- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive on what date it will publish Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2007/2008 and 2008/09.
Answer
The statistical bulletin
Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2007/2008 and 2008/09, is due to be published by the Scottish Government in September 2011, and will be available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/DrugSeizures.
The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders breached the terms of their community service order in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Information is not collected on the number of proven breaches or the number of offenders involved.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 7 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government on the issue of prisoners’ rights to vote since the European Court of Human Rights ruling, in light of the possible impact on Scottish prisons.
Answer
In April 2009 the previous (Labour) UK Government issued its second consultation paper in response to the European Court''s ruling in the Hirst case. In the context of the then government''s conclusion in the light of the Court''s ruling that prisoners'' right to vote should be determined on the basis of their sentence the Scottish Government''s response to the UK Government made it clear that the burden on those affected (the Scottish Prison Service, the Court Service and electoral administrators) should be kept to a minimum.
The Scottish Government has since made its general position (that we do not believe that convicted prisoners should be entitled to vote) known in numerous exchanges in the Scottish Parliament.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 7 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have applied to vote in the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2011, broken down by prison, in light of the possible impact on the Scottish Prison Service.
Answer
Electoral Registration Officers are responsible for maintaining the electoral register and dealing with applications from individuals to register to vote. The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.
Convicted prisoners cannot currently register to vote in elections. The franchise is the responsibility of the UK Government. UK Ministers have said that any change to the franchise will not apply to this year''s Scottish Parliament elections.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is the appropriateness of an individual who has committed 160 previous offences receiving a community payback order.
Answer
The Scottish Government has introduced the new community payback order so that low level offenders will be made to do work in the community backed by action to address the underlying causes which fuel the crime, such as alcohol, drugs and mental health issues, because the evidence shows these sentences are far more effective than those received by the 70% of individuals who are currently reoffending after serving short term prison sentences.
It remains for the court to determine the most appropriate penalty in each case, based on its assessment of the particular details and circumstances of the offender and the offence.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the rape conviction rate.
Answer
According to the national statistics, Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2009-10, published on 25 January 2011, the conviction rate of persons indicted on charges of rape is 45%. This is an increase of 11% from the previous year. This increase is encouraging as it corresponds with the establishment of the National Sexual Crimes Unit and the approach to the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences in Scotland. The unit is led by a dedicated team of specialist Crown counsel who direct criminal investigations from the earliest stages and provide advice and expertise to Procurators Fiscal and the police.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the financial cost to the NHS of knife crime since May 2007.
Answer
No information is held on the financial cost to the NHS of knife crime.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-39172 by Kenny MacAskill on 7 February 2011, what it anticipates the reductions in police staff numbers will be in each of the next four years.
Answer
Police staff numbers are a matter for police authorities and chief constables.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the appropriateness of an offender’s time spent on tea breaks being counted toward the number of hours served under a community payback order.
Answer
The guidance on this issue is exactly the same as it was under the previous administration. The reference can be found at section 49.4 of the
National Objectives for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System: Standards - Community Service published by the previous administration on 24 December 2004 at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20475/49352.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers knitting, embroidering and making candles to be (a) appropriate activities to be completed as part of community payback orders and (b) examples of tough manual labour as noted by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the news release, Greater say on community service, on 1 February 2011.
Answer
Community payback is about offenders paying their dues to the community. That is why we announced that the new community payback order makes it a statutory obligation that local authorities will from now on have to consult the community on the type of work that they want to see low-level offenders carrying out in their areas as part of their community service.
In this particular instance, this case related to a vulnerable women''s group, with finished articles going to the neo-natal unit at the local hospital.
