Parliamentary questions

Alex Neil

3,059 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-15435 and S2W-17042 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April and 17 June 2005, whether it is the Scottish Prison Service Controller based in HM Prison Kilmarnock or Premier Prison Services Ltd which has ultimate responsibility for reporting breaches of contra…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The contract places the onuson the contractor, requiring them to inform SPS of any failures to meet contractualcommitments.In …

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15585 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005, who is responsible for awarding compensation to the family of James Barclay if it is not a matter for the Scottish Prison Service.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: It is open to any person who feels that he or she should be compensated for the actions of another person to apply to the court. It is for…

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17698 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 August 2005, whether any disciplinary action or penalty was imposed on Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for its contractual failure to open HM Prison Kilmarnock on 16 March 1999.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows: No, but liquidated damages were paid to SPS by the Company.

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-15588 and S2W-17698 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April and 24 August 2005, how it reconciles the statement that there have been no breaches of the contract with Premier Prison Services Ltd to operate HM Prison Kilmarnock with the fact that Kilmarnock Pr…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: Failure to meet a particular contractual commitment not a breach of contract.

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-15617 and S2W-15618 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2005, how the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service can be aware that Premier Prison Services Ltd has, at all times, met its contractual commitment in respect of employing one or more regis…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows: The contract does not require the contractor to employ registered mental nurses but does commit the contractor to having “nursing st…

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17042 by Cathy Jamieson on 17 June 2005, whether it considers that a system which places the onus on the contractor to report any of its own contractual failings is the best system by which to ensure that contractual failures are brought to light.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows: Yes. The SPS also have a controller team whose role includes keeping the running of the prison under review.

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17401 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 June 2005, why the Scottish Prison Service believes that staff turnover does not adversely affect the performance of the service.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: Staff turnover is significantly below the UK average and we are meeting the performance targets set by ministers.

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17406 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 June 2005, whether the Chief Executive or any other official of the Scottish Prison Service instructed Premier Prison Services Ltd to commission the independent report in respect of HM Prison Kilmarnock or whether Premie…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: I refer the member to the question S2W-17406 answered on 30 June 2005. The SPS did not do so. It was the Company’s decision. All answers t…

18 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in respect of the introduction of the non-numeric fingerprint standard; when it will be implemented, and whether the disagreement between fingerprint experts in the Scottish Fingerprint Service has had any impact on any delay.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Preparations to enable the introduction of a non‑numeric standard for fingerprint evidence in Scotland are well advanced. To that end, plans are being put in place for a national consultative process with all stakeholders in the Scottish Criminal Justic…

16 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it is able to provide on the persons tasked with preparing responses to questions in respect of fingerprint issues raised by members of the Parliament; what their positions are; what fingerprint experience they have; whether they have been involved with any cases involvin…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Answers are prepared by Scottish Executive civil servants who take advice from senior managers in the Scottish Criminal Record Office.

16 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether agreement has been formally reached with the Scottish Police Federation, at both national and local level, in respect of taking finger and palm print impressions from all serving police officers and holding the impressions on an computerised database to enable IDENT1 searches of c…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: At present all fingerprints of serving police officers are held in hard copy format for elimination purposes. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland are considering the possibility of creating a Police Eliminations Database as a partioned part o…

16 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-20244 and S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, whether at any time in the last 10 years any experts from outwith the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO) have disagreed with any of the SCRO's fingerprint identifications other than tho…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: In October 2003, two fingerprint officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Mr Allan Bayle (a former fingerprint officer with the Metropolitan Police Service) reached a different conclusion from fingerprint officers based in the Scottish Fingerp…

16 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, what information it is able to provide on whether there have been any other incidents of disagreements involving Lothian and Borders Police fingerprint staff.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: We are not aware of any other incidents of disagreements involving Lothian and Borders Police fingerprint staff.

16 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-20244 and S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005 and given that experts in the Aberdeen and Edinburgh offices of the Scottish Fingerprint Service (SFS) disagreed with colleagues in the Glasgow office about the identification of a mark in th…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Criminal trials in Scotland are conducted in open court where the evidence that is led by the prosecution is open to challenge by the defence. The Scottish Fingerprint Service has a consistent approach to fingerprint identification which is followed by…

10 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue a policy statement on the spread of avian influenza and the measures it is taking to control the infection, including information on which categories of birds are included in, or excluded from, any restrictions designed to prevent the spread of avian influenza.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I made a statement to the Scottish Parliament on 2 November 2005 which outlined the current global disease situation and the potential risks to Scotland. Whilst the risk of immediate introduction of avian influenza from migrating wildfowl is judged to be low,…

10 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20013 by Colin Boyd QC on 7 November 2005, whether the reason for the answer not providing information relating to the names of the fingerprint experts cited as witnesses at the Lockerbie trial or precognosced in this connection is that the Executive…

Answer · Colin Boyd: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20558 on 24 November 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/weba…

10 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20010 by Colin Boyd QC on 7 November 2005, whether the reason for the answer not providing information relating to the names of the fingerprint experts involved in expert examination related to the Lockerbie investigation is that the Executive (a) do…

Answer · Colin Boyd: No fingerprint examination work was carried out by the Scottish Criminal Records Office in connection with the Lockerbie investigation. The answer to question S2W-20010 referred to officers from Lothian and Borders Police who carried out fingerprint ex…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the prison population (a) is currently and (b) should be held in an open prison.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: (a) As at 9 November 2005, 5.5% of the prison population was held in open conditions.(b) There is no set percentage of prisone…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the assessment criteria are for a prisoner to be sent to an open prison at the start of their sentence.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: No prisoner starts a sentence in an open prison.

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the assessment criteria are for a prisoner to become entitled to be transferred to an open prison during their sentence.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: In order to qualify for consideration for transfer to an open prison, an assessment is made against the following criteria:Proporti…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners currently incarcerated should be in an open prison but are not and where they are currently located.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: The number of prisoners eligible for consideration for open conditions changes on a daily basis. On 9 November 2005, 66 prisoners wer…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of open prison places.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: Following construction of new prisoner accommodation at HM Prison Castle Huntly in August 2005, the number of open prison places has incre…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall capacity is of open prisons and what the individual capacity is of each open prison.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20538 on 21 November 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available o…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive where the locations are of all open prisons.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: HM Prison Noranside and HM Prison Castle Huntly.

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many available places there are in open prisons.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: There are 431 available places in the Open Estate, comprising 296 places at HM Prison Castle Huntly and 135 places at HM Prison Noranside.…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in which of the months, April, May and June, Reliance’s monthly percentage of collections from any location has exceeded 5% of the total collections in the financial year 2005-06 to date.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows: The information requested is not available. The total number of prisoner movements for each month is available on the SPS website at…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in which of the months, April, May and June, Reliance’s monthly percentage of late returns to any location has exceeded 5% of the total returns in the financial year 2005-06 to date.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: The information requested is not available. However, if there were problems with late returns establishments would inform the Escorts Moni…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of key/lock compromise or loss there have been by prisoners in Reliance’s custody in the financial year 2005-06 to date, broken down by quarter, and what the comparable figures were in 2004-05.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: I refer the member to the answer to questions S2W-8431 and S2W-16511 on 8 June 2004 and 23 May 2005 respectively which clearly outline the…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of attempted escape there have been by prisoners in Reliance's custody in the financial year 2005-06 to date, broken down by quarter, and what the comparable figures were in 2004-05.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows: I refer the member to the questions S2W-8431 and S2W-16511 on 8 June 2004 and 23 May 2005 respectively which clearly outline the sum…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of concerted disorder there have been by prisoners in Reliance's custody in the financial year 2005-06 to date, broken down by quarter, and what the comparable figures were in 2004-05.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows: I refer the member to the answers to question S2W-8431 and S2W-16511 on 8 June 2004 and 23 May 2005 respectively which clearly outline the…