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-35316

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 5 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30559 by Alex Neil on 22 January 2010, what further consideration it has given to how best to improve the quality and standards of interpretation services.

Question reference: S3W-35315

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30561 by Kenny MacAskill on 19 January 2010, how many interpretation assignments have been undertaken by the Scottish Court Service in each month of 2010, broken down by interpreters (a) with and (b) without a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting.

Question reference: S3W-35318

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, since the implementation of the framework contract for the provision of interpreting, translation and transcription services, on how many occasions courts have advised the Scottish Court Service about a case in which an aspect of the performance of the interpretation service has had an effect on proceedings, broken down by month, and how this compares with the situation prior to the introduction of the framework contract.

Question reference: S3W-34680

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners accessed the Violence Prevention Programme while serving a custodial sentence in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond.

The SPS has delivered a range of violence/anger related prisoner programmes during the last three years which has included the Violence Prevention Programme (VPP) and the Anger Management programme, which has now been superceded by the Controlling Anger Regulating Emotions (CARE) programme. The CARE programme consists of 25 sessions totalling 96 hours whereas the Anger Management programme was less intensive, comprising of 8 sessions and a total of 30 hours, consequently more resources are required to deliver the CARE programme.

This suite of programmes has provided options to address the needs of prisoners convicted of offences for violence/anger and supports appropriate targeting of interventions aligned to a prisoner''s level of risk and need.

The following table details the completions for each of these programmes for the last 3 years. Whilst this highlights a reduction of VPP completions for 2009-10, this reflects appropriate diversion onto the CARE programme as a consequence of the pre-programme assessment.

Total number of prisoners who have completed ˜violence/anger related'' prisoner programmes in Scottish prisons during the last 3 years

Prison	Programme	2007 “ 08		2008 “ 09		2009 “ 10
Prison	Programme	each	total	each	total	each	total
Edinburgh	VPP	0	0	10	10	8	8
	Anger	0		0		0
	CARE	0		0		0
Glenochil	VPP	14	14	18	26	10	10
	Anger	0		0		0
	CARE	0		8		0
Perth	VPP	16	22	10	34	0	24
	Anger	6		0		0
	CARE	0		24		24
Peterhead	VPP	0	20	0	16	2	17
	Anger	20		0		0
	CARE	0		16		15
Polmont	VPP	7	7	9	30	10	34
	Anger	0		0		0
	CARE	0		21		24
Shotts	VPP	27	43	29	58	14	33
	Anger	16		0		0
	CARE	0		29		19
Barlinnie	VPP	0	17	0	22	0	18
	Anger	17		6		0
	CARE	0		16		18
Kilmarnock	VPP	0	27	0	14	0	21
	Anger	27		6		0
	CARE	0		8		21
Total VPP:		64		76		44
Total Anger Management:		86		12		0
Total CARE:		0		122		121
Total Violence/Anger Progs:		150		210		165

Question reference: S3W-34681

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how long each prisoner released from custody on compassionate grounds under section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 was on licence before their death, broken down by (a) main offence and (b) name of prisoner where available.

Question reference: S3W-34677

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders received a custodial sentence of six months or less in 2008-09, broken down by (a) main offence and (b) police force area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Given a Custodial Sentence of 6 Months or Less, by Crime¹ and Police Force Area, 2008-09

Main Crime or Offence	Central	Dumfries and Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Lothian and Borders
All Crimes and Offences	717	347	657	785	1,804
All Crimes	434	224	447	534	1,216
Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence
Homicide	0	0	0	0	0
Serious Assault and Attempted Murder	3	2	2	3	7
Robbery	5	0	4	9	10
Other	2	0	0	1	8
Crimes of Indecency
Rape and Attempted Rape	0	0	0	0	0
Indecent Assault	0	0	0	0	2
Lewd and Indecent Behaviour	0	0	1	1	2
Other	0	0	0	1	0
Crimes of Dishonesty
Housebreaking	28	16	39	54	116
Theft by Opening a Lockfast Place	11	0	14	20	49
Theft of/from a Motor Vehicle	14	5	10	11	33
Shoplifting	126	42	102	170	368
Other Theft	38	22	57	65	111
Fraud	4	36	3	11	25
Other	10	7	22	25	46
Fire-Raising, Vandalism, etc
Fire-Raising	2	0	1	4	3
Vandalism etc	28	13	25	17	48
Other Crimes
Crimes against Public Justice	102	52	128	91	214
Handling an Offensive Weapon	25	13	17	12	81
Drugs	35	12	19	39	85
Other	1	4	3	0	8
All offences	283	123	210	251	588
Miscellaneous Offences
Common assault	137	53	91	110	206
Breach of the peace	105	47	72	71	247
Drunkeness	0	0	0	0	0
Other	12	7	10	13	48
Motor Vehicle Offences
Dangerous and Careless Driving	3	1	3	8	6
Drunk Driving	8	1	7	9	21
Unlawful Use of Vehicle	18	14	25	40	59
Other	0	0	2	0	1

Main Crime or Offence	Northern	Strathclyde	Tayside	Scotland
All Crimes and Offences	566	5,764	1,477	12,117
All Crimes	293	3,506	1,161	7,815
Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence
Homicide	0	0	0	0
Serious Assault and Attempted Murder	4	29	10	60
Robbery	1	40	10	79
Other	0	9	2	22
Crimes of Indecency
Rape and Attempted Rape	0	0	0	0
Indecent Assault	2	5	2	11
Lewd & Indecent Behaviour	1	4	1	10
Other	0	3	1	5
Crimes of Dishonesty
Housebreaking	14	216	63	546
Theft by Opening a Lockfast Place	7	134	33	268
Theft of/from a Motor Vehicle	15	94	25	207
Shoplifting	53	823	411	2,095
Other Theft	31	225	114	663
Fraud	9	69	14	171
Other	6	143	51	310
Fire-Raising, Vandalism, etc
Fire-Raising	2	9	0	21
Vandalism etc	24	176	34	365
Other Crimes
Crimes against Public Justice	95	872	247	1801
Handling an Offensive Weapon	15	418	46	627
Drugs	8	208	93	499
Other	6	29	4	55
All Offences	273	2,258	316	4,302
Miscellaneous Offences
Common Assault	101	954	134	1,786
Breach of the Peace	124	891	110	1,667
Drunkeness	2	0	0	2
Other	10	123	13	236
Motor Vehicle Offences
Dangerous and Careless Driving	6	47	3	77
Drunk Driving	14	61	18	139
Unlawful Use of Vehicle	16	181	37	390
Other	0	1	1	5

Note:

1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-34678

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of those convicted for an offence with a domestic aggravator received a custodial sentence of six months or less in 2008-09.

Question reference: S3W-34679

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were convicted for an offence with a domestic aggravator in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Convicted for an Offence with a Domestic Aggravator Recorded^{1 2}, 2006-07 to 2008-09

Police Force	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Central	108	288	547
Dumfries and Galloway	192	228	263
Fife	21	43	91
Grampian	192	235	430
Lothian and Borders	667	709	868
Northern	225	282	342
Strathclyde	3,514	3,500	4,275
Tayside	285	294	285
Scotland	5,204	5,579	7,101

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. The data recording codes for aggravators changed on 10 March 2008. The recording of aggravators has improved over time therefore caution is needed when comparing changes over time.

Question reference: S3W-33997

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary and agency staff it employed in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by (i) directorate and (ii) cost.

The following information relates to the core Scottish Government.

Overall, the number of agency workers has reduced from 987 to 840. Spend has increased from around £6 million to £9.4 million. This is mainly because, over the two year period, fewer agency workers were used to cover administrative and support roles, but more were used to cover specialist work (as interim managers). In 2009-10, the average cost of an interim manager assignment was £27,000; the average cost of administration and support worker assignment was £5,700.

The increases in expenditure are predominantly in Health and Justice. In Health, temporary demands, notably Pandemic Flu and the Penrose and Vale of Leven enquiries, were significant factors. In Justice, Scottish Resilience also supported the Pandemic Flu Co-ordination Team and used specialists to support delivery of an effective chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response strategy in the event of a major terrorist attack in Scotland.

The information is not available at Directorate level, but has been provided at Department/DG level.

Table 1 “ Administration and Support Workers 2008-09

Department/DG	Numbers	Cost
Economy	84	£372,527
Education	85	£387,051
Environment	139	£414,866
Finance and Corporate Services	78	£334,726
Health	179	£581,454
Justice and Communities	189	£547,054
Permanent Secretary	112	£241,577
Total	866	£2,879,255

2009-10

Department/DG	Numbers	Cost
CCC	6	£15,573
Economy	51	£237,886
Education	62	£396,544
Environment	110	£558,210
Finance and Corporate Services	72	£425,569
Health	158	£882,169
Justice and Communities	118	£816,350
Permanent Secretary	18	£57,233
RAES	29	£141,430
Total	624	£3,530,964

Table 2 “ Interim Managers 2008-09

Department/DG	Numbers	Cost
Economy	15	£351,006
Education	13	£378,904
Environment	13	£250,032
Finance and Corporate Services	30	£820,417
Health	12	£349,541
Justice and Communities	36	£930,844
Permanent Secretary	2	£69,625
Total	121	£3,150,369

2009-10

Department/DG	Numbers	Cost
CCC	2	£28,474
Economy	11	£323,977
Education	12	£383,386
Environment	8	£490,394
Finance and Corporate Services	30	£975,429
Health	55	£1,300,851
Justice and Communities	53	£2,020,436
Permanent Secretary	7	£41,397
RAES	38	£313,778
Total	216	£5,878,122

Notes:

1. Costs are ex VAT and as invoiced during the financial year, including necessary expenses incurred to carry out the duties of the role. Numbers are assignments placed during the financial year.

2: In February 2010 two new portfolios were created and a number of Directorates were realigned to the new, or different, DGs. Costs for work done by agency workers prior to 1 February 2010 will be reported against the DG under the old structure. Costs for work done from 1 February 2010 are reported against the DG under the new structure.

Question reference: S3W-34560

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are taken by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to inform the families of victims of announcements that it makes.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has the power to refer a case to the High Court for determination where, following investigation, it believes there may have been a miscarriage of justice, and that it is in the interests of justice for a referral to be made. The commission has a formal arrangement with the Crown Office whereby the Crown Agent receives advance notification of all cases that the Commission refers to the High Court. This allows the Crown Agent to attempt to contact the complainer or next of kin. The commission''s documented Case Handling Procedures are available on its website.