Parliamentary questions
Christine Grahame
3,532 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
9 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20071 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2005, how many bankruptcies there have been in each year since 2005-06, broken down by sheriff court district.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Accountant inBankruptcy (AiB) maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of the numbers of bankruptcies awarded by sheriffdomsby financial year are compiled by AiB and included in the annual report.</p><p>The following tablegives the numb…
9 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2028 by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007, how many failure to appear warrants were issued in each of the last five years to people who had failed to appear at previous trials, broken down by sheriff court district.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The information requestedis not available.</p>
9 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2027 by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007, how many people were (a) charged with and (b) prosecuted for crimes of indecency in each year since 2001, broken down by (i) category of offence, (ii) constabulary and (iii) sheriff court district, also giving fi…
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Statistics on personscharged by the police are not collected centrally. The available information onpersons proceeded against in court is given in the following tables.</p><p>Persons ProceededAgainst for Crimes of Indecency<sup>1</sup>, by Police Force area, …
8 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to establish an advisory panel on sentencing and, if so, within what timescale.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Scotland at present has no system of sentencing guidelines.We believe that there is a case for guidelines so as to deliver more consistentsentencing and for setting up a Sentencing Council to create them. However, we considerthat there needs to be further con…
8 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which recommendations of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland’s report, The Scope to Improve Consistency in Sentencing, it intends to accept and what priority it attaches to the recommendations.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: <i>The Scope to ImproveConsistency in Sentencing</i>was presented to the previous administration and published in September 2006. Itcontains 25 recommendations which for the most part pertain to the introductionof a process for giving effect to sentencing gui…
3 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Stage 2 appeals there have been following a discharge decision and how many were successful in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requestedis not held centrally.</p>
3 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Stage 1 appeals there have been following a discharge decision and how many were successful in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requestedis not held centrally.</p>
3 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review MEL (1996) 22, guidance on NHS responsibility for continuing health care, and, if so, when.
Answer · Shona Robison: A review of MEL (1996)22 is currently being carried out and revised guidance on NHS Continuing Healthcarewill be issued early in 2008.</p>
3 Aug 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current guidance is with regard to the continuing care of elderly people; whether it applies uniformly across NHS board areas, and how the application of the guidance is monitored.
Answer · Shona Robison: Current guidance onNHS Continuing Healthcare is contained within MEL (1996) 22. It is for individualNHS boards to monitor the application of the MEL and to ensure that their policiesand practices are consistent with current guidance.</p>
27 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2020 by John Swinney on 23 July 2007, what departments the 381 staff on loan to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority normally work in and how much the Home Office is paying for the loan of these staff.
Answer · John Swinney: The costs chargedto the Home Office for the Scottish Government employees working at the CriminalInjuries Compensation Authority (CICA) are as follows:</p><p>2001-02 - £6,389,925.64</p><p>2002-03 - £6,988,188.22</p><p>2003-04 - £7,402,028.52</p><p>2004-05 - £…
27 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering allowing local authorities to designate socially-rented houses in the public sector as key workers’ houses.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The ScottishGovernment is committed to improving housing supply and helping to meet housingneed regardless of occupation. We have no plans to allow local authorities todesignate particular properties in their areas for rent solely to those inparticular occupa…
27 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the parties who have access to a patient’s medical records without (a) explicit authorisation and (b) the information being anonymised and whether changes have been made to these lists in each year since 1999, identifying these changes.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Personal health information isprotected by the Data Protection Act and the common law duty of confidentiality.</p><p>NHS staff and contractors areauthorised to use personal health information for a range of activities necessaryto the provision of care and tre…
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the longest period has been between authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to the determination and report in the last 10 years.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between the Procurator Fiscal instructing afatal accident inquiry and the sheriff issuing the determination.</p>
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of administering fatal accident inquiries in each year since 1999.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: The information requestedis not held.</p>
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were designated by the Crown Office to administer fatal accident inquiries in each year since 1999, broken down by specific role.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the number and roles of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service(COPFS) staff involved in the administration of fatal accident inquiries (FAI).</p><p>Experienced legalstaff within COPFS investigate all sudden, suspicious, unex…
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to determination in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between the Procurator Fiscal instructing afatal accident inquiry and the sheriff issuing the determination.</p>
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to the first court hearing in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between the date when Crown Counsel or a ProcuratorFiscal instructs that a fatal accident inquiry should be held and the date of thefirst court hearing.</p>
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from receipt of a request for a fatal accident inquiry to authorisation in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between a request for an fatal accident inquiry(FAI) and an FAI being instructed.</p>
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatal accident inquiries have been handled by the Crown Office in each year since 1999, broken down by sherffidom.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: The number of fatalaccident inquiries (FAIs) recorded as completed in the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service’s case management database in each sheriffdom for each of the lastfive financial years is shown in the following table.</p><p>Fatal AccidentInq…
25 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for a fatal accident inquiry there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom and also showing the number of refused requests.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: Statistics are notcollated for the number of requests for Fatal Accident Inquiries.</p>
24 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many referrals there were to residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board and identifying each facility.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government doesnot hold complete information in the form requested. Some information on thenumber of referrals to residential drug and alcohol rehabilitations facilitiesis contained within alcohol and drug action team corporate action plans. Thes…
23 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions have resulted from information passed to police forces by paid informants, expressed as a percentage of the total number of convictions in each year since 1997.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This informationis not held centrally.</p>
23 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid to police informants in respect of information involving political parties each year since 1997, broken down by constabulary.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-2298 on 9 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which isavailable at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
23 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered police informants were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of criminal offences during the times they were informants in each year since 1999.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally.</p>
23 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid to police informants in each year since 2000, broken down by police force.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-2298 on 9 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which isavailable at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
23 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much in total has been paid to police informants in each year since 1999.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: It would not bein the public interest to disclose information about covert human intelligencesources.</p>
12 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has to review all existing communications interception warrants authorised by Scottish ministers in the last 12 months.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: When authorising the interceptionof communications, Scottish ministers must first satisfy themselves that interceptionis both necessary and proportionate for the prevention or detection of serious crime.</p><p>I have no plans to review allinterception warrant…
10 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for commemorative purposes.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Veterans’ issues, includingcommemorative events and paying for memorials, are a reserved matter for theWestminster Government and the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.Consequently the Scottish Government has no dedicated budget for commemorativeevent…
10 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided for commemorative purposes, such as medals and plaques, in each year since 1999, giving the reason for each commemoration.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Veteran’s issues such ascommemorative events are a reserved matter for the Westminstergovernment and to the Ministry of Defence, including the striking and awardingof military campaign medals which is in the preserve of Her Majesty The Queen.Scottish Minister…
10 Jul 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Security Service, MI5, has in any of its briefings to Scottish ministers disclosed what percentage of the estimated 2,700 active files held on individuals resident in Scotland are on persons who are duly elected representatives of (a) a Scottish local authority, (b) the UK Par…
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to thequestion S3W-2049 answered on 26 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.s…