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: S3O-05598

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reported breaches of residency and contact orders there have been in each year since 2006.

Question reference: S3W-17451

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 14 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive why it changed the recording category of abuser to show natural parent rather than natural mother and natural father in table 3 in its Statistics Publication Notice, Child Protection Statistics 2007-08.

The Scottish Executive did not change the recording categories of abuser to show natural parent rather than natural mother and natural father.

However, the Scottish Executive did not publish a separate breakdown for natural mother and natural father in table 3 of the 2007-08 Child Protection Statistics Publication Notice as previously published. The reason for this was it had become apparent during the quality assuring and analysing of the 2007-08 child protection data that some authorities were increasingly unable to provide accurate information as to whether it was the natural mother or natural father who was the primary known/suspected abuser.

The reasons being given by a number of local authorities were that the primary known/suspected abuser was sometimes the natural mother and natural father jointly (but the existing survey form was not allowing for this scenario to be recorded and reported, and therefore local authorities were being forced to specify whether it was solely the natural mother or the natural father, which was not strictly true).

Please note that after discussing this issue with local authorities, the 2009-10 Child Protection Survey form has been amended to allow for joint natural parents being the primary known/suspected abuser to be reported, as well as natural mother or natural father separately. The survey form has also been amended to cater for joint step parents to be reported (as well as step mother or step father separately).

We aim to re-introduce the publishing of this breakdown when the 2009-10 Child Protection Survey results are released in September 2010.

Question reference: S3W-15402

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 8 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases have been marked no proceedings or have resulted in a written warning from the Procurator Fiscal in each of the last four years, broken down by type of case.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database records details of all the charges against each accused in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. The information is not aggregated into broader categories of offence and it is not therefore possible to provide a breakdown by type of case.

Statistical information on case disposals is available on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s website www.copfs.gov.uk/About/corporate-info/Caseproclast5

The following table shows the number of cases where no action was taken or where the case was dealt with by the issue of a warning letter in each of the last four years.

Case Disposals 2004-08

	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Total reports received	323,016	339,415	329,949	320,227
No Proceedings	60,706	48,929	44,229	44,224
Warning Letter	32,150	32,652	26,565	24,505

Question reference: S3W-15401

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many breaches of police bail have been recorded in the last four years, broken down by (a) type of breach and (b) police force.

Ms Mitchell''s question has been interpreted as referring to breaches of undertakings given to the police to appear in court on a specified day.

The available data is given in the following table. This gives the numbers of crimes recorded by the police of breaches of undertakings, from 2003-04 to 2006-07.

Police Force	Year
Police Force	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Central	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	0	0	0
Lothian and Borders	1	0	0	0
Northern	0	0	0	0
Strathclyde	1	1	2	2
Tayside	0	0	0	0
Scotland	2	1	2	2

Question reference: S3W-15403

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 2 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many interdicts for domestic abuse have been (a) issued and (b) breached in each of the last six years.

Information on the number of interdicts for domestic abuse which have been issued is not held centrally.

Information on breaches of common law interdicts or statutory interdicts (or orders) without a power of arrest attached is not held centrally. Information relating to all cases for breach of an interdict (or order) with a power of arrest attached under the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 or Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 is also not available centrally. We do have information for cases where breach of an interdict granted under these acts was the main offence. As someone breaching an interdict may commit other offences at that time, such as criminal damage or assault, this information does not give the full picture of arrests made and cases proceeded under the acts but is provided in the following table. In addition to this, not all interdicts which can be granted under the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 relate to domestic abuse.

Persons Proceeded Against Under the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 and the Protection of Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 Section 5(3)¹

Financial year	Contempt Of Court (Matrimonial Interdict)	Protection of Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 Section 5(3)
2001-02	1	-
2002-03	-	2
2003-04	-	2
2004-05	-	9
2005-06	-	3
2006-07	-	2

Note: 1. These offences relate to cases where the breach of interdict was the main offence.

Question reference: S3W-15378

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed by Scottish Enterprise in each year since 2003-04.

Question reference: S3W-14529

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations or projects have received funding for the promotion of cycling in each year since 1999, broken down by organisation or project.

Since 1999, the following organisations have received funding for cycling projects:

Organisation	1999-2000 (£ million)	2000-01 (£ million)	2001-02 (£ million)	2002-03 (£ million)	2003-04 (£ million)	2004-05 (£ million)	2005-06 (£ million)	2006-07 (£ million)	2007-08 (£ million)
Local Authorities	3.0	5.2	3.0	4.6	8.0	8.2	8.650	8.870	9.090
Local Authorities (STCs)					0.750	1.0	1.0	1.025	1.050
Sustrans				1.4	3.0	3.0	3.650	7.829	8.525
Cycling Scotland					0.250	0.300	0.350	1.550	0.962
The Bike Station									0.025

It is estimated that on average around 20% of the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant paid to local authorities is allocated to cycling projects.

The School Travel Coordinator grant is used to fund posts within local authorities to encourage active travel to school, including the promotion of cycling. From 2008-09 this grant will be rolled up into the local authority block grant as stated in the concordat agreement with COSLA.

Question reference: S3W-15127

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions police have escorted abnormal loads in each of the last four years, broken down by month.

Question reference: S3W-14526

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 21 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases over the last four years that would previously have gone to sheriff summary courts were sent to JP courts, broken down by sheriffdom.

It is for the Procurator Fiscal to decide in the public interest, on the basis of a careful consideration of all the factors relevant to a particular case, whether criminal proceedings are appropriate and the level of court in which the prosecution will take place.

Summary Justice Reform was implemented with effect from December 2007 and includes, as set out by the Scottish Government in The Summary Justice System Model in 2007, changes to ensure that more serious cases are prosecuted in the new Justice of the Peace Courts which have been established by the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007.

Detailed figures on the impact of Summary Justice Reform are not yet available although early indications are that the proportion of prosecutions in the Justice of the Peace and district courts has risen from 24% in February 2008 to 26% in March 2008.

Question reference: S3W-14525

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 21 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many court cases over the last four years were cited on summary, having previously been taken on indictment, broken down by sheriffdom.

The following table shows the number of cases in which one or more accused persons had appeared initially on petition but, following further consideration of all the circumstances by the Procurator Fiscal or Crown Counsel, subsequent proceedings against all accused persons in the case were taken in a summary court.

PF Area	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	Total
Argyll and Clyde	152	120	166	154	592
Ayrshire	110	133	132	184	559
Central	107	68	98	127	400
Dumfries and Galloway	43	57	51	51	202
Fife	110	99	164	171	544
Glasgow	394	224	289	370	1,277
Grampian	98	95	129	191	513
Highland and Islands	48	59	74	84	265
Lanarkshire	150	143	126	160	579
Lothian and Borders	233	266	298	283	1,080
Tayside	140	90	151	118	499
COPFS	1,585	1,354	1,678	1,893	6,510

The figures for 2007-08 will include some cases which were affected by the change in sentencing powers in December 2007, which increased the maximum sentence in summary sheriff court cases generally from three months to 12 months.