Parliamentary questions

Christine Grahame

3,532 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5082 by Mr Jim Wallace on 26 September 2000, how many children under the age of 16 were held in each adult prison for less than (a) 24 hours and (b) 48 hours, (c) up to seven days and (d) more than seven days in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) to date …

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The following table sets out the number of unruly certificate remands for 1999 and 2000 where the child was under the age of 16. Figures to dat…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8916 by Mr Jim Wallace on 17 August 2000, what the current ratio is of prisoners to uniformed staff in the Scottish Prison Service, broken down by establishment.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information requested is shown in the following table.<P>Ratio of Prisoners to Uniformed Staff in the SPS<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPA…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the staff turnover has been at each Scottish Prison Service prison in (a) 2000-01 and (b) to date in the current year.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information requested is shown in the following table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=349><TR><TD WIDTH="35%" VALIGN="MIDDL…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10762 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 November 2000, what financial allocation was made (a) in total and (b) to each local authority for criminal justice social work in 2001-02.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Financial allocations to local authorities for 2001-02 for offender services totalled £44,855,716. Allocations to individual local authorities are detailed in the following table. Additional sums to allow for procurement of IT equipment will be notified short…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7645 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 September 2000, what the average daily population of penal establishments is projected to be in each of the next three financial years, broken down into (a) privately operated penal establishments, (b) Scottish Prison Serv…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The average daily population in the next three financial years is projected to be:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=106><TR><TD …

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11578 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 December 2000, whether data is now collected on the prevalence of speech and language difficulties among the prison population and, if so, what data has been collected.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Yes, data relating to needs assessment is currently being collected via referrals to speech therapy at Polmont Young Offenders Institute.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was in (a) cash terms and (b) real terms at current prices of providing general practitioner services to prisons in (i) 1998-99, (ii) 1999-2000 and (iii) 2000-01.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:<P>On account of the variety of arrangements in place prior to 2000-01 exact costs are not available. Annual costs are estimated to have be…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners Medacs provides to prisons, how these general practitioners are distributed between prisons, and what the ratio of these general practitioners is to prisoners, broken down by prison.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information is not collected by SPS. It is for the contractor to arrange to provide the outputs specified in the contract.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners previously providing a prison medical service have gone on to employment with Medacs.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>All medical practitioners who had an individual contract of employment with the Scottish Prison Service on 1 November 2001 had their contracts…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The information requested is not available.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20320 18 December 2001.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Prior to November 2000 medical services were provided through a variety of contractual arrangements. The number of GPs was variable and …

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>This information requested is not available. The Scottish Prison Service Addictions Process provides a single gateway for all substance misuse…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expected cost of social work services to the Scottish Prison Service is for the current financial year.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The estimated cost is between £2 and £2.5 million.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost of social work services was to the Scottish Prison Service in (a) 1998-99, (b) 1999-2000, (c) 2000-01 and (d) to date in the current financial year in (i) cash terms and (ii) real terms at current prices.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The cost to SPS of Social Work services was:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=207><TR><TD WIDTH="18%" VALIGN="TOP"> </…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers provided social work services within prisons; what the distribution of these social workers was between prisons, and what the ratio of social workers to prisoners was in (i) 1998-99, (ii) 1999-2000, (iii) 2000-01 and (iv) to date in the current financial year.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>The available information is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=491><TR><TD WIDTH="21%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7102 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 June 2000, what percentage of officers who left the Scottish Prison Service in 2000-01 left due to (a) retirement through age, (b) ill health and (c) other reasons.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Based on the average number of staff employed the figures for 2000-01 were:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=200><TR><TD WIDTH="7…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prison officers (a) in total and (b) at each Scottish Prison Service prison left the service in (i) 1998-99, (ii) 1999-2000, (iii) 2000-01 and (iv) to date this year, broken down by those aged (1) under 35 and (2) over 35.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P><P>Prison Officers who have left the service, broken down by those aged under 35 and 35 and over.<P><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 W…

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review will be published.

Answer · Jim Wallace: It is expected that the consultation paper on the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review will be published early in the New Year.

23 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report for 2000-01 will be published; whether its publication has been delayed and, if so, why.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts for 2000-01 is expected to be published within the next few weeks in accordance with section 22(5) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

20 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the letter to me from the Minister of State for Employment Relations and the Regions, of 16 November 2001 copied to the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government to request that part of the #17 millio…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Questions relating to the recovery of grant paid towards the Viasystems facility in the North East of England are entirely a matter for DTI. Manufacturing projects in the Borders area can be supported from the Executive's own budget through schemes such as Re…

20 Nov 2001 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what steps will be taken to ensure a reliable and enhanced service for remote access users of the Parliament's IT network.

Answer · David Steel: Currently there are some 400 users enabled to connect to the Parliament's network remotely. A number of constituency and local offices successfully use this service regularly. As part of on-going service enhancement, an end to end review of the remote access …

20 Nov 2001 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many calls and complaints have been logged to the Parliament's IT Helpdesk concerning any failures of the remote access service since 1 January 2001.

Answer · David Steel: Remote access difficulties which were caused by technical problems at the Parliament accounted for around 1.5% of all calls to the IT Helpdesk in the period 1 January 2001 to 23 November 2001. Of the 145 such calls, the main problems were: faulty remote acces…

20 Nov 2001 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what the current maximum number of remote access users is that may be connected to the Parliament's IT network at any one time.

Answer · David Steel: In the answers to this question, S1W-20145 and S1W-20146, remote access is taken to encompass all forms of secure dial-in to the Parliament's IT network. <P>The Parliament's network is currently configured to allow a maximum of 58 remote access users to conne…

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what statutory duties local authorities have for the gritting of roads and pedestrian routes.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: As local roads authorities, councils have a general duty under section 1 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to maintain local roads in their area. Section 34 of the 1984 Act also places a duty on councils to "take such steps as they consider reasonable to preve…

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what current and future target waiting times it has set for an appointment with an audiologist.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: <I>Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change</I> sets out the Executive's commitment to ensuring that the patient's journey through the NHS is as swift and responsive as possible, and includes a number of waiting times targets in the priority …

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available centrally.

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of the investigation, prosecution and trial of Andrew Aspinall.

Answer · Colin Boyd: The information requested is not available centrally.

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for an independent inquiry into the recent failed prosecution of Andrew Aspinall.

Answer · Colin Boyd: There are no plans to hold an independent inquiry into the prosecution of Mr Aspinall. I am awaiting a report from the Procurator Fiscal at Linlithgow into the circumstances of this case, and will consider whether any further action requires to be taken. This…

19 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was made available for tourism promotion (a) in Scotland and (b) to each area tourist board in (i)1999-2000 (ii) 2000-01 and (iii) 2001-02 to date.

Answer · Mike Watson: VisitScotland is the national organisation with the remit to promote Scotland as a tourist destination. Its marketing budget for the last three years is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=153><TR><TD WIDTH="51%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=16>…