Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-20482

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were caught by police with (a) knives and (b) other offensive weapons in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The number of offensive weapon offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland in each of the last five years are shown in the following tables.

Offences Involving an Offensive Weapon, by Local Authority Area, 2003-04

	2003-04
	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Aberdeen City	218	0	110	328
Aberdeenshire	114	0	30	144
Angus	27	0	8	35
Argyll and Bute	37	0	42	79
City of Edinburgh	438	1	187	626
City of Glasgow	1,721	0	1,612	3,333
Clackmannanshire	73	0	6	79
Dumfries and Galloway	121	0	38	159
Dundee City	101	0	66	167
East Ayrshire	119	0	58	177
East Dunbartonshire	63	0	31	94
East Lothian	47	0	20	67
East Renfrewshire	43	0	40	83
Eilean Siar	8	0	4	12
Falkirk	128	0	56	184
Fife	52	0	183	235
Highland	177	0	58	235
Inverclyde	124	0	169	293
Midlothian	68	0	17	85
Moray	81	0	24	105
North Ayrshire	161	1	113	275
North Lanarkshire	350	0	187	537
Orkney Islands	1	0	3	4
Perth and Kinross	41	0	16	57
Renfrewshire	204	0	186	390
Scottish Borders	89	0	42	131
Shetland Islands	3	0	1	4
South Ayrshire	53	1	40	94
South Lanarkshire	368	1	276	645
Stirling	105	0	30	135
West Dunbartonshire	199	0	119	318
West Lothian	135	0	33	168
All Scotland	5,469	4	3,805	9,278

Offences Involving an Offensive Weapon, by Local Authority Area, 2004-05

	2004-05
	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Aberdeen City	216	0	113	329
Aberdeenshire	134	0	48	182
Angus	50	0	12	62
Argyll and Bute	53	0	56	109
City of Edinburgh	454	0	171	625
City of Glasgow	1,583	0	1,601	3,184
Clackmannanshire	71	0	12	83
Dumfries and Galloway	102	1	14	117
Dundee City	100	0	82	182
East Ayrshire	146	0	72	218
East Dunbartonshire	83	0	35	118
East Lothian	38	1	13	52
East Renfrewshire	58	0	65	123
Eilean Siar	5	0	5	10
Falkirk	138	0	65	203
Fife	180	0	91	271
Highland	192	0	60	252
Inverclyde	143	0	165	308
Midlothian	68	0	16	84
Moray	94	0	10	104
North Ayrshire	176	0	121	297
North Lanarkshire	427	0	205	632
Orkney Islands	1	0	3	4
Perth and Kinross	73	0	42	115
Renfrewshire	232	0	148	380
Scottish Borders	90	0	25	115
Shetland Islands	13	0	8	21
South Ayrshire	83	0	24	107
South Lanarkshire	361	0	280	641
Stirling	88	0	35	123
West Dunbartonshire	188	0	102	290
West Lothian	154	0	50	204
All Scotland	5,794	2	3,749	9,545

Offences Involving an Offensive Weapon, by Local Authority Area, 2005-06

	2005-06
	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Aberdeen City	218	0	91	309
Aberdeenshire	121	0	48	169
Angus	60	0	14	74
Argyll and Bute	46	0	57	103
City of Edinburgh	494	0	254	748
City of Glasgow	1,748	0	1,364	3,112
Clackmannanshire	69	0	20	89
Dumfries and Galloway	127	0	10	137
Dundee City	110	0	76	186
East Ayrshire	173	0	67	240
East Dunbartonshire	88	0	41	129
East Lothian	44	0	22	66
East Renfrewshire	47	0	29	76
Eilean Siar	15	0	4	19
Falkirk	115	0	49	164
Fife	197	0	76	273
Highland	193	2	87	282
Inverclyde	117	0	130	247
Midlothian	85	0	21	106
Moray	92	0	18	110
North Ayrshire	216	0	129	345
North Lanarkshire	430	0	239	669
Orkney Islands	4	0	6	10
Perth and Kinross	43	0	32	75
Renfrewshire	237	1	163	401
Scottish Borders	63	0	40	103
Shetland Islands	14	0	5	19
South Ayrshire	99	0	46	145
South Lanarkshire	314	0	272	586
Stirling	93	0	32	125
West Dunbartonshire	182	0	142	324
West Lothian	128	0	59	187
All Scotland	5,982	3	3,643	9,628

Offences Involving an Offensive Weapon, by Local Authority Area, 2006-07

	2006-07
	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Aberdeen City	218	0	113	331
Aberdeenshire	118	0	52	170
Angus	55	0	17	72
Argyll and Bute	90	0	73	163
City of Edinburgh	520	0	287	807
City of Glasgow	1,696	1	1,323	3,020
Clackmannanshire	89	0	49	138
Dumfries and Galloway	98	0	61	159
Dundee City	93	0	97	190
East Ayrshire	131	0	86	217
East Dunbartonshire	83	0	36	119
East Lothian	108	0	31	139
East Renfrewshire	53	0	43	96
Eilean Siar	11	0	5	16
Falkirk	113	0	109	222
Fife	224	0	117	341
Highland	281	0	79	360
Inverclyde	134	0	103	237
Midlothian	106	0	29	135
Moray	74	0	30	104
North Ayrshire	207	0	131	338
North Lanarkshire	442	0	242	684
Orkney Islands	4	0	6	10
Perth and Kinross	56	0	28	84
Renfrewshire	213	0	184	397
Scottish Borders	82	0	38	120
Shetland Islands	16	0	3	19
South Ayrshire	140	0	43	183
South Lanarkshire	325	0	264	589
Stirling	107	0	32	139
West Dunbartonshire	163	0	137	300
West Lothian	139	0	72	211
All Scotland	6,189	1	3,920	10,110

Offences Involving an Offensive Weapon, by Local Authority Area, 2007-08

	2007-08
	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Restriction of Offensive Weapon	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Total
Aberdeen City	214	1	151	366
Aberdeenshire	92	0	45	137
Angus	40	0	31	71
Argyll and Bute	64	0	66	130
City of Edinburgh	462	0	261	723
City of Glasgow	1,527	0	1,123	2,650
Clackmannanshire	84	0	42	126
Dumfries and Galloway	85	0	48	133
Dundee City	88	0	91	179
East Ayrshire	124	0	90	214
East Dunbartonshire	66	0	46	112
East Lothian	64	0	21	85
East Renfrewshire	34	0	39	73
Eilean Siar	9	0	4	13
Falkirk	85	0	77	162
Fife	202	2	110	314
Highland	267	0	78	345
Inverclyde	121	0	103	224
Midlothian	71	0	25	96
Moray	40	0	43	83
North Ayrshire	214	0	123	337
North Lanarkshire	437	0	240	677
Orkney Islands	4	0	5	9
Perth and Kinross	39	0	31	70
Renfrewshire	152	0	166	318
Scottish Borders	55	0	36	91
Shetland Islands	7	0	3	10
South Ayrshire	95	0	50	145
South Lanarkshire	290	0	224	514
Stirling	64	0	33	97
West Dunbartonshire	175	0	119	294
West Lothian	127	0	64	191
All Scotland	5,398	3	3,588	8,989

Question reference: S3W-20484

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people caught by police with (a) knives or (b) other offensive weapons represents (i) repeat and (ii) first-time offenders in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-20483

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people caught with drugs by police represents (a) repeat and (b) first-time offenders in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-20469

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business survival rate is and what information it has on such figures for the United Kingdom.

Data on the survival rate of businesses are released annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest available data refers to the one-year survival rate of all newly-born enterprises in 2006. However, the two, three, four and five-year survival rates are also available.

Table 1 One-Year to Five-Year Survival Rate of Newly-Born Enterprises in Scotland by Year of Birth, 2002-06

	Year of Birth
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
One-year	93.8%	93.2%	94.2%	93.4%	96.5%
Two-year	80.3%	78.3%	77.8%	77.4%	-
Three-year	63.6%	63.4%	64.3%	-	-
Four-year	52.6%	54.0%	-	-	-
Five-year	45.6%	-	-	-	-

Table 2 One-Year to Five-Year Survival Rate of Newly-Born Enterprises in the UK by Year of Birth, 2002-06

	Year of Birth
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
One-year	92.9%	92.6%	94.2%	94.3%	96.5%
Two-year	79.3%	78.0%	78.7%	79.8%	-
Three-year	62.9%	63.6%	65.3%	-	-
Four-year	51.9%	54.3%	-	-	-
Five-year	44.9%	-	-	-	-

UK business survival rates are available from one-year to five-year in greater geographical and industrial detail via the following link http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15186.

Question reference: S3W-20468

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the workforce was employed in the public sector in each year since 1997 and what information it has on such figures for the United Kingdom.

The official source for public sector employment statistics is the Quarterly Public Sector Employment series. Estimates for Scotland are published by the Scottish Government and UK estimates are published by the Office for National Statistics. Table 1 shows the proportion of the workforce employed in the public sector in Scotland and the UK from quarter 1 1999 to quarter 3 2008 (the latest data available). A consistent time series for Scotland and the UK is only available back to 1999.

Table 1: Public Sector Employment as % of Total Employment, Scotland and UK, 1999-2008. Not Seasonally Adjusted (Head Count)

	Scotland	UK
	%	%
1999 Q1	23.1	19.3
1999 Q2	23.1	19.2
1999 Q3	22.8	19.0
1999 Q4	23.1	19.3
2000 Q1	23.2	19.3
2000 Q2	22.7	19.2
2000 Q3	22.5	19.1
2000 Q4	22.5	19.3
2001 Q1	22.7	19.4
2001 Q2	22.7	19.4
2001 Q3	22.7	19.2
2001 Q4	23.1	19.6
2002 Q1	23.2	19.7
2002 Q2	23.2	19.6
2002 Q3	23.0	19.5
2002 Q4	23.0	19.9
2003 Q1	23.0	20.0
2003 Q2	23.1	20.0
2003 Q3	23.1	19.9
2003 Q4	23.4	20.2
2004 Q1	23.4	20.3
2004 Q2	23.3	20.2
2004 Q3	23.3	20.1
2004 Q4	23.5	20.3
2005 Q1	23.6	20.4
2005 Q2	23.7	20.3
2005 Q3	23.6	20.1
2005 Q4	23.7	20.3
2006 Q1	23.7	20.2
2006 Q2	23.7	20.0
2006 Q3	23.3	19.8
2006 Q4	23.0	19.9
2007 Q1	22.9	19.9
2007 Q2	22.7	19.7
2007 Q3	22.5	19.5
2007 Q4	22.7	19.6
2008 Q1	22.6	19.5
2008 Q2	22.7	19.5
2008 Q3	22.6	19.5

Source: Quarterly Public Sector Employment Series; Scottish Government, Office for National Statistics.

Note: Data are not seasonally adjusted and therefore comparisons between years should only be made for the same quarter.

Question reference: S3W-20467

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many business start-ups there were in each year since 1997 and what information it has on such figures for the United Kingdom.

Data on the number of VAT registrations are released annually by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). These figures are used to monitor the number of business start-ups. The latest available data refers to all VAT registrations taking place in the UK in 2007.

The following table shows the number of VAT registrations in Scotland and the UK as a whole from 1997 to 2007:

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Scotland	12,305	11,740	11,330	11,200	10,855	11,045
UK	181,530	180,740	175,615	177,770	169,230	176,205

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Scotland	11,940	11,985	11,660	11,755	14,595
UK	191,535	184,010	182,380	182,055	205,725

Source: BERR.

Please note that these figures do not account for all business activity as only companies with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

Question reference: S3W-20832

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related incidents have taken place in schools in the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) type of incident and (b) local authority.

Question reference: S3W-20090

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 4 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19457 by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2008, how many direct measures have been issued by procurators fiscal in relation to alleged offences under section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 since April 2008, broken down by (a) type of drug, (b) class of drug and (c) sheriff court district.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

While the use of direct measures for possession of Class A drugs in very exceptional circumstances cannot be discounted, the clear policy is that they should only be issued for possession of small quantities of Class B and Class C drugs such as cannabis.

Guidance to procurators fiscal makes it clear that possession of a Class A drug is not appropriate for a Direct Measure and should be prosecuted in the sheriff court.

Question reference: S3O-05665

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to consider project bank accounts for its own construction contracts.

Question reference: S3W-19822

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people caught by police with (a) knives and (b) other weapons in the Lothians region were (i) repeat and (ii) first-time offenders in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The available information is given in the following table , knives cannot be identified separately from other types of weapons.

Persons¹ with a Charge Proved in 2002-03 to 2006-07 for Possession of a Knife or Offensive Weapon²: Breakdown by Approximate Local Authority Area³ and whether or Not First-Time Offenders⁴

Year / local authority	Number of all Offenders	Percentage First-Time Offenders⁴	Percentage Repeat Offenders⁴
2002-03
East Lothian	25	88	12
Edinburgh, City of	184	78	22
West Lothian	64	86	14
Lothians	273	81	19
2003-04
East Lothian	16	88	12
Edinburgh, City of	199	81	19
West Lothian	35	91	9
Lothians	250	83	17
2004-05
East Lothian	15	73	27
Edinburgh, City of	230	83	17
West Lothian	40	83	17
Lothians	285	83	17

2005-06
East Lothian	11	82	18
Edinburgh, City of	221	82	18
West Lothian	29	90	10
Lothians	261	83	17
2006-07
East Lothian	22	95	5
Edinburgh, City of	268	80	20
West Lothian	67	91	9
Lothians	357	83	17

Notes:

1. Each person who was convicted of such an offence in each financial year is counted only once.

2. Where main offence.

3. 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. Midlothian does not contain a sheriff court.

4. First-time offenders relates to those individuals who were sentenced on one occasion for an offence of this type in the financial year considered and had no other convictions for an offences of this type in the last 10 years (e.g. 1997-98 to 2006-07 for the year 2006-07). Repeat offenders contains everyone whose most recent conviction in the financial year considered was not the only one of this type they had committed in the last 10 years. Repeat offenders are identified by their offender reference number; note that the ability to record and maintain unique reference numbers over time has increased over the last 10 years.

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