Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-38569

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 1 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what access to prisoners the Scottish Prison Service will be required to provide to those canvassing for votes following the UK Government’s announcement on prisoner voting; when it anticipates such access to commence; what discussions it had with the UK Government prior to the announcement; what discussion it has had since the announcement, and how many prisoners it expects to be affected by the proposed change.

On 17 December 2010, the UK Government announced its proposals to enable convicted prisoners sentenced to terms of four years or more to be automatically barred from registering to vote. Initially this will only extend to UK and European Parliament elections and as a result, the first elections at which prisoners will be entitled to vote will be the European elections in 2014.

When giving prior notice of this announcement to the Scottish Government, the UK Government undertook to consult the Scottish Government about how the policy will operate in practice. No discussions have yet been held but detailed arrangements and the numbers of prisoners entitled to vote will become clearer during this consultation.

Question reference: S3W-38825

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33724 by Stewart Stevenson on 27 May 2010, what progress has been made on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and when it anticipates that the road will be fully operational.

Question reference: S3W-38834

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32624 by Kenny MacAskill on 13 April 2010, what progress has been made in developing the information regarding qualifications gained by prisoners during time spent in custody and whether further information is now available as a result of this progress.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38833 on 28 January 2011 advising that information on other vocational qualifications is currently being collected from establishments. I will write to the member with this information as soon as it becomes available.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-38833

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32624 by Kenny MacAskill on 13 April 2010, how many prisoners obtained (a) SQA and (b) vocational qualifications in 2009-10, broken down by prison.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Information on the number of SQA Qualifications obtained in 2009-10 and the number of prisoners who attained them is set out in the following tables:

Information on other vocational qualifications is presently being collected from establishments. I will write to the member with this information as soon as it becomes available.

SQA Education Qualifications:

Prison	2009-10
	Number of Prisoners	Number of SQA Education Qualifications
Aberdeen	68	260
Addiewell	0	0
Barlinnie	249	1033
Cornton Vale	81	143
Dumfries	97	200
Edinburgh	226	524
Glenochil	77	190
Greenock	167	405
Inverness	68	170
Kilmarnock	86	116
Open Estate	22	61
Perth	209	656
Peterhead	60	132
Polmont	184	482
Shotts	127	333
Total Education	1,721	4,705

SQA Vocational Qualifications:

Prison	2009-10
Prison	Number of Prisoners	Number of SQA Vocational Qualifications
Addiewell	66	66
Barlinnie	152	915
Cornton Vale	9	40
Dumfries	23	117
Edinburgh	123	376
Glenochil	41	156
Greenock	24	108
Open Estate	100	502
Perth	179	1,099
Peterhead	26	143
Polmont	132	546
Shotts	6	33
Total Vocational	881	4,101
Total Education and Vocational	2,602	8,806

Question reference: S3W-38824

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-34240 by Fergus Ewing on 7 June 2010, how many racist incidents were recorded in the Grampian Police force area in 2009-10, broken down by ethnic origin of the victim.

The statistical bulletin Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2009-10 is scheduled for publication on 29 March 2011. Under the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008, the requested data will not be available until 9.30 am on the day of publication.

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.

Question reference: S3W-38828

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of how many (a) prisoners and (b) young offenders estimated to be (i) illiterate and (ii) innumerate, broken down by (A) prison and (B) gender.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

SPS does not hold this information as it is not practicable or cost effective to assess all prisoners to determine their literacy or numeracy needs.

However, any prisoner who engages with the prison learning centre undergoes a detailed literacy and numeracy screening assessment to establish the individual''s starting point level. The SPS classifies a prisoner''s capabilities based on the national levels of Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) qualifications. Those identified at SQA Intermediate 1 level are deemed to be functioning at approximately foundation/general level at standard grade. Anybody at or below Intermediate 1 is considered to be lacking functional literacy or numeracy.

The SPS will introduce a new literacy and numeracy screening and levelling tool as part of the new learning and skills contract which is scheduled to go live on 1August 2011. This tool will be applied to all prisoners serving six months or more.

The following table shows the level of assessed literacy and numeracy need of those who attended the prison learning centres during 2009-10.

Prison	Less than SQA Intermediate 1 Communication	Less than SQA Intermediate 1 Numeracy
Aberdeen	188 out of 274 = 69%	154 out of 276 = 56%
Addiewell	484 out of 731 = 66%	332 out of 731 = 45%
Barlinnie	557 out of 831 = 67%	502 out of 830 = 60%
Cornton Vale*	91 out of 144 = 63%	62 out of 101 = 61%
Dumfries	101 out of 166 = 61%	95 out of 166 = 57%
Edinburgh	191 out of 279 = 68%	145 out of 204 = 71%
Glenochil	394 out of 625 = 63%	204 out of 285 = 72%
Greenock	336 out of 562 = 60%	333 out of 557 = 60%
Inverness	180 out of 320 = 56%	163 out of 320 = 51%
Kilmarnock**	N/A	N/A
Open Estate	57 out of 147 = 39%	38 out of 147 = 26%
Perth	142 out of 327 = 43%	138 out of 327 = 42%
Peterhead	85 out of 210 = 40%	82 out of 204 = 40%
Polmont	404 out of 700 = 58%	317 out of 643 = 49%
Shotts	70 out of 166 = 42%	68 out of 165 = 41%

Notes:

*HMP Cornton Vale is Scotland''s female prison. It is not possible to disaggregate the percentage for the small numbers of women offenders housed in other prisons.

**HMP Kilmarnock does not collect data in a way that can provide this breakdown.

Question reference: S3W-38554

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many salmon farm inspections have taken place in each month in each of the last three years and what the results of each inspection were, broken down by farm.

The number of salmon farm inspections which have taken place in each month in each of the last three years is summarised in the following table:

	Number of Cases Negative or No Results	Number of Cases Positive	Total Number of Cases
2010
January	12	0	12
February	44	4	48
March	59	8	67
April	25	1	26
May	39	6	45
June	80	0	80
July	8	1	9
August	14	2	16
September	15	1	16
October	37	2	39
November	37	1	38
December	16	2	18
Totals	386	28	414
2009
January	44	13	57
February	66	4	70
March	57	4	61
April	31	4	35
May	44	13	57
June	68	5	73
July	35	6	41
August	29	5	34
September	45	1	46
October	60	8	68
November	75	4	79
December	23	2	25
Totals	577	69	646
2008
January	17	1	18
February	41	2	43
March	40	2	42
April	54	5	59
May	13	3	16
June	64	2	66
July	36	7	43
August	15	1	16
September	27	3	30
October	54	1	55
November	86	3	89
December	25	3	28
Totals	472	33	505

The results of each inspection broken down by farm, is given in a table entitled Scottish fish farm inspection results 2008-10 and key to results codes,

a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52355).

Question reference: S3W-38555

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) outbreaks of sea lice infestation and (b) fish escapes have been found at salmon farms in each of the last three years.

Sea lice are natural parasitic fauna of farmed and wild salmon populations and as such some evidence of infection is apparent on any population of farmed salmon when inspecting populations held on aquaculture sites in Scotland. The number of inspections carried out is detailed in S3W 38554 answered on 27 January 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The number of escapes incidents over the last three years at salmon farms is:

2008
Freshwater	1
Seawater	7
2009
Freshwater	2
Seawater	7
2010
Freshwater	2
Seawater	5

Question reference: S3W-38561

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the award of a £100,000 European grant to sustain operations at Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd and what impact it considers that this will have.

Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd has the right to fish for wild salmon and sea trout by net in the near coastal waters in accordance with law.

The business made an application for grant support from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) programme towards an on-shore pre-fabricated building for the repair and maintenance of nets and other gear. The facility is designed to improve working conditions and the health and safety of the business'' employees, not to increase the level of exploitation of salmon stocks. The application was assessed in the normal way against the published criteria and was recommended for an award by the Scottish EFF Project Assessment Committee, which has internal and external membership. Information on the EFF scheme criteria, application forms and guidance notes, as well as information on all awards of grant, are available from the EFF website.

Question reference: S3W-38553

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Salmon and Trout Association and what matters were discussed.