Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-14375

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of (a) possession of, (b) supply of and (c) possession with intent to supply cannabis, in each of the last five years, broken down by age group.

The available information is given in the following table:

People with a charge proved for possession and supply of cannabis^1,2, by age group, 2006-07 to 2011-12

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Possession of drugs:
Under 21	255	183	146	161	198	126
21-30	574	448	384	478	576	487
Over 30	480	352	358	448	563	516
Supply, possession w.i. to supply etc of drugs:
Under 21	60	37	34	41	39	43
21-30	122	87	123	142	124	137
Over 30	112	112	127	141	173	172
Total	1,603	1,219	1,172	1,411	1,673	1,481

1. Where main charge.

2. The Criminal History System, from which these data are derived, contains an offence modifier code for a crime or offence which provides additional information for the specific incident as opposed to the actual charge. This code has been used here to identify the type of drug involved in drugs possession offences, however it should be noted that only around half the records on the CHS for drugs offences contain details of the drug(s) involved.

Source: Scottish Government Courts Proceedings data

Question reference: S4W-14378

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many cannabis plants have been recovered in drug seizures by the police in each of the last five years.

Roseanna Cunningham: Information on the number of cannabis plants seized by Scottish police forces in Scotland in 2010-11 and 2011-12 is available from the Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2011-12 statistical bulletin, which can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/DrugSeizures.

There was a break in the series and as a result, there are no drug seizures data available for the three year period 2007-08 to 2009-10.

Question reference: S4W-14376

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted for allowing the (a) production, (b) supply and (c) smoking of cannabis on their premises.

The available information is given in the following table.

People with a charge proved for cannabis offences under Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971^1,2,2006-07 to 2011-12

Section	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Section 8(A)	2	1	2	2	6	3
Section 8(D)	1	0	0	0	1	2
Total	3	1	2	2	7	5

Notes:

1. Where main charge.

2. The Criminal History System, from which these data are derived, contains an offence modifier code for a crime or offence which provides additional information for the specific incident as opposed to the actual charge. This code has been used here to identify the type of drug involved in drugs possession offences, however it should be noted that only around half the records on the CHS for drugs offences contain details of the drug(s) involved.

Source: Scottish Government Courts Proceedings data.

Question reference: S4W-13911

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much money the NHS has saved in each of the last five years through generic prescribing.

The information requested is not available centrally.

Due to the complexities of prescribing it is not possible to accurately determine the amount of savings generated from generic prescribing alone. Generic drugs overall are much less expensive to the NHS than branded drugs and savings arise through prescribing generic drugs (as opposed to branded drugs) and from branded drugs coming off patent.

The latest annual prescribing statistics show that there has been an increase in generic prescribing from 77.1% in 2002-03 to 82.7% in 2011-12. The percentage of generic prescribing has remained constant at around 82% since 2007-08. Further information on the latest generic prescribing statistics can be found at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/2012-12-18/2012-12-18-PrescribingGeneral-Summary.pdf.

Question reference: S4W-14256

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority collected through the 2012-13 business rate incentivisation scheme.

Question reference: S4W-14257

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities exceeded their 2012-13 annual business rates' target.

Question reference: S4W-14258

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority will receive in additional income as a result of the 2012-13 business rate incentivisation scheme.

Question reference: S4W-13751

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) fixed penalty notices and (b) custodial sentences have been issued for littering offences in each year since 2007, broken down by (i) type of offence and (ii) local authority area.

Information on the number of fixed penalty notices issued by designated local authority officers and the police are not held centrally.

However, information on other direct measures issued can be found in the answer to question S4W-12141 on 21 January 2013. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

There were no custodial sentences issued for littering offences.

Source: Scottish Government Court Proceedings data.

Question reference: S4W-13750

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for littering offences in each year since 2007, broken down by (i) type of offence and (ii) local authority area.

The available information is given in the following tables. All offences were prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 Section 87(1). Further details regarding type of offence is not held centrally.

People Proceeded against in Scottish Courts for Littering Offences¹

Local Authority²	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	2
Angus	1	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	1	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	2	3	1	1	2
Dundee City	0	0	0	1	1
East Ayrshire	7	1	2	0	0
East Lothian	1	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	14	1	4	3	0
Eilean Siar	1	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	4	7	4	4	11
Glasgow City	1	18	7	9	1
Highland	0	1	0	0	0
Inverclyde	1	0	1	1	2
North Ayrshire	5	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	23	11	3	5	1
Perth and Kinross	0	1	1	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	1
Scottish Borders	2	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	10	1	2	1	0
South Lanarkshire	15	1	0	1	0
Stirling	1	1	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	2	0	0	1	0
West Lothian	3	0	0	0	0
Scotland	93	47	25	27	21

People Convicted in Scottish Courts of Littering Offences¹

Local authority²	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Angus	1	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	1	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	2	3	1	1	2
Dundee City	0	0	0	1	1
East Ayrshire	7	1	2	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	14	1	3	2	0
Eilean Siar	1	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	4	6	4	4	11
Glasgow City	1	18	7	7	1
Highland	0	1	0	0	0
Inverclyde	1	0	0	0	2
North Ayrshire	5	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	23	11	3	4	1
Perth and Kinross	0	1	1	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	1
Scottish Borders	2	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	10	1	2	1	0
South Lanarkshire	12	1	0	1	0
Stirling	1	1	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	2	0	0	1	0
West Lothian	3	0	0	0	0
Scotland	89	46	23	22	19

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Based on an approximate mapping of sheriff courts to local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

Source: Scottish Government Court Proceedings data.

Question reference: S4W-13910

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many prescribing support staff are employed by each NHS board and how much each board has spent on employing such staff in each of the last five years.

Chamber and committees