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-05525

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been disciplined as a result of inappropriate sharing of information with the media in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4O-00717

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has achieved in tackling poverty.

Question reference: S4W-05342

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) private and (b) public sector investment there has been in ScotRail services since 2007 and how much revenue has been raised from fares.

Scottish ministers make franchise payments to ScotRail in accordance with the terms of the franchise agreement. Rail Franchise Budget information is shown in the following table.

Fare box revenue information is disclosed within the published annual report and accounts for First ScotRail Ltd. The fare box revenue figures disclosed are shown in the following table.

Financial Year	Rail Franchise Budget	Fare Box Revenue
2007-08	£289 million	£216 million
2008-09	£306 million	£235 million
2009-10	£295 million	£243 million
2010-11	£315 million	£258 million

Transport Scotland only holds information on ScotRail private investment where it relates specifically to terms in the franchise agreement. This includes ScotRail’s commitment to invest £40 million capital investment over the first seven years of the franchise and the franchise extension investment. Transport Scotland does not hold information on all private investment out with the terms of the franchise agreement.

Question reference: S4W-05341

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of any (a) economic and (b) passenger benefits of running rail services on a not-for-dividend basis.

Question reference: S4W-05339

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to the UK Government regarding exempting Scotland from legislation requiring the letting of rail passenger services as franchises.

Question reference: S4W-05343

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it has had with the Scotland Office since 2007 to discuss allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in (a) local government and (b) Scottish Parliament elections.

The Scottish Government has consistently argued that the Scottish Parliament should have full responsibility for elections to the Scottish Parliament and local government, including the ability to determine the franchise.

The Scottish Government has raised the issue of the franchise in its published responses to the Gould Report in 2008, the Report of the Commission on Scottish Devolution in November 2009 and in evidence to the Scottish Parliament on the Scotland Bill. It has pressed the case for full devolution of local and Scottish Parliament elections in meetings and exchanges of correspondence with the UK Government.

Question reference: S4W-05325

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the criteria for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland's care leavers grant to include others who have previously had prolonged periods in care.

We conducted a review of the Vacation Grant for Care Leavers in 2011 with a view to extending eligibility. This resulted in some changes to the criteria which means that students who are under the age of 23 on the first day of their course and who have been or were in local authority care for at least three continuous months following their 16th birthday may be eligible.

This allows some account to be taken of historical circumstances in situations going back up to seven years, however there was no call during the review for the grant to be extended to students who were in care during their early years but who had left the care system by the time they were 16.

Accordingly, we have no plans to extend the criteria further.

Question reference: S4W-05335

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Ministers have the power to vary conditions imposed as part of a home detention curfew license, under the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 and, if so, (a) when and (b) how it has done so since 1999.

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

The power to vary non-standard licence conditions only is provided under Section 12AA(6)(b) of the Prisoner and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993, amended by the Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005. The power is exercised by the Scottish Prison Service on behalf of Scottish Ministers when required.

Standard conditions are prescribed by The Home Detention Curfew Licence (Prescribed Standard Conditions) (Scotland) (No 2) Order 2008.

The other information requested is not available. It would require a manual search of each individual prisoner’s records for those released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) to retrieve this information. As at 27 January 2012, 10,758 prisoners had been released on HDC.

Question reference: S4W-05334

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that all non-standard conditions used in home detention curfews are appropriate and proportionate.

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

Non-standard license conditions are added only where it is deemed appropriate to do so. These are tailored to the risks and needs of individual prisoners. When the Scottish Prison Service considers what conditions to apply to a license, it takes into consideration the protection of the public, preventing reoffending and securing the successful reintegration of the prisoner into the community.

Question reference: S4W-05332

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the appropriateness of non-standard conditions that are imposed as part of home detention curfews.

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

Before non-standard conditions are applied in any individual case, Scottish Prison Service consults any relevant organisations/authorities e.g. Criminal Justice Social Workers, alcohol counselling services for assurance that these can be effectively monitored or that the condition is appropriate.