Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-19692

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 21 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people offered a direct measure in each month since January 2007 had at the time of the offer (a) one or more previous convictions or (b) previously been offered a direct measure, broken down by police force area.

Case records in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database do not contain any electronically searchable information about previous offending history or other reported cases involving the same accused. As a result, it is not possible to extract aggregate information of the type requested.

Procurators fiscal taking decisions in individual cases do, however, have access to all relevant information about the accused''s previous convictions and offending history. This information is contained within the text of the Standard Prosecution Report and the associated information from the Criminal History System.

Question reference: S3W-19460

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of assault and robbery resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

Question reference: S3W-19462

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of assault with intent to rape resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

No incidents of assault with intent to rape were dealt with by means of a fiscal fine between April 2007 and October 2008. Guidance issued to procurator fiscals in October 2008 makes it clear that fiscal fines must not be issued in cases which involve a significant sexual aspect.

Notes: 1. The answer to this question has been prepared using the same data extract as was used in the preparation of the answer to question S3W-18105. It therefore includes only information relating to Direct Measures issued between April 2007 and October 2008.

Question reference: S3W-19463

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of serious assault and robbery resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

No incidents of assault to severe injury and robbery were dealt with by means of a fiscal fine between April 2007 and October 2008. Guidance issued to procurators fiscal in October 2008 makes it clear that there is a presumption in favour of, at least, sheriff summary proceedings where an assault results in any significant injury.

Notes: 1. The answer to this question has been prepared using the same data extract as was used in the preparation of the answer to question S3W-18105. It therefore includes only information relating to Direct Measures issued between April 2007 and October 2008.

Question reference: S3W-19458

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of serious assault resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

No incidents of assault to severe injury were dealt with by means of a fiscal fine between April 2007 and October 2008. Guidance issued to procurators fiscal in October 2008 makes it clear that there is a presumption in favour of, at least, sheriff summary proceedings where an assault results in any significant injury.

Notes: 1. The answer to this question has been prepared using the same data extract as was used in the preparation of the answer to question S3W-18105. It therefore includes only information relating to Direct Measures issued between April 2007 and October 2008.

Question reference: S3W-19457

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the offences that have resulted in a direct measure being issued by procurators fiscal since April 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Information is available, however, showing the offences most frequently issued with a direct measure affected by Summary Justice Reform from April to September 2008.

The following table shows the ten most common offences issued with such a direct measure during this time. Of the 26,905 charges issued with a direct measure, 89% were accounted for by these 10 offences.

The figures do not include direct measures which were not affected by Summary Justice Reform, such as Procurator Fiscal warnings, fixed penalties or referrals to the Scottish Children''s Reporter Administration.

Information for periods prior to April 2008 is not available in the same format.

Charges Dealt with by a Direct Measure: April to September 2008

Charge Translation	Total as Direct Measure	As % of All Direct Measures
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, S5(2) (Possession of controlled drug)	4,788	18%
Breach of the Peace	4,467	17%
Communications Act 2003, S363(2)&(4) (Use/Install a television receiver without a licence)	3,769	14%
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, S201, 202 & 203 (public drinking)	2,877	11%
Theft by shoplifting	2,634	10%
Assault	2,344	9%
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, S52(1)&(3) (Vandalism)	1,443	6%
Theft	731	3%
Environmental Protection Act 1990, S87(1) (Deposit objects to cause litter)	577	2%
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, S47 (Urinate/defecate)	426	2%
Total Ten Most Common Charges	24,056	89%
All Direct Measures Issued April-September 2008	26,905	-

Notes:

1. The information in these tables has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

3. The figures in the tables relate to direct measures that were affected by Summary Justice Reform “ i.e. fiscal fines, compensation offers and combined offers of fiscal fines and compensation. They exclude all other types of direct measure.

Question reference: S3W-19459

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of assault to the danger of life resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

No incidents of assault to the danger of life were dealt with by means of a fiscal fine between April 2007 and October 2008. Guidance issued to procurators fiscal in October 2008 makes it clear that there is a presumption in favour of, at least, sheriff summary proceedings where an assault results in any significant injury.

Note: 1. The answer to this question has been prepared using the same data extract as was used in the preparation of the answer to question S3W-18105. It therefore includes only information relating to Direct Measures issued between April 2007 and October 2008.

Question reference: S3W-19461

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18105 by Frank Mulholland on 17 December 2008, how many incidents of assault to severe injury or permanent disfigurement resulted in a fiscal fine being issued by procurators fiscal in each month since January 2007, broken down by sheriff court.

No incidents of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement were dealt with by means of a fiscal fine between April 2007 and October 2008. Guidance issued to procurators fiscal in October 2008 makes it clear that there is a presumption in favour of, at least, sheriff summary proceedings where an assault results in any significant injury.

Notes: 1. The answer to this question has been prepared using the same data extract as was used in the preparation of the answer to question S3W-18105. It therefore includes only information relating to Direct Measures issued between April 2007 and October 2008.

Question reference: S3W-19142

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal accidents there have been on each trunk road in the Lothians since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The number of fatal and non-fatal accidents on each trunk road in the Lothians, broken down by local authority area, is shown in the following tables.

All Lothian Trunk Roads Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverityŽ

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	6	24	155
2000	5	28	140
2001	3	19	178
2002	5	24	132
2003	3	19	156
2004	1	20	149
2005	2	17	117
2006	4	27	162
2007	5	26	148
*2008	2	3	66
Total	36	207	1403

West Lothian M8 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	2	27
2000	0	5	21
2001	1	3	36
2002	1	1	20
2003	1	2	30
2004	0	4	21
2005	0	1	21
2006	1	2	17
2007	3	1	18
*2008	1	1	15
Total	8	22	226

West Lothian M9 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	1	7
2000	0	2	6
2001	0	2	12
2002	0	0	8
2003	0	1	7
2004	0	0	9
2005	0	1	4
2006	0	3	9
2007	0	3	9
*2008	0	0	1
Total	0	13	72

East Lothian A1 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverityŽ

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	5	7	29
2000	3	8	21
2001	1	5	30
2002	3	11	25
2003	1	7	26
2004	0	5	17
2005	1	4	20
2006	1	2	20
2007	2	3	17
*2008	0	0	8
Total	17	52	213

East Lothian A720 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	1	1
2000	0	0	2
2001	0	0	2
2002	0	0	2
2003	0	0	2
2004	0	0	3
2005	0	1	0
2006	0	1	2
2007	0	0	4
*2008	0	0	1
Total	0	3	19

Midlothian A68 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverityŽ

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	1	2	26
2000	0	4	12
2001	1	2	9
2002	1	3	12
2003	0	1	5
2004	0	2	12
2005	0	3	6
2006	1	8	12
2007	0	4	16
*2008	0	0	8
Total	4	29	118

Midlothian A720 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	1	2
2000	0	1	9
2001	0	0	3
2002	0	0	5
2003	0	0	6
2004	0	0	6
2005	0	1	4
2006	0	0	13
2007	0	1	5
*2008	0	0	3
Total	0	4	56

Midlothian A702 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	3	9
2000	2	3	3
2001	0	2	8
2002	0	5	11
2003	1	4	22
2004	0	4	14
2005	0	2	8
2006	0	2	14
2007	0	4	6
*2008	0	2	4
Total	3	31	99

City of Edinburgh M9 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverityŽ

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	0	9
2000	0	0	9
2001	0	0	8
2002	0	0	5
2003	0	0	5
2004	0	0	5
2005	0	1	7
2006	0	1	6
2007	0	3	6
*2008	0	0	2
Total	0	5	62

City of Edinburgh M8 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	3	10
2000	0	3	28
2001	0	1	31
2002	0	1	14
2003	0	2	11
2004	0	3	16
2005	0	0	17
2006	0	1	25
2007	0	0	13
*2008	1	0	7
Total	1	14	172

City of Edinburgh A720 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverityŽ

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	4	34
2000	0	2	29
2001	0	4	37
2002	0	2	27
2003	0	2	38
2004	1	0	43
2005	1	3	29
2006	0	7	42
2007	0	7	52
*2008	0	0	17
Total	2	31	348

City of Edinburgh A702 Accidents by YearŽ/ŽSeverity

	(a)	(b)
	Fatal	Serious	Slight
1999	0	0	1
2000	0	0	0
2001	0	0	2
2002	0	1	3
2003	0	0	4
2004	0	2	3
2005	0	0	1
2006	1	0	2
2007	0	0	2
*2008	0	0	0
Total	1	3	18

Notes:

* 2008 data is from 1st January 2008 to 31 July 2008

Only accidents which result in a personal injury are recorded. Non-injury accidents are not included in the figures.

The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates, for example. due to late returns or corrections to earlier returns.

Question reference: S3W-19143

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on upgrading each trunk road in the Lothians in each year since 1999.

Details of expenditure on upgrading each trunk road in the Lothians in each year since 1999 are shown in the following table.

Route	2001-02 £ million	2002-03 £ million	2003-04 £ million	2004-05 £ million	2005-06 £ million	2006-07 £ million	2007-08 £ million	2008-09 £ million
A1	2.32	22.03	3.89	9.22	0.74	0.30	0.62
A68			0.15	0.26	2.67	8.87	20.02	11.053
A702			0.22	1.22	1.36	0.94
A720	0.16	0.18	0.12	0.11	0.02	0.39	0.14
M8		0.10						3.40

The figures shown above are rounded to the nearest £0.01 million. They are for new construction and minor improvement schemes that have been completed and do not include maintenance costs. They exclude preparation costs on schemes where construction has not yet begun.

Complete figures for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 are not available. The figures for 2008-09 show the estimated outturn but some minor adjustments may still be made until the accounts for the year are closed.

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