Parliamentary questions
Trish Godman
601 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Nov 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases in the (a) Sheriff and (b) High Court involving allegations of rape have been abandoned in the last four years because of (i) unwillingness or (ii) inability of complainers to undergo cross-examination by defence lawyers.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: The information requested isnot available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service operates a casetracking system and does not have a statistical database from which thisinformation about cases involving rape could be extracted.</p><p>Cases of rape may…
3 Nov 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases in the (a) Sheriff and (b) High Court involving allegations of physical and/or sexual abuse against children have been abandoned in the last four years because of the (i) unwillingness or (ii) inability of child witnesses to undergo cross-examination by defence lawyers.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: The information requested isnot available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service operates a casetracking system and does not have a statistical database from which this informationabout cases involving physical and/or sexual abuse of children could b…
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when additional funding will be provided for its implementation of its plan for action on alcohol problems in (a) Renfrewshire and (b) Scotland.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The partnership agreement commitsthe Executive to increasing resources to tackle alcohol problems. Decisions onthe level of future funding will be made following a review of the scale of theproblem and submission of outstanding financial information from loca…
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has committed to social inclusion partnerships (SIPs) for the next three years for programmes dealing with alcohol misuse.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Herresponse is as follows.</p><p>Future SIP fund coreallocations have been confirmed to March 2005 and in total will amount to £60 million.It will be a matter for local…
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance has been given to the Drinkwise campaign and what level of funding will be awarded to it for the next three years.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive gave a totalof £1,282,130 to support Drinkwise from 1996 until March 2003 when the campaignwas superseded by the Executive’s Healthy Living Alcohol campaign.</p>
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to raise the awareness of young people of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol misuse.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive is takingaction to raise awareness on a number of fronts. Our Healthy Living campaignwill be targeting young people between the ages of 16 and 25 with messageswhich highlight the dangers of drinking too much alcohol. The first phase of the radio…
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to tackle bed blocking involving people with alcohol-related illnesses.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive has provided£30 million in 2003-04 to local authority and NHS partnerships to address theproblem of delayed discharge. The partnerships are implementing local joint actionplans that aim to reduce the number of delayed discharges in their area. T…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether recent discussions have taken place with Caledonian MacBrayne concerning the ordering of replacement vessels for its passenger ferry fleet.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: We are considering, in conjunction with Caledonian MacBrayne, our future infrastructure and vessel investment requirements as part of the development of the final tender specification for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services tendering exercise. Decisions abo…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the age profile is of the vessels in Caledonian MacBrayne's passenger ferry fleet.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: Caledonian MacBrayne currently operates a fleet of 30 vessels. The year of build for the fleet is shown, in banded form, in the following table:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=229><TR><TD WIDTH="42%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Year of Build</TD><TD WIDTH…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many listed industrial buildings have been de-listed and subsequently demolished in each of the last four years.
Answer · Frank McAveety: I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:<P>A number of buildings are removed from the statutory list of buildings of architectural or historic importance each year because they are no longer, thro…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled social work vacancies there are in each local authority.
Answer · Euan Robson: This information is available in <I>Statistical Bulletin SWK/S/2002/24 - Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services, 2001</I> at <A HREF="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00197-00.asp">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00197-00.…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to recruit more graduates and older people to the social work profession.
Answer · Euan Robson: In October 2002 the Executive launched Care in Scotland, a national recruitment and awareness campaign to attract more people of all ages into social care. In addition, jointly with COSLA, we are piloting a fast-track scheme for graduates with relevant degree…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) justices of the peace, (b) sheriffs and (c) judges there are and, of these, what the ratio of men to women is.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information is contained in the following table:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=517><TR><TD WIDTH="38%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Name of Office</TD><TD WIDTH="10%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Total</TD><TD WIDTH="10%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Men</TD><TD WIDTH="13%" VA…
12 Jun 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of legislation passed by the Parliament in its first session emanated from the European Union.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Of the 62 acts passed by the Scottish Parliament during its first session, two contained substantial components linked to European Union legislation. Part 1 of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 made provision in connection with impl…
22 Jan 2003 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to advocate sexual equality in the workplace in relation to terms and conditions of employment, particularly in relation to pay and opportunities for promotion.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Terms and conditions of employment, including pay, and the prohibition of discrimination and regulation of equal opportunities within the workplace are reserved matters.<P>Within its devolved competence to encourage equal opportunities, the Scottish Executive…
21 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government regarding securing an equitable share of the warship building contracts for the three shipyards on the River Clyde.
Answer · Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including shipbuilding. However, I understand that the MOD is due to announce its decision on the preferred prime contractor shortly. I understand that, whichever c…
8 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32743 by Iain Gray on 6 January 2003, who attended the meeting of the Clyde Shipyards Task Force on 2 December 2002 and which organisations they represented.
Answer · Iain Gray: The bodies represented at the meeting held on 2 December 2002 were Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, CSEU Scotland and GMB, BAE SYSTEMS Marine, JobCentre Plus, DTI, Scotland Office, Glasgow City Council, STUC and the Scottish Executive. A list of members is given …
1 Jan 2003 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in improving services for young runaways.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to look at ways of improving services for children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. <P>The Interim Report of the Working Group issued on 30 De…
18 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when a meeting last took place with Her Majesty's Government to discuss the present and future circumstances of the shipbuilding industry and what decisions were reached at any such meeting.
Answer · Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive and the UK Government meet regularly to discuss issues relating to the shipbuilding industry. My officials last met UK Government officials on 2 December 2002 at the meeting of the Clyde Shipyards Task Force held to monitor progress on …
18 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to the modernisation and expansion of the fisheries protection fleet to meet changes to the Common Fisheries Policy and its management regimes.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency has a planned replacement programme for its vessels to meet its enforcement needs. The first part of that programme is under way with the replacement of FPV <I>Westra</I> in July 2003.
18 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the age profile is of the vessels in the current fisheries protection fleet.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The age profile of the vessels in the fisheries protection fleet is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=172><TR><TD WIDTH="40%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=16><P></TD><TD WIDTH="60%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=16><P>Year of Launch</TD></TR><TR><TD WID…
18 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to place an order for the construction of a fisheries protection vessel in the near future.
Answer · Ross Finnie: No order is planned to be placed in the immediate future.
20 Nov 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is marking the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Executive is holding a debate this afternoon, to inform Parliament about progress made to date in tackling violence against women and the future development of the work. A news release was issued on 25 November in which I emphasised that the Executive is …
11 Nov 2002 · First Minister's Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Executive is planning any legislative measures to deal with nuisance neighbours.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, currently before Parliament, will introduce new provisions to allow for interim Anti-social Behaviour Orders. This builds on earlier legislation including the provisions for probationary tenancies in the Housing (Scotland…
5 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prisoners are currently serving terms of imprisonment following convictions for sexual offences and (b) places are currently available annually on prison programmes for treatment of sex offenders.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>As at June 2002, there were 466 known sex offenders serving terms of imprisonment. The number of places currently available on accredited progr…
31 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners released having served sentences for sexual offences undertook prison-based treatment for sexual offenders.
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 is not available in the form requested: prisoners who undertake prison-based treatment for sexual offences were not convicted o…
16 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to place a statutory requirement on local authorities to control foxes in their localities.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has no such plans. Under existing legislation, it is open to both local authorities and property holders to take action to control urban foxes.
16 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions for dealing in a class A drug there have been in the West Renfrewshire parliamentary constituency in each of the last three years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Information on arrests is not held centrally. <P>Data on convictions are available by court and information on recorded crime is available by local authority area. Neither is available by parliamentary constituency.<P>Data held centrally on convictions for dr…
18 Sep 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when discussions were last held with Clydeside local authorities concerning the dredging of the River Clyde.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Dredging of the River Clyde has not been raised by the Clydeside local authorities with the Executive. Clydeport, as harbour authority, has statutory powers to dredge the River Clyde.
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost was of dredging the River Clyde in each of the last three years and in what way the cost is recoverable from users of the river.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Clydeport, as harbour authority, may charge users for the services it provides under the Clyde Port Authority Confirmation Act 1965. The Executive has no responsibility for monitoring the costs of dredging the River Clyde.