Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-26691

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it did not ask for the Parliament to be recalled prior to the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

Question reference: S3W-26698

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees that where an appeal is ongoing, a prisoner transfer request cannot be considered.

Question reference: S3W-26717

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) emails and (b) letters the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has received disagreeing with his decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, broken down by country of origin.

Question reference: S3W-26703

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it decided to announce the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds to the media first, rather than to (a) the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing or (b) the Parliament.

Question reference: S3W-26714

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the conditions of the licence for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi’s release are and how they were decided.

The conditions of Mr Al-Megrahi''s licence are as follows.

1. You shall be under the supervision of an officer to be nominated for this purpose from time to time by the Director of the Community Health and Care Partnership of East Renfrewshire Council.

2. You shall comply with such requirements as that officer may specify for the purposes of supervision.

3. You shall make yourself available for meetings and discussions by telephone or video link with your supervising officer in accordance with that officer''s instructions.

4. You shall reside at [address], Libya upon release and shall inform your supervising officer in advance of any change in your place of residence.

5. You shall provide on a monthly basis a report on your medical condition to

your supervising officer.

6. You shall be of good behaviour and shall keep the peace.

7. You shall not travel outside Libya without the prior permission of your supervising officer.

The conditions in the licence were specified by the Scottish Ministers, as is the case for any licence under section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The conditions are in accordance with the requirements of section 12 of that act, and with the recommendation of the Parole Board for Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-26708

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive which of its officials accompanied the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on his visit to meet Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi at HMP Greenock on 5 August 2009; in what capacity they were attending, and who personally met Mr Al Megrahi.

Question reference: S3W-26697

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when it ruled out the prisoner transfer request of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and for what reasons.

Question reference: S3W-26055

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homicides there were in 2007-08, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) relationship of main accused to victim.

Homicide in Scotland, by Relationship of Main Accused to Victim, by Police Force Area, 2007-08

Relationship of Main Accused to Victim	Central	Dumfries and Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Lothian and Borders	Northern	Strathclyde	Tayside
Son or daughter	0	0	1	1	1	0	2	0
Parent	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0
Partner or ex-partner	1	0	1	2	2	3	12	1
Other relative	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Friend/social acquaintance	1	1	2	1	8	1	16	1
Business or criminal associate	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2
Rival gang member	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Other known	0	0	0	1	5	0	14	1
Stranger	1	0	1	0	3	0	8	2
Not known	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Total	3	1	6	6	19	6	63	7

Source: Scottish Government annual homicide statistics return.

In 2007-08 there were 114 homicide cases in Scotland, each of which involved one victim. For 111 of the 114 homicide victims in 2007-08, one or more accused persons have been identified, as at 28 November 2008. One hundred and forty eight accused persons have been identified in total.

Question reference: S3W-26054

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homicides there were in 2007-08, broken down by (a) police force area, (b) age of accused and (c) sex of accused.

Persons Accused in Homicide Cases by Sex and Age, and Police Force Area, 2007-08

Sex and Age of Accused	Central	Dumfries and Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Lothian and Borders	Northern	Strathclyde	Tayside
Male, under 16	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Male, 16 to 30	2	0	7	4	14	2	36	5
Male, 31 to 50	2	0	4	2	7	2	29	3
Male, over 50	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0
All Males	4	0	11	6	21	5	74	9
Female, under 16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Female, 16 to 30	0	1	0	2	2	0	7	0
Female, 31 to 50	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	0
Female, over 50	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
All Females	0	1	0	2	3	1	11	0

Source: Scottish Government annual homicide statistics return.

In 2007-08 there were 114 homicide cases in Scotland, each of which involved one victim. For 111 of the 114 homicide victims in 2007-08, one or more accused persons have been identified, as at 28 November 2008. One hundred and forty eight accused persons have been identified in total.

Question reference: S3W-26057

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homicides there were in 2007-08, broken down by (a) sex of accused and (b) main method of killing.

Homicide Victims, by Main Method of Killing and Sex of Main Accused, 2007-08

Main Method of Killing	Male	Female	Total
Shooting	4	0	4
Sharp instrument	50	5	55
Blunt instrument	7	0	7
Hitting and kicking	14	0	14
Strangulation/asphyxiation	6	0	6
Drowning	2	0	2
Fire	1	0	1
Poisoning	8	4	12
Other or unknown	9	1	10
All methods	101	10	111

Source: Scottish Government annual homicide statistics return.

In 2007-08 there were 114 homicide cases in Scotland, each of which involved one victim. For 111 of the 114 homicide victims in 2007-08, one or more accused persons have been identified, as at 28 November 2008. One hundred and forty eight accused persons have been identified in total.

Chamber and committees