other	11	6	6
Total	34	22	23
Clackmannanshire
Custody	12	10	18
Community sentence	34	25	34
Monetary	31	39	53
Other	15	9	14
Total	92	83	119
Dumfries and Galloway
Custody	83	78	70
Community sentence	53	45	80
Monetary	43	39	44
Other	10	17	35
Total	189	179	229
Dundee City
Custody	147	245	273
Community sentence	129	176	163
Monetary	255	236	321
Other	78	108	91
Total	609	765	848
East Ayrshire
Custody	166	172	161
Community sentence	96	127	106
Monetary	94	102	109
Other	40	42	44
Total	396	443	420
East Dunbartonshire
Custody	-	-	-
Community sentence	-	1	-
Monetary	22	6	-
Other	18	8	-
Total	40	15	-
East Lothian
Custody	6	1	7
Community sentence	6	2	4
Monetary	12	3	16
Other	3	5	6
Total	27	11	33
East Renfrewshire
Custody	-	-	-
Community sentence	-	1	-
Monetary	9	3	10
Other	1	4	4
Total	10	8	14
Edinburgh, City of
Custody	183	199	166
Community sentence	182	201	147
Monetary	378	312	339
Other	153	155	210
Total	896	867	862
Eilean Siar
Custody	2	-	-
Community sentence	-	-	3
Monetary	3	-	9
Other	-	-	-
Total	5	-	12
Falkirk
Custody	72	52	52
Community sentence	43	50	82
Monetary	110	49	69
Other	70	42	43
Total	295	193	246
Fife
Custody	161	139	148
Community sentence	88	104	108
Monetary	150	130	186
Other	92	132	120
Total	491	505	562
Glasgow City
Custody	525	444	423
Community sentence	104	121	137
Monetary	770	688	733
Other	252	328	402
Total	1,651	1,581	1,695
Highland
Custody	58	55	69
Community sentence	45	51	47
Monetary	110	124	112
Other	23	45	43
Total	236	275	271
Inverclyde
Custody	52	34	29
Community sentence	64	23	21
Monetary	35	27	15
Other	41	41	34
Total	192	125	99
Midlothian
Custody	-	-	-
Community sentence	-	-	-
Monetary	19	23	34
Other	2	2	1
Total	21	25	35
Moray
Custody	13	17	16
Community sentence	5	9	12
Monetary	16	10	22
Other	9	6	3
Total	43	42	53
North Ayrshire
Custody	-	-	-
Community sentence	-	1	-
Monetary	12	44	27
Other	6	7	6
Total	18	52	33
North Lanarkshire
Custody	64	50	69
Community sentence	44	41	38
Monetary	94	105	92
Other	53	48	50
Total	255	244	249
Orkney Islands
Custody	-	-	-
Community sentence	-	-	-
Monetary	-	-	2
Other	-	-	-
Total	-	-	2
Perth and Kinross
Custody	35	39	50
Community sentence	43	45	44
Monetary	79	77	110
Other	36	36	28
Total	193	197	232
Renfrewshire
Custody	77	84	60
Community sentence	58	36	24
Monetary	147	130	158
Other	87	81	84
Total	369	331	326
Scottish Borders
Custody	27	25	13
Community sentence	8	8	11
Monetary	48	42	44
Other	14	8	15
Total	97	83	83
Shetland Islands
Custody	-	2	2
Community sentence	1	5	2
Monetary	3	2	1
Other	-	1	-
Total	4	10	5
South Ayrshire
Custody	137	79	105
Community sentence	73	46	34
Monetary	61	29	35
Other	55	46	27
Total	326	200	201
South Lanarkshire
Custody	157	144	106
Community sentence	108	68	64
Monetary	113	99	98
Other	71	75	98
Total	449	386	366
Stirling
Custody	49	37	38
Community sentence	64	27	28
Monetary	52	48	56
Other	32	34	41
Total	197	146	163
West Dunbartonshire
Custody	68	77	63
Community sentence	26	31	29
Monetary	55	29	52
Other	36	16	23
Total	185	153	167
West Lothian
Custody	53	36	40
Community sentence	66	37	64
Monetary	78	70	58
Other	13	20	21
Total	210	163	183
Scotland³
Custody	2,372	2,302	2,217
Community sentence	1,547	1,539	1,494
Monetary	3,149	2,842	3,186
Other	1,359	1,479	1,630
Total	8,427	8,162	8,527

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

3. Contains a small number of cases where local authority is unknown.

Question reference: S3W-21933

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3O-6169 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2009, what evidence it has that home reports are stimulating the housing market.

Question reference: S3W-21940

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much shoplifting costs the economy annually.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Table 1 of the Scottish Government''s Recorded Crime in Scotland 2007-08 publication shows the number of recorded instances of shoplifting per year from 1998-99 to 2007-08.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/29155946/7

The Scottish Government does not produce estimates of the economic cost of shoplifting in Scotland. However, the Home Office has produced an estimate of the average economic and social costs associated with a theft from a shop. This is available in The Economic and Social Costs of Crime (Home Office Research Study 217) http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors217.pdf.

Question reference: S3W-21802

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what disposals were applied to people prosecuted under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in the Lothians and Borders police force area in each of the last three years.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Lothians and Borders Police Force Area, Where the Main Offence was Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971¹, by Disposal, 2004-05 to 2006-07

Main Result of Proceedings	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Prison	149	148	149
Young Offenders Institute	13	16	9
Probation	82	64	69
Community service order	93	79	61
Restriction of liberty order	4	3	8
Drug treatment and testing order	19	36	33
Fine	505	616	678
Caution or admonition	71	79	114
Absolute discharge	3	3	1
Total	939	1,044	1,122

Note: 1. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 covers a range of offences which come under the following crime categories: illegal importation of drugs, production and manufacture or cultivation of drugs, supply or possession with intent to supply, possession of drugs and obstructing a constable in pursuance of his duty.

Question reference: S3W-21726

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-20834 by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2009, how many of the 248 repeat offenders committed (a) two crimes, (b) three crimes, (c) four crimes, (d) five to 10 crimes and (e) more than 10 crimes.

Chamber and committees