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: S2W-22654

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fire fatalities there have been in each year since 1999 and how many of these resulted from fires identified as having been caused by cigarettes, broken down by (a) fire brigade area and (b) deprivation category.

Fire fatalities caused by cigarettes or other tobacco products by brigade area are shown in the table. Information on fire fatalities by deprivation category is not held centrally.

Fatal Casualties in Primary Fires Started by Cigarettes or other Tobacco Products

	Scotland	Central	Dumfries and Galloway	Fife	Grampian	Highland and Islands	Lothian and Borders	Strathclyde	Tayside
1999	35	1	1	5	4	-	6	15	3
2000	24	-	-	-	1	2	4	16	1
2001	27	1	-	-	3	2	2	14	5
2002¹	31	2	-	5	1	-	3	20	-
2003	17	-	-	1	2	-	2	11	1
2004²	30	3	1	1	1	5	3	15	1

Notes:

1. Excluding a period of 10 days of industrial action in November 2002.

2. Provisional.

3. Excluding periods of industrial action in January and February 2003.

Question reference: S2W-22740

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to allow the retention of DNA samples taken from an accused person aged under 18 if they are subsequently cleared of any offence.

Question reference: S2W-22741

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to allow the retention of DNA samples taken from people who voluntarily give samples for elimination purposes to assist in a police investigation.

Question reference: S2W-22739

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to allow the retention of DNA samples taken from an accused person if they are subsequently cleared of any offence.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland raised with the Executive the issue of retaining DNA samples that are taken from persons who are arrested but not subsequently convicted as a potentially valuable tool in solving crimes and catching criminals. The Executive is committed to helping the police in the fight against crime and we take the views of senior police officers very seriously. Ministers consulted widely and are carefully considering all of the implications around this issue.

Question reference: S2W-22722

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9007 by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 July 2004, what the response has been from NHS boards and local authorities in respect of the implementation and effectiveness of the National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children.

Officials in the Health Department wrote to NHS boards, local authorities, schools, pre-school establishments, school nurse managers and others, in October 2005 to raise awareness of the National Guidance on Managing Head Lice Infection in Children.

Whilst we did not request a response from NHS boards and local authorities, officials in the Health Department have received encouraging feedback from many schools and pre-school establishments of local awareness activity.

Question reference: S2W-22594

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the highest recorded cost has been of implementing an anti-social behaviour order.

Question reference: S2W-22596

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the highest recorded cost has been of implementing an anti-social behaviour order where the recipient has been removed from home.

Question reference: S2W-22593

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost of implementing an anti-social behaviour order is in each local authority area.

There is no centrally-held current information on the average cost for granting an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) available for Scotland. Research published in 2003 on the use of mediation to tackle antisocial behaviour collected some cost data on ASBOs in Scotland. (The Role of Mediation in Tackling Neighbour Disputes and Antisocial Behaviour, Scottish Executive 2003 www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/mitn-08.asp). However, this research was based on a very limited number of ASBOs and the estimates will now be out of date.

Question reference: S2W-22595

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost of implementing an anti-social behaviour order where the recipient is removed from home is in each local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-22672

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 3 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what education is given, and in which years, to nursery and primary schoolchildren on the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of infection.

Education on the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of infection is given to both nursery and primary school children.

The Care Commission regularly inspects all registered nursery providers against the National Care Standards – Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16. The Care Standards require that staff take measures to control the spread of infection and that children and young people have opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles and hygiene. Promotion of hand washing before snack and meal times and after toilet visits to prevent the spread of infection is examined as part of inspection against the relevant Care Standards.

Understanding and knowledge of personal hygiene forms part of the emotional, personal and social development strand of the Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5. Pre-school education providers are inspected on their delivery of the curriculum by HM Inspectorate of Education.

The Hungry for Success initiative recognises the importance of promoting personal hygiene, and hand washing in particular, as part of work on health promotion in schools. The Executive has worked with the Food Standards Agency, NHS Health Scotland and the Health and Safety Executive to prepare appropriate promotional material.

Schools should also ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to promote routine hand washing prior to meals, particularly for primary school children. Hand washing is also one of the key messages in the Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Campaign.