Parliamentary questions
Gil Paterson
788 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average timescale and cost has been for applying for an anti-social behaviour order (ABSO) in each year since May 1999
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive commissions an annual report from the Chartered Institute of Housing on use of ASBOs. The latest report was published in December 2002 and is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The report does not include information on the…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders (ASBO) have been applied for in each local authority area.
Answer · Jim Wallace: ASBOs were introduced by section 19 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and came into effect in April 1999. Information on the number of ASBOs applied for by each local authority in the periods 1 December 1999 to 30 November 2000 and 1 December 2000 to 30 Nove…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have anti-social behaviour policies and dedicated officers for such policies in place.
Answer · Margaret Curran: An audit of Scottish local authorities undertaken by the Sociable Neighbourhood National Co-ordinator indicates that all local authorities have policies in place to deal with anti-social behaviour. To date, 11 authorities have dedicated specialist investigati…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funded initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour it has announced since 1999; how much funding has been provided to each (a) local authority and (b) initiative and what evaluation has been made of each initiative.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Since 1999, we have announced a Sociable Neighbourhood Initiative, the Quality of Life Initiative, the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund and Community Safety Partnership Awards, designed in whole or in part to tackle anti-social behaviour. A more detailed no…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what evaluation has been carried out into the effectiveness of anti-social behaviour policies across Scotland.
Answer · Margaret Curran: A report of the review of good practice in housing management, conducted by a team of researchers from Glasgow and Heriot-Watt Universities, was published in 2001. Copies were placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (the relevant Bib. numbers are 14447, 1…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the aims of the neighbourhood champions are.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Sociable Neighbourhood National Co-ordinator is the only neighbourhood champion reporting directly to the Scottish Executive.<B> </B>The champion's role is to work closely with councils to assimilate and disseminate good practice, identify gaps and act as…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the directory of good practice to be developed by the sociable neighbourhood national co-ordinator has been published; if not, when it will be published, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32954. 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/webapp/search">htt…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what work has been carried out by the sociable neighbourhood national co-ordinator.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32954. 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/webapp/search">htt…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made by the sociable neighbourhood national co-ordinator.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Sociable Neighbourhood National Co-ordinator (SNNC) is on target to deliver agreed outputs from an action plan developed by the Scottish Executive. In the last year, she has completed an audit of all the local authorities in Scotland and her report will b…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Chartered Institute of Housing report on anti-social behaviour practices for 2001-02 has been published; what the reasons are for the position on this matter, and what the costs of any delay have been.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The annual survey of the use of evictions and anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) by the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland was published on 13 December 2002. Copies of the survey were placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre. Delays were experien…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government regarding any changes to the one-year probationary rule regarding women that, having entered the UK to be with their husband who is a UK resident, have been subjected to domestic abuse.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including immigration matters.<P>The Executive welcomes the announcement by Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes MP on 26 November 2002 that changes to the Immigrat…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to outlaw the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families except in emergencies, similar to those announced for England and Wales by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 3 December 2002.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive is committed to reducing the number of households, particularly households with children, living in temporary accommodation including bed and breakfast accommodation. At the end of June 2002 there were 105 families with children tempora…
7 Jan 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers are currently being investigated as a result of Operation Ore regarding the activities of suspected paedophiles.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The investigations surrounding Operation Ore, which cover all eight Scottish police force areas, are on-going. I am advised that two police officers are among those being investigated and that a report on each case has been sent to the procurator fiscal. At t…
17 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the homicide victims shown as being the partner of the main accused in Homicides in Scotland Statistics 2001 were (a) women and (b) men and what the sex of the main accused was in each case.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Of the 14 homicide victims in 2001, where the main accused was known to be a partner of the accused, 12 were female and two were male. The main accused of the 12 female killings were all male. The main accused of one of the male killings was male and the othe…
17 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many social work departments have received training from CHANGE in respect of developing court-mandated perpetrator programmes.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: As at 31 March 2002, 15 authorities had received the awareness training and nine had progressed to the full skills training.
17 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many court-mandated perpetrator programmes for domestic abuse offenders there are and how many such programmes have parallel partner-support workers.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not held centrally. Court-mandated programmes are delivered by local authority criminal justice services.
17 Dec 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31209 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 December 2002, how many offenders in secure accommodation have taken part in offence-related and offence-specific work in each of the last three years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether voluntary organisations that are involved in working with children are under any legal obligation to carry out Scottish Criminal Record Office checks.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Criminal record checks are now mostly carried out under Part V of the Police Act 1997 through the issue of criminal conviction and criminal record certificates. There is, however, no provision in Part V which requires a person to apply for a certificate. Neve…
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will accept the recommendation of the Justice 1 Committee regarding the Protection of Children (Scotland) Bill that all evidence must be corroborated before someone can be included on the list of those unsuitable to work with children and, if so, how such a recommendation will …
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: As the bill establishes a civil procedure, it does not require corroboration of evidence. However, a person will not be included on the list unless the evidence submitted with the referral is robust, and the appropriate disciplinary procedures have been under…
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the Protection of Children (Scotland) Bill will have on voluntary organisations.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The bill provides for a list of persons unsuitable to work with children to be established. We have proposed amendments at stage 2 that will extend to all organisations employing individuals in child care positions (whether voluntary or statutory) the duty to…
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to broaden the range of offences that will trigger registration on the sex offenders register.
Answer · Jim Wallace: We are considering the range of offences that trigger registration on the sex offenders register with the UK Government in order to ensure that the register continues to provide comparable protection throughout the UK.
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any monitoring or evaluation is to be carried out on the implementation of the Sexual Offences (Procedures and Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Statistical information relevant to the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence)(Scotland) Act 2002 is being collected as from 1 November 2002, the date on which the act came into force. Qualitative research to assess the impact of the act will be commissione…
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29188 by Dr Richard Simpson on 30 October 2002, what its estimate is of the extent of drug-assisted sexual assault.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The nature of drug-assisted sexual assault makes it difficult to obtain reliable information. Information is collected about the number of people proceeded against and convicted for sexual offences, but drug-related sexual assaults are not separately identifi…
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31210 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 November 2002, whether it is currently reviewing the legislation on combating abuse of children on the internet.
Answer · Jim Wallace: We are considering, in consultation with Crown Office, whether to strengthen the law in this area and whether to introduce a specific new offence of grooming.
21 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its report on the progress of the national strategy to address domestic abuse.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I reported our progress to the Parliament in a debate on 28 November 2002.<P>We intend to publish a written report in February 2003.
14 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring system is in place to ensure that general practitioners are not refusing to add patients with a long history of ill health to their lists.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Regulations provide that general practitioners may refuse applications from patients for inclusion in their lists. Any person whose application is refused has the right to be assigned to a general practitioner by the appropriate Island NHS Board or Primary Ca…
14 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what processes are in place to allocate a general practitioner to patients when the patient has moved area.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Regulations provide that when a patient has moved area and their application to join the list of a general practitioner has been refused they may apply to the appropriate Island NHS Board or Primary Care Trust for assignment to a general practitioner. Where t…
6 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to the British Fluoridation Society in each year since 1997; what this funding was for, and from which budget it came.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive's funding of the British Fluoridation Society is provided through section 16B of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978.<P>The amounts awarded since 1997 are:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=151><TR><TD WIDTH="56…
6 Nov 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to respond to recent attacks on emergency services staff.
Answer · Richard Simpson: These continuing attacks on emergency services staff are deplorable and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms. We debated these issues in Parliament in September when there was considerable consensus about the importance of protecting emergency serv…
5 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publicising and making available the consultation document The National Debate on Education - The best for ALL our children.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24690 on 1 May 2002, where all costs associated with the National Debate briefing pack were estimated at £360,000. The actual costs were £350,000 (including VAT). All answers to written parliamentary ques…