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-02343

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-1497 by Stewart Stevenson on 23 July 2007, how many planning application appeals were repeat appeals.

Question reference: S3W-02345

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-01497 by Stewart Stevenson on 23 July 2007, how many planning application appeals related to flood plains.

Question reference: S3O-00461

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what value it places on community policing to tackle antisocial behaviour and youth crime.

Question reference: S3W-02307

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 20 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, for each prosecution under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005, it will provide a breakdown of category of emergency worker attacked.

The Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service’s case management database does not record the professionor job title of victims in a way that would allow aggregate information to be extractedin the format requested, but the following table gives a breakdown of the chargeswhich have been reported to procurators fiscal, under the Emergency Workers (Scotland)Act 2005 since its introduction in May 2005 and the action taken in respect of thosecharges.

Charges: Offencesunder Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 (from 9 May 2005 to 27 July 2007)^1,2,3

Section of Act	Court Proceedings	Direct Measures⁴	No Action⁵	Under Consideration⁶	Total
S:1(1) - Assault, obstruct or hinder constable/fire officer/person providing assistance in terms of S:35 or S:36 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005/ambulance worker	174	12	9	1	196
S:2(1) - Assault, obstruct or hinder other emergency workers responding to emergency circumstances	277	19	14	16	326
S:3(1) - Assault, obstruct or hinder person assisting emergency worker responding to emergency circumstances	14	1	7	-	22
S:5(1) - Assault, obstruct or hinder health worker/ambulance worker/assistant to said workers on hospital premises	401	7	37	12	457
Grand Total	866	39	67	29	1,001

Notes:

1. The informationin the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’scase management database. The database is a live, operational database used to managethe processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and otherreporting agencies. If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reportingagency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database ischarge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges ratherthan the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave riseto such charges.

3. The table reflectsthe position at 27 July 2007.

4. “Direct Measures”relates to charges where action was taken but the action did not involve court proceedings.This action may have involved the offer of a fiscal fine, the issue of a warningletter or a reference to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel.

5. “No Action” relatesto charges where the procurator fiscal concluded, following careful considerationof the report, that no action should be taken.

6. “Under Consideration”relates to charges where, as at 27 July, a decision had yet to be made on the appropriatecourse of action.

Question reference: S3W-02306

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 20 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 (a) were brought in 2006 and (b) have been brought in 2007, broken down by local authority area.

The Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service’s case management database does not record the local authorityarea in which an offence took place. It does contain information about the sheriffcourt jurisdiction in which offences took place. The following table shows the numberof charges under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 that were reported toprocurators fiscal in 2005-06 and 2006-07 where the charge had (at 27 July) beenmarked for court proceedings.

Charges: OffencesReported (from May 2005 to March 2007) under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005^1,2,3

Sheriff Court Jurisdiction	2005-06	2006-07	Total
Aberdeen	9	16	25
Airdrie	2	-	2
Alloa	-	1	1
Arbroath	1	1	2
Ayr	6	13	19
Banff	3	-	3
Campbeltown	-	4	4
Cupar	1	1	2
Dingwall	1	-	1
Dumbarton	-	13	13
Dumfries	2	6	8
Dundee	5	15	20
Dunfermline	10	20	30
Dunoon	-	1	1
Duns	4	3	7
Edinburgh	27	61	88
Elgin	3	5	8
Falkirk	2	3	5
Forfar	2	-	2
Glasgow	72	127	199
Greenock	2	9	11
Haddington	-	4	4
Hamilton	10	20	30
Inverness	4	16	20
Jedburgh	9	1	10
Kilmarnock	21	25	46
Kirkcaldy	4	12	16
Kirkcudbright	1	1	2
Kirkwall	-	1	1
Lanark	1	4	5
Linlithgow	3	11	14
Lochmaddy	1	-	1
Oban	-	1	1
Paisley	10	22	32
Peebles	2	-	2
Perth	4	6	10
Peterhead	1	-	1
Selkirk	24	19	43
Stirling	2	9	11
Stornoway	-	4	4
Stranraer	6	5	11
Wick	-	1	1
Grand Total	255	461	716

Notes:

1. The informationin the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’scase management database. The database is a live, operational database used to managethe processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and otherreporting agencies. If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reportingagency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database ischarge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges ratherthan the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave riseto such charges.

3. The table reflectsthe position at 27 July 2007.

Question reference: S3W-02308

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) were arrested in 2006 and (b) have been arrested in 2007 under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-01499

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning application appeals have been made to it and subsequently approved in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-01498

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning application appeals have been made to it and subsequently rejected in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-01597

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions there have been in relation to “honour killings” in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S3W-01497

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning application appeals have been made to it in each year since 1999.

The number of appealsreceived by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (formerlySEIRU) and the subsequent decisions are set out as follows.

Planning Permission AppealsReceived Each Year Since 1 April 1999

Year	Received	Dismissed	Allowed	Withdrawn
1999 – 2000	650	358	201	81
2000 – 2001	679	411	205	63
2001 – 2002	673	400	221	52
2002 – 2003	735	447	233	53
2003 – 2004	806	486	255	64
2004 – 2005	894	528	310	56
2005 – 2006	1,009	554	397	43
2006 – 2007	1,065	537	346	36