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-28695

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-28408 by Michael Matheson on 25 November 2015, in light of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions, what its position is on the recorded increase in mileage each year and what action it is considering to address this trend.

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

“The number of miles travelled in the Court Custody and Prisoner Escort Contract (CCPES) is dictated by the volume and location of prisoner movements, all of which are essential to the operation of the justice system. The escort contractor is contractually required to minimise the environmental impact, and has its own economic imperative to do so.

The contractor therefore ensures that the fleet is well maintained and operating efficiently, and uses telemetry to ensure the vehicles are driven effectively, including minimising idling, harsh braking, and over-revving.

CCPES saw a 1% reduction in carbon emissions in 2014-5 despite a 1.5% increase in miles travelled.

Longer term, work is underway to maximise the use of video links between prisons and courts to reduce the number of journeys being undertaken. SPS has invested heavily in equipping all prisons with technology to conduct video links with the courts and legal agents. Nine prisons are operational, with the remaining prisons planned to go operational to coincide with the operational roll out plans of criminal justice partners in early 2016.”

Question reference: S4W-28701

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Courts Service rewards staff who deliver on targets and, if so, (a) which targets and (b) what rewards.

Question reference: S4W-28700

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many court cases have been adjourned (a) as a result of lack of court time and (b) ex proprio motu (on the court's own initiative) in each year since 2011.

Question reference: S4W-28545

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have applied for emergency homelessness support prior to release in each year since 2011, and how many applications have been approved.

The following table shows that, for 2014-15, there were 35,957 homelessness applications to local authorities. Of these, 2,107 applications (6% of all applications) were people applying from prison.

Once an application has been received, local authorities assess each application to determine whether the applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness (i.e. likely to become homeless within the next two months).

During 2014-15, a total of 2,107 applications from prison leavers were assessed under the homelessness legislation. Of these, 1,844 (88%) applications were found to be homeless or threatened with homelessness.

The figures for the previous three financial years are also shown.

	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
All homelessness applications	45,553	40,050	36,820	35,957
Number of homelessness applications from prison leavers	2,248	2,217	2,136	2,089
Percentage of total applications from prison leavers	5%	6%	6%	6%
All applications from prison leavers where an assessment has taken place	2,226	2,234	2,124	2,107
Number of applications from prison leavers that were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness	1,911	1,934	1,859	1,844
Percentage of all assessments from prison leavers assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness	86%	87%	88%	88%

Source: Scottish Government HL1 dataset as at 31 August 2015

Homelessness statistics can be found online at: http://www.gov.scot/homelessstats.

Question reference: S4T-01191

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take in response to the recent report on Police Scotland by the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office.

Question reference: S4W-28603

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many female prisoners there have been in HMP (a) Edinburgh, (b) Grampian, (c) Greenock and (d) Inverness in each year since 2007.

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

“Specific numbers of individuals who have been housed in each of the establishments is unavailable as our IT system records admissions and releases, and does not aggregate the data on each specific individual.

The following table shows the highest daily, lowest daily and average female population for each establishment from 2007 to 2015:

Edinburgh

Grampian

Greenock

Inverness

	High	Low	Ave	High	Low	Ave	High	Low	Ave	High	Low	Ave
2007	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	3	7
2008	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	0	5
2009	0	0	0	0	0	0	53	0	35	3	0	0*
2010	0	0	0	0	0	0	57	44	50	5	0	2
2011	113	0	46	0	0	0	65	43	53	6	1	3
2012	113	100	108	0	0	0	54	47	51	6	0	2
2013	111	98	106	0	0	0	54	46	52	3	0	1
2014	107	74	94	55	0	41	56	46	52	3	0	2
2015	106	68	88	56	44	50	57	26	48	3	0	1

The current available capacity for females at each establishment is:

HMP Edinburgh	114
HMP and YOI Grampian	57*
HMP Greenock	53
HMP Inverness	13

*Including seven Community Integration Unit places.

*The average figure shown is a zero figure due to the fact that only a small number of females were present for a short period of time in the 12 month period.”

Question reference: S4W-28409

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost of the prisoner escort service contract has been in each year since 2007.

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

“The cost of the prisoner escort contract is published annually by the Scottish Prison Service in its annual accounts and these are available on our website, however the annual costs as published for the years requested are as follows:”

2007-08– £23,070,000

2008-09– £24,859,000

2009-10– £24,289,000

2010-11– £23,845,000

2011-12– £23,441,000

2012-13– £19,534,000

2013-14– £20,889,000

2014-15– £20,778,000

Question reference: S4W-28408

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many miles private contract vehicles have driven for prisoner transfer to and from court in each year since 2007.

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

“The specific reason for each journey made by the escort contractor is unavailable as their IT system only records the total miles travelled by their vehicles. The escort contractor’s IT system shows that the total number of miles travelled by its vehicles for all purposes is as follows:

	12 January to 11 April	12 April to 11 July	12 July to 11 October	12 October to 11 January	Annual Total
2012	981,392	975,471	963,463	954,709	3,877,048
2013	1,022,181	1,018,253	1,066,224	1,001,886	4,110,558
2014	1,127,398	1,071,437	1,080,284	992,058	4,273,192
2015	1,132,370	1,094,428	1,095,005	399,349

The data runs from the twelfth of the month to the eleventh of the following month due to the contractual start date, and the data for the fourth quarter of 2015 is for October only.

Data for previous years is not available, as it relates to the previous contractor Reliance, who destroyed all data three years after contract expiry, as required by the contract.”

Question reference: S4W-28372

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what external consultants Police Scotland engaged to provide a review of the proposed strategic direction for the Contact, Command and Control Division in October 2013; whether the contract was put out to tender; what criteria it used to select the consultants, and how much it cost.

Question reference: S4W-28413

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many compensation orders have been imposed by court service in each year since 2011, also broken down by the (a) average time between the imposition of an order and payment and (b) number and (c) total value of orders that were (i) paid on time, (ii) paid late and (iii) not paid.