James Kelly

3 Jun 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to legislate to create a presumption against custodial sentences of six months or less.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 creates a presumption against custodial sentences of three months or less, and that provision came into force from 1 February 2011. Ministers have no plans to change this.

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will evaluate the savings that would be generated from (a) reducing the number of police forces and (b) creating a single national police force.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: A team of policing professionals is working under the auspices of the sustainable policing project to examine the evidence for reform. Building on this work, we are developing an outline business case setting out potential costs and savings of each option.

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people attended the police consultation events held in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Ayr, (d) Inverness, (e) Aberdeen and (f) Perth on the future of policing.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Regional consultation events were held across Scotland, bringing together police and local partners in health, local government, criminal justice and the voluntary sector. The number of people attending these events was as follows: (a) Glasgow 49; (b) Edinb…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many responses have been received to its consultation on the future of policing.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: A total of 219 responses were received in response to the consultation on the future of policing in Scotland. These are currently being analysed and will be published before the summer recess.

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community payback orders have been imposed since their introduction.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: There were 333 community payback orders imposed during the months of February and March 2011. This information was published on 10 May 2011 and is available on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Just…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to change the provisions of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 in relation to football banning orders.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: All options are being considered with regard to tackling sectarianism connected to football, including the potential for changes to the provisions of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 in relation to football banning orders. Th…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has allocated to support the use of community payback orders.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Scotland's Budget Documents 2011-12: Budget (Scotland) Bill Supporting Document, sets-out the allocations of funding made to community justice services. In 2011-12 £111 million has been allocated to that purpose in total. The breakdown is available in schedul…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider establishing a victims’ commissioner.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-150 on 31 May 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/D…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service with a religious aggravation as set out in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06, (d) 2006-07, (e) 2007-08, (f) 2008-09, (g) 2009-10 and (h) 2010-11, broken down by p…

Answer · Frank Mulholland: The following table shows the number of charges reported to Procurators Fiscal which included a Religious Aggravation element. Charges: Religious Aggravation Included Police Force Area 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 …

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will evaluate the (a) costs and (b) savings of reducing the number of police forces to (i) two, (ii) three, (iii) four and (d) five.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-382 on 8 June 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/D…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward its proposals on the future structure of Scottish policing.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-390 on 8 June 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/D…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether online postings that seek to incite sectarian hatred can be used as the basis for an application for a football banning order.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: In any case where it appears to the court that an offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by a football match, this can lead to a football banning order. This would, of course, be a matter for the courts depending on the circumstances of individual cases.

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the football banning orders (a) applied for and (b) granted in each year since 2006 have related to sectarian offences.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-40275 on 17 March 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/P…

31 May 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many football banning orders were (a) applied for and (b) granted in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08, (c) 2008-09, (d) 2009-10 and (e) 2010-11, broken down by sherrifdom.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The following table shows the number of football banning orders (FBOs) granted in Scotland since September 2006 when the legislation came into force. A breakdown of the figures by sheriffdom is not held centrally. Force   September 2006 to March 2007 Apri…

17 Mar 2011 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths there have been from knife attacks since 1 January 2010.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Homicide Data for 2010-11 will not be published until December 2011, but the latest published homicide statistics (for 2009-10) show that homicide rates are down to their lowest level in 31 years, with homicides as a result of a sharp instrument down 39% on t…

28 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of handling an offensive weapon were reported between 1 April 2010 and 31 January 2011, broken down by (a) type of crime and (b) police board area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The statistical bulletin <i >Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2010-11</i> is scheduled for publication in September 2011. Under the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008, the requested data will not be available until the day of publicati…

28 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days were directly connected to a diagnosis of assault by sharp object between 1 April 2010 and 31 January 2011, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on acute occupied bed days due to assault by sharp object is not yet available for the time period requested. Statistics for the 2010-11 financial year will be published in September. Provisional data may be available earlier in the summer.</p>

28 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions due to assault by sharp object there were between 1 April 2010 and 31 January 2011, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on hospital admissions due to assault by sharp object is not yet available for the time period requested. Statistics for the 2010-11 financial year will be published in September. Provisional data may be available earlier in the summer.</p>

21 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date building work commenced on phase 2 of the Gartcosh crime campus.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The stage 2 contractor commenced work on the construction of the Scottish Crime Campus on 21 February 2011.</b></p>

7 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were convicted of carrying a knife or other offensive weapon in 2009-10, broken down by (a) manner of disposal and (b) local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Latest statistics show a downward trajectory across the country in the fight against knives with homicide rates down to their lowest level in 31 years, the number of homicides using a sharp instrument down 39% between 2008-09 and 2009-10, the number of people…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) cost and (b) start date of work on phase 2 of the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh will be.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: </b>The contract price for phase two of the construction of the Scottish Crime Campus is £11,744,547.73 excluding VAT. Work is scheduled to start on the site on 21 February 2011.</b></p>

10 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its draft budget for 2011-12 contains specific funds to finance the implementation of section 18 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 and, if so, which budget line it is contained in

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The draft budget does not contain specific funds to finance the implementation of section 18 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. The Scottish Government remains committed to ending automatic unconditional early release and officials hav…

10 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the potential costs of ending automatic early release

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The government published its estimate of the cost of early release in the Financial Memorandum of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Act 2010, which can be accessed via the Scottish Parliament website (page 122 onwards):</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish…

25 Nov 2010 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor the progress of Creative Scotland.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The procedures in place to monitor the progress of Creative Scotland mirror those for all statutory NDPBs. These include measures for public accountability to the Parliament and to ministers through the statutory requirements in the Public Services Reform (Sc…

23 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to end automatic early release.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government remains committed to ending automatic unconditional early release and has taken action to make this happen.</p> <p >&nbsp;</p>

23 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its assessment is of the effect on the prison population of section 18 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Our assessment is that it would deliver a significant change to the way that the criminal justice system deals with offenders. This would include a potential increase in the prison population, all other things being equal.</p>

23 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will commence section 18 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government remains committed to ending automatic unconditional early release and officials have been in discussion with a range of interests to determine how we can implement this effectively in light of the spending cuts passed down by the UK Go…

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the planned completion dates are for each phase of the Gartcosh crime campus project.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The project to build the Scottish Crime Campus is being delivered through three separate main works construction packages. Contract 1, the enabling works; contract 2, the shell and core of the campus, and contract 3 the fit out. </p> <p >Contract 1 is curren…

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the planned expenditure on the Gartcosh crime campus will be financed from the capital budget of the police central government grant.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Crime Campus is being funded by both the capital budget and key efficiencies and savings from resource budgets.</p>

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the planned annual expenditure on the Gartcosh crime campus project will be in each of the remaining years of the project.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Planned expenditure in 2011-12 is £14 million. Expenditure in subsequent years is subject to contract and market conditions.</p>