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-08134

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prisoner-on-prisoner and (b) prisoner-on-staff assaults have been reported in each prison since the beginning of 2012.

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

The following table illustrates the total number of prisoner on prisoner assaults and prisoner on staff assaults broken down by Establishment. Included are serious, minor and non injury assaults. The data is as of 25 June 2012.

Prison	Prisoner on Prisoner Assaults	Prisoner on Staff Assaults
Aberdeen	14	3
Addiewell	24	8
Barlinnie	33	11
Cornton Vale	12	26
Dumfries	8	0
Edinburgh	32	8
Glenochil	5	4
Greenock	6	1
Inverness	8	1
Kilmarnock	29	11
Low Moss	15	0
Open estate	0	0
Perth	21	2
Peterhead	2	3
Polmont	65	3
Shotts	10	0

Question reference: S4W-08133

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average fine was for possessing (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) ecstasy, (d) cannabis and (e) amphetamines in each of the last three years.

The available information is given in the following table.

Average (Mean) Fine (£) for possession of Selected Drugs^1,2, 2008-09 to 2010-11

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

Drug type	Number	Average Fine (£)	Number	Average Fine (£)	Number	Average Fine (£)
Heroin	748	185	847	179	776	175
Cocaine	579	226	1,145	211	903	206
Ecstasy	276	191	118	202	72	157
Cannabis	637	151	774	133	990	137
Amphetamines	62	193	110	170	99	183

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

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.

Question reference: S4O-01167

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to ensure that a full range of staple gluten-free foods is available on prescription to people with coeliac disease in all NHS board areas.

Question reference: S4W-07670

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children aged (a) 11 and under and (b) 12 to 17 have been treated for anxiety or depression in the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-07286

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of prescribing sleeping pills has been in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is published regularly by National Services Scotland Information Services Division, and can be found on their website at:-

www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/data-tables.asp?id=657#657.

The information is based on the British National Formulary section 4.1, and includes hypnotics, anxiolytics and barbiturates: figures for barbiturates are not given by NHS board for reasons of statistical disclosure.

Question reference: S4W-07285

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions for sleeping pills have been dispensed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is published regularly by National Services Scotland Information Services Division, and can be found on their website at:-

www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/data-tables.asp?id=657#657.

Question reference: S4W-07287

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of unlawful access to medical records have been recorded in the NHS in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4W-07136

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it has not published the Statistical Bulletin on ‘Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland’ for 2010-11.

The statistical bulletin on Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police is now published on a biennial basis. A bulletin presenting domestic abuse statistics for both 2010-11 and 2011-12 is planned to be published in November 2012.

This publication timetable reflects the range of other statistical information produced on domestic abuse and the need to deploy statistical resources cost-effectively.

Statistics on the total number of domestic abuse incidents reported to the police in 2010-11 are available in the Scottish Policing Performance Framework statistical bulletin, which was published by the Scottish Government in October 2011.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland also publishes a series of quarterly performance reports containing statistics on the number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police forces.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey publishes more detailed information on the nature and extent of partner abuse in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-07087

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of self-harm involving people aged 60 and over there have been in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

The following table shows information on the number of acute hospital stays for patients aged 60 and over following an incident of intentional self-harm for the financial years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011 by NHS Board of Residence.

These figures are limited to cases where self-harm resulted in an acute hospital admission in NHS Scotland. They do not include patients treated solely within Accident and Emergency Departments or incidents of self-harm resulting in death where the incident did not result in an admission to hospital.

Table 1 shows the number of acute hospital stays with a diagnosis of intentional self-harm; by Health Board of Residence for the financial years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011¹.

Table 1. Number of acute hospital stays with a diagnosis of intentional self-harm; by Health Board of Residence, Financial years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011

Health Board of Residence	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11¹
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	49	47	44
NHS Borders	15	15	21
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	16	12	14
NHS Fife	51	39	36
NHS Forth Valley	35	38	26
NHS Grampian	58	76	80
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	198	167	179
NHS Highland	36	37	41
NHS Lanarkshire	55	36	50
NHS Lothian	83	89	109
NHS Tayside	51	49	43
Island Boards	10	10	11
Other/Unknown	8	*	11

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.

Notes:

*Indicates a value that has been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain patient confidentiality.

1. Data for NHS Scotland for 2010-11 provisional, any future revision to the figures will be small.

Question reference: S4O-01041

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering accelerating the work on upgrading the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty.