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: S4W-20304

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions a resident has absconded from secure care accommodation in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-20302

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support is provided to people held on remand who are subsequently acquitted.

Question reference: S4W-20303

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been admitted to secure care accommodation in each year since 2007, broken down by (a) gender, (b) age and (c) institution.

This information requested at (a) and (b) is given in table number 5.2 of The Children’s Social Work Statistics 2012-13, published by the Scottish Government in 2014. Copies are available in the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (SPICe) (Bib number 55746).

The information is not broken down by institution to protect the anonymity of the young people. However, the number of beds in each secure unit can be found in table number 3.1 of the same publication.

Question reference: S4W-20305

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people in secure care accommodation have (a) committed and (b) attempted suicide in each year since 2007, and what information it has on how many were (i) considered at risk of attempting suicide and (ii) receiving treatment for mental health problems, broken down by (A) institution and (B) gender.

Question reference: S4W-20299

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people on remand in each year since 2007 was subsequently found (a) guilty, (b) not guilty and (c) not proven, and how many were given a (i) custodial sentence, (ii) custodial sentence that was less than the period spent on remand and (iii) non-custodial sentence.

Tracking the progression from remand to the point of sentencing is not always straightforward as individuals may move between custodial remand and bail at different points in the judicial process for a variety of reasons, such as appeals against the decision to remand in custody and time bars on the period an accused may spend remanded in custody.

In addition, it is not uncommon for an accused to be prosecuted in a number of different cases that are running concurrently, albeit at different stages, through the criminal justice system. This makes it inherently difficult to identify the specific outcome of a period on remand, both in terms of sentence type as one offender may be subject to different disposals, and in terms of sentence length as charges may be rolled up at sentencing stage.

The outcome of cases involving a period on remand is not routinely available as information on remand prisoners and outcomes of court cases is held on two separate administrative systems. The Scottish Prison Service system does not have information on the outcome of cases which do not result in a custodial sentence, and the Scottish Court Service system does not retain information on the use of remand.

The Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services carried out a research exercise linking prisons and courts data held by the Scottish Government to assess the outcomes of those remanded in custody during a given period. About two-thirds of records could be matched, and taking into account the above issues, the study suggested that about 60% of remand cases which could be matched to courts data resulted in a custodial sentence. A further fifth got a community sentence, while fines and acquittals accounted for most of the remaining cases (about 15% in total). However, the proportion of cases identified as resulting in a custodial conviction is likely to be an overestimate as it was more difficult to identify the outcome of remand cases which were not immediately followed by a custodial conviction.

Question reference: S4O-03050

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s proposal that overseas teachers wishing to work in Scotland could no longer be subject to a criminal record check.

Question reference: S4W-19350

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been placed on the ACT 2 Care strategy in each of the last three years, broken down by institution.

I have asked Colin McConnell, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table details the number of prisoners who were placed on the SPS Suicide Risk Management Strategy (ACT2Care) in the last three years broken down into establishments. The same individual may be recorded more than once if they have been placed on ACT2Care in more than one establishment.

Prison	01-04-2010- 31-03-11	01-04-11- 31-03-12	01-04-12- 31-03-13
Aberdeen	89	130	102
Addiewell	163	150	178
Barlinnie	404	526	486
Cornton Vale	236	244	179
Dumfries	39	22	28
Edinburgh	205	203	163
Glenochil	10	26	25
Greenock	84	112	56
Inverness	102	85	105
Kilmarnock	204	273	191
Low Moss*	N/A	2	76
Peterhead	9	8	9
Polmont	114	152	175
Perth	153	197	186
Shotts	12	13	23
Total	1,824	2,143	1,982

*HMP Low Moss opened in March 2012

There are no figures recorded for the open estate as prisoners who require to be managed under the Suicide Risk Management Strategy would be transferred to a closed establishment.

Question reference: S4W-18755

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have (a) committed and (b) attempted suicide in each of the last three years, and what information it has on how many were (i) considered at risk of attempting suicide and (ii) receiving treatment for mental health problems, broken down by (A) institution and (B) gender.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

Before a death in custody can be formally recorded as suicide a Fatal Accident Inquiry must be held, in accordance with the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 to legally determine the cause of death.

The information requested regarding how many prisoners have apparently committed suicide in each of the last three years and information available on how many were considered at risk of attempting suicide, broken down by (A) institution and (B) gender is provided in Table 1 below:

Table 1

Fiscal Year	No. of Apparent Suicides	No. on ACT2Care Strategy	Prison	Gender
2010-2011	12 (9 have been legally determined at FAI)	Nil	HMP Barlinnie (7) HMP Edinburgh (1) HMP Greenock (2) HMP Kilmarnock (1) HM YOI Polmont (1)	All Male (12)
2011-2012	8 (1 has been legally determined at FAI)	1 (HMP Perth)	HMP Barlinnie (2) HMP Greenock (1) HMP Perth (3) HM YOI Polmont (1) HMP Shotts (1)	All Male (8)
2012-2013	7 (1 has been legally determined at FAI)	1 (HMP Barlinnie)	HMP Barlinnie (2) HMP Cornton Vale (1) HMP Glenochil (1) HMP Inverness (1) HMP Perth (1) HMP Shotts (1)	Male (6) Female (1)

The information requested regarding how many prisoners have attempted suicide in each of the last three years, and information available on how many were considered at risk of attempting suicide, broken down by (A) institution and (B) gender is provided in Table 2:

Table 2:

Financial Year	Total No. of Attempted Suicide Incidents recorded in PR2	Total No. Placed on ACT2Care Strategy	Total No. Not Placed on ACT2Care Strategy	Gender
2010-2011	21 HMP Aberdeen (1) HMP Addiewell (1) HMP Cornton Vale (2) HMP Dumfries (3) HMP Edinburgh (4) HMP Inverness (2) HMP Kilmarnock (3) HMP Peterhead (1) HM YOI Polmont (2) HMP Shotts (2)	16	5	Male (19) Female (2)
2011-2012	22 HMP Barlinnie (2) HMP Dumfries (3) HMP Edinburgh (1) HMP Greenock (1) HMP Inverness (1) HMP Kilmarnock (8) HMP Perth (2) HM YOI Polmont (2) HMP Shotts (2)	16	6	All Male (22)
2012-2013	18 HMP Aberdeen (1) HMP Barlinnie (3) HMP Cornton Vale (3) HMP Dumfries (1) HMP Edinburgh (2) HMP Inverness (1) HMP Perth (2) HMP Peterhead (1) HM YOI Polmont (3) HMP Shotts (1)	15	3	Male (16) Female (2)

Due to the transfer of all health care records to NHS in November 2011 the SPS is unable to provide information relating to prisoners receiving treatment for mental health problems.

Question reference: S4T-00586

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the closure of fire and police control rooms and service centres.

Question reference: S4O-02832

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it considers it appropriate to administer medicines as a form of restraint for residents in care homes.