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-27994

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-27337 by Michael Matheson on 17 September 2015, whether it will provide the minute of the meeting between the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Chief Constable on (a) 15 January 2015, (b) 18 February 2015, (c) 18 March 2015, (d) 23 April 2015 and (e) 28 May 2015.

Question reference: S4W-27820

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has budgeted to finance closed-circuit television links between courts and prisons in each year since 2011-12.

Funding has been allocated by the Scottish Government and relevant justice organisations for the improvement of the information and communications technology infrastructure in the courts and in prisons, including the installation of video technology for a variety of purposes, including solicitors consultations with clients in custody, family visits, video links to and from court rooms for vulnerable witnesses as well as links to allow those in custody to attend court hearings remotely. Because the new technology can be used for multiple purposes and has been funded as a consolidated package of work, there is not a discrete budget allocation for courts to prisons video links.

Question reference: S4W-27828

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget has been for the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services and its predecessor body in each year since 2006-07.

Question reference: S4W-27829

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed by Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services and what the backlog of cases has been in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4W-27817

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been prescribed methadone in each year since 2006-07, broken down by prison.

Data collected by Scottish Prison Service

Data collected by NHS

Dec-06

Dec-07

Dec-08

Dec-09

Dec-10

Sep-14

Apr-15

Prison

HM Prison Aberdeen¹	62	64	68	62	80	N/A	N/A
HM Prison Peterhead²	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A
HM Prison Grampian	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	82	107
HM Prison Addiewell³	N/A	N/A	*	159	148	149	149
HM Prison Barlinnie	349	304	357	286	308	265	219
HM Prison Castle Huntly⁴	45	69	39	39	35	20	18
HMP & YOI Cornton Vale	75	80	104	98	104	57	66
HM Prison Dumfries	24	26	25	28	33	31	23
HM Prison Edinburgh	141	141	192	159	187	192	175
HM Prison Glenochil	96	136	178	189	137	107	87
HM Prison Greenock	48	47	47	74	64	72	81
HM Prison Inverness	*	8	17	14	*	14	10
HM Prison Kilmarnock	117	202	138	154	203	119	122
HM Prison Low Moss⁵	72	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	168	167
HM Prison Perth	40	101	143	162	180	175	174
HMP & YOI Polmont	*	8	*	9	*	*	*
HM Prison Shotts	142	168	170	153	145	161	180

N/A - indicates where information isn't available due to prison not yet being open or prison closure

* - indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain confidentiality.

1. HM Prison Aberdeen closed in January 2014, merged with HM Prison Peterhead to become HM Prison Grampian which opened in March 2014.

2. HM Prison Peterhead closed in December 2013, merged with HM Prison Aberdeen to become HM Prison Grampian which opened in March 2014.

3. HM Prison Addiewell opened in December 2008.

4. HM Prison Castle Huntly was merged with HM Prison Noranside to form HM Prison Open Estate. This prison opened in November 2011 at the Castle Huntly site. The figures provided from 2006-10 encompass those from both HMP Castle Huntly and HMP Noranside.

5. HM Prison Low Moss closed in May 2007, re-opening in March 2012.

Question reference: S4W-27821

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to use tagging technology to track offenders on early release who have been identified as requiring closer supervision.

Electronic monitoring has been in use in Scotland since 2002. radio frequency technology is currently used in Scotland to monitor individuals serving the whole or part of their sentence in the community. Radio frequency technology can be used to curfew an individual to or away from a particular address for set periods throughout the day or night.

International evidence shows that electronic monitoring is most effective when used as part of a wider package of support. As well as providing an element of control, in line with public protection, electronic monitoring can help to build and maintain connections with a person’s family, their community and their employment, all of which can help reduce the likelihood of re-offending.

While we do not currently have legislation in place to allow us to use GPS monitoring technology, I have tasked an expert group with considering how all forms of electronic monitoring, including GPS, can be used most effectively in the future. That group will make firm recommendations to me in Spring 2016.

Question reference: S4W-27819

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many times solicitors have interviewed clients in custody via a closed-circuit link or other technology in each year since 2011-12.

The following figures show the number of solicitor to client in custody consultations conducted by video link. It should be noted that in years 2013-14, 2014-15 and up until end of September 2015 the availability of video links to allow agent to client consultations has been limited as this has been a pilot project. The pilot phase has now successfully completed and with a rollout plan in place it is expected that the numbers of consultation via video link will increase over the next 2 years.

2011-12 – 0 (pre pilot project)

2012-13 – 0 (pre-pilot project)

2013-14 - 216

2014-15 - 571

2015-16 to date 270

Question reference: S4W-27827

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services laboratories there are, where they are located and how many people are employed at each.

Question reference: S4W-27831

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) cases have been processed by Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services and (b) days it has taken to process each case in 2014-15.

Question reference: S4W-27830

Asked by: Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases have been transferred for processing from one Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services laboratory to another in each year since 2011-12.