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-10028

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements are for career development and succession planning at senior levels in the Scottish Prison Service.

Question reference: S3W-09431

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8277 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008, whether any prisoner was charged by Strathclyde Police following the incident in HM Prison Kilmarnock on 4 January 2008.

Question reference: S3W-09188

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8352 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008, whether the secondments from the Scottish Prison Service will be subject to review and, if so, when.

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

Current information is that the following will be subject to review as indicated:

HM Inspectorate of Prisons - One (from October 2006) will end in December 2008 and the more recent appointment (from October 2007) will be subject to review six months before the end date (in April 2009) with a possibility of a one year extension.

International Corrections and Prisons Association “ to be reviewed July 2008.

Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency “ to be reviewed September 2008

The WISE Group secondees will be reviewed in March 2008

The SACRO secondment is expected to end as planned in March 2009.

Question reference: S3W-09187

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8352 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008, when each of the secondments from the Scottish Prison Service started and how long they are expected to last.

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

Organisation	From	Timescale
Inspectorate of Prisons	02/10/06	2 years 2 months
Inspectorate of Prisons	01/10/07	2 years
The Wise Group	04/09/06	2 years
The Wise Group	01/10/06	1 year 6 months
International Corrections and Prisons association	03/09/07	1 year
SACRO	11/09/06	1 year 6 months
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency	12/11/07	1 year

Question reference: S3W-09189

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8352 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008, what length of time the secondees from the Scottish Prison Service have served on secondment.

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

Organisation	From	Length Of Time
Inspectorate of Prisons	2 October 2006	1 year 2 months
Inspectorate of Prisons	1 October 2007	4 months
The Wise Group	4 September 2006	1 year 5 months
The Wise Group	1 October 2006	1 year 4 months
International Corrections and Prisons association	3 September 2007	5 months
SACRO	11 September 2006	1 year 5 months
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency	12 November 2007	3 months

Question reference: S3W-09190

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8352 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008, how many other employees of national and international organisations are seconded to work at the International Corrections and Prisons Association.

Question reference: S3O-02155

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 7 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the new build/replacement schools programme proposed by North Lanarkshire Council.

Question reference: S3W-07811

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Mike Pringle on 4 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide a breakdown of staff employed across its directorates by (a) nationality and (b) gender in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006 and (iii) 2007.

The breakdown of staffemployed across directorates by nationality and gender in 2007 is shown below. Thesystem we currently operate does not facilitate the provision of accurate datafor previous years as we operate on a one year timeframe and these are not datawe have historically assembled and reported upon. As part of the HR ChangeProgramme the SPCB will be considering the level of historical data anynew HR IT system should provide.

Breakdown of Staff byGender:

	Total Staff	Male	Female
2007	495	269	226

Breakdown of staff by Nationality:

Australia 3

British 39

British or Irish 140

Britain/New Zealand 1

Eire 3

English 5

French 3

Germany 1

Great Britain 195

New Zealand 1

Other Commonwealth 1

Other European Union 1

Pakistan 1

Russian 1

Scottish 94

South African 1

United States 2

Unknown 3.

There are severalcategories for British nationalities set out in this response, i.e. British,British/Irish, Great Britain, English and Scottish. The reason forthis is the changes in census categories which have to be reflected in theSPCB’s recruitment monitoring form.

Question reference: S3W-08575

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any revisions to the financial penalties for breach of performance thresholds in the contract for prisoner escort duties with Reliance.

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

The term “financial penalties”is not used in the contract. Service credits are applied where performance failureoccurs. The minimum threshold standard is effectively the cap or the maximum numberof failures that will be taken in to account in any given month for the calculationof the service credit.

There has been no revisions tothe contract in relation to either service credits or the minimum threshold standards.

Question reference: S3W-08576

Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any revisions to the volume bandings at which prisoner movements are reimbursed in the contract for prisoner escort duties with Reliance.