Parliamentary questions
Lewis Macdonald
2,224 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) total cost has been of managing registered sex offenders under multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) level (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) three conditions in each year since 2007.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: There is no centrally held information about the standard costs involved in managing sex offenders under MAPPA as by their very nature, the arrangements are highly tailored to individual requirements, risks and circumstances.
18 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many registered sex offenders have been managed at multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) level (a) one, (b) two and (c) three in each year since 2007.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information is provided in the following table. Year Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 2007-08 2,330 923 56 2008-09 2,632 941 64 2009-10 2,853 840 43 2010-11 3,146 735 34 2011-12 3,454 466 26
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many offenders convicted after June 2006 whose crimes could have warranted an Order for Lifelong Restriction (a) have been released from prison in each year since that date and (b) are in prison.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The statutory criteria that govern the imposition of Orders for Lifelong Restriction can be found in sections 210B to 210G of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. It is for the court to decide whether an offender may fit the criteria when deciding on a…
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 prohibits (a) members or (b) former members of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority from taking on the role of Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No. Limitations on appointment to the role of a Police Investigations and Review Commissioner are set out in Schedule 4 (2) (1) of the Police Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 as amended by Schedule 7 (33) of the Police and Fire Reform (Sc…
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 prohibits (a) members or (b) former members of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority from taking on the role of Police Complaints Commissioner.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: It does not. Schedule 4 (2) (1) of the Police Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006, which covers “limitations on appointment” to the role of Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland, does not disqualify a member or former member of the Civ…
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the National Forum on Drug-Related Deaths, or its sub-groups, has (a) met or (b) produced reports since 2009-10.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The National Forum on Drug-Related Deaths established in 2005 meets on a quarterly basis each year. Between 2006 and 2008 the Forum met 10 times. Since January 2009 the Forum has met 15 times and produced two reports. The forum has four sub-groups: The Path…
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission advice (a) it and (b) the NHS has adopted.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission produced its first year report and recommendations to Minister in October 2011 which can be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/10/10142851/0. The report contained 23 recommendations focus…
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how often the Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission has met and how many reports it has produced.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission has met 12 times since its first meeting in December 2009. The commission produced its first year report and recommendations to minister in October 2011 which can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Pu…
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many drug users who have come into contact with (a) the NHS and (b) law enforcement agencies in each year since 1999 had previously completed drug rehabilitation programmes and what percentage of drug users who had undergone rehabilitation this comprised.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. That is why the Scottish Government has invested in, and enhanced, the Scottish Drugs Misuse Database (SDMD) to include the collection of follow-up and outcomes based information from people as they p…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the economic and social cost of drug abuse has been in each year since 1999.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. That is why the Scottish Government invested in the research Assessing the Scale and Impact of Illicit Drug Markets in Scotland http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/06103906/0, which was pu…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has cost the NHS to deal with drug abuse in each year since 1999.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. That is why the Scottish Government invested in the research Assessing the Scale and Impact of Illicit Drug Markets in Scotland http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/06103906/0, which was pu…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital admissions have been related to drug abuse in each year since 1999.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Information on the number of hospital admissions, with a diagnosis of drug misuse since 1 April 1999, as reported by Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland is presented in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows the number of psychiatric…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what is the (a) purchase price and (b) dispensing cost for a litre of methadone for (i) the NHS and (ii) pharmacies.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Methadone solution is purchased by community pharmacies who dispense it against NHS prescriptions and are then reimbursed for all dispensings. The purchase price varies by contractor, and over time, as they strive to achieve the best possible purchase price f…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are in drug treatment programmes and how many of those are (a) in employment and (b) in training.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. To respond to this evidence gap, the Scottish Government has: (1) Developed the Scottish Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times Database. This recorded that 15,600 people entered drug treatment (a…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many drug rehabilitation places have been made available in each year since 1999, also broken down by those made available by (a) each NHS board and (b) the Scottish Prison Service.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. That is why the Scottish Government developed the Scottish Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times Database, introduced in April 2011. This reports on the number of people entering drug and alcohol t…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been given to the Drug Recovery Network in each year since 2007.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: In April 2009, then Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing announced the establishment of a Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium (SDRC) whose role would be to advocate, catalyse and lobby for recovery to be the mainstay of drug services. The first member …
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last reviewed its (a) drugs and (b) drugs treatment strategy and what conclusions were made.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Road to Recovery is a long-term strategy and is under continual review from both within and out with government. In order to do this effectively and sustainably the Scottish Government established the Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission (DSDC) in 2009 to …
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) what percentage of and (b) how many methadone recipients have (i) entered, (ii) completed and (iii) re-entered drug rehabilitation in each year since 1999.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been collected. To address this evidence gap the Scottish Government has: (1) Invested in, and enhanced, the Scottish Drug Misuse Database (SDMD) to improve the information available on people entering and completin…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) what percentage of and (b) how many methadone recipients have undergone periodic urine testing in each year since 1999.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Drugs Misuse and Dependence – UK Guidelines on Clinical Management (more commonly known as the Orange Guidelines) advises clinicians to undertake random urine tests if and when appropriate. The guidelines further state that urine tests may be used to asse…
27 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been prescribed methadone in each year since 1999 and what the average length of time is of a course.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Review of Methadone in Drug Treatment: Prescribing Information and Practice published in 2007 (for the year 2006) estimated that 22,224 individuals were receiving methadone. Prior to 2007-08, this information had not been routinely collected. To address …
1 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people it estimates will have Type 1 diabetes on (a) 1 November 2012 and (b) 1 February 2013, and how many of them will receive insulin pump therapy, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The information requested is not centrally held. There are, however, around 960 people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Scotland each year. We expect the numbers of people with type 1 diabetes to increase in line with previous years as recorded on page 12 …
1 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have Type 1 diabetes, and how many of them receive insulin pump therapy, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Michael Matheson: This information is contained within the Scottish Diabetes Survey which was published on 20 August 2012 and is available at the following link: http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/SDS%202011.pdf. The survey indicates that there are 28,272 peop…
1 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what date the 2012 Scottish Diabetes Survey will be published and what were the publication dates for the survey in each of the last four years.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Diabetes Survey Monitoring Group aims to collate all survey data, quality assure these data, and finalise and publish the Scottish Diabetes Survey report within 12 months of the end of each calendar year. The Scottish Diabetes Survey 2012 will t…
30 Jul 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many orders have been issued each year in Aberdeen under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Aberdeen sheriff court granted 15 applications under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 in 2008-09, 38 applications in 2009-10 and 17 applications in 2010-11. Data is not available before 2008-09. The Scottish Government suspended the publicat…
3 Jul 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-07612 and S4W-07607 by Kenny MacAskill on 29 June 2012, for what reason the average expenditure on each intensive support package fell from £46,562 in 2009-10 to £9,342 in 2011-12.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Intensive Support Packages are, by their nature, highly individualised and tailored in nature and it is not a “standard” service. Therefore taking an “average” cost, is not really a reasonable way of comparing activity when you are looking at such a small gro…
28 Jun 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07769 by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012, when it will lay before the Parliament the section 14 order, and for what reason this was not carried out on 25 June 2012, as had been indicated by Mr MacAskill in his letter of 24 May 2012 to the Convener of…
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The draft section 14 Order under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 will be laid in the Parliament in September. In shaping our proposals, the Scottish Government recognise the value of contributions from a wide range of individuals and organisati…
27 Jun 2012 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether changes will be made to the arrangements for funding further education.
20 Jun 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07699 by Kenny MacAskill on 18 June 2012 and the letter from the Justice Directorate to Neil Powrie of the Association of Visiting Committees dated 8 June 2012, what its final position is on whether the proposed prison monitoring service will be able…
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The functions of the prison monitors will be detailed in the section 14 order under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. The draft order will be laid in September.
19 Jun 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a correlation between the value of an unpaid fine or arrears and the length of a supervised attendance order imposed on offenders unable to pay and, if so, what ratio is used.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Judicial decisions on sentencing take account of many factors, in light of the case presented and sanctions available. The value of the outstanding fine is likely to be one such factor in determining the length of a supervised attendance order, but the Scotti…
19 Jun 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the value is of fines not imposed as a result of courts imposing supervised attendance orders on offenders who are unable to pay, in each year since 2007.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.