Parliamentary questions

Phil Gallie

528 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

21 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail any precedents which were relevant to the release from custody of Andrew Affleck and Gavin Armstrong, who were charged with murder following a fatal fire in Irvine on 2 March 2001.

Answer · Colin Boyd: The decision to liberate Andrew Affleck and Gavin Armstrong was based on the circumstances of the case and not by reference to precedent.

21 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that full details of the circumstances which led to the release from custody of Andrew Affleck and Gavin Armstrong, who were charged with murder following a fatal fire in Irvine on 2 March 2001, are made publicly available and that the victims and the public are kep…

Answer · Colin Boyd: Proceedings against Andrew Affleck and Gavin Armstrong remain active. It is therefore inappropriate to make public disclosure of any factors relevant to the liberation of the accused. The police remain in touch with the next-of-kin.

21 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what circumstances led to the release from custody of Andrew Affleck and Gavin Armstrong, who were charged with murder following a fatal fire in Irvine on 2 March 2001.

Answer · Colin Boyd: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16452.

20 Jun 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to establish a public inquiry into the handling by the Crown Office of the recent Ayrshire sex abuse case following the abandonment of the trial.

Answer · Colin Boyd: No.

20 Jun 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3917 by Iain Gray on 25 October 2001, what steps it will take to meet the requirements of those who seek access to police road traffic accident reports.

Answer · Iain Gray: Police Road Traffic Accident Reports often contain sensitive information, most notably those involving fatal accidents. Such reports, if made available generally to the public, can cause great distress to victims' families and others. Therefore, it is not app…

14 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will supply the publications Taking Sex Seriously, The Primary School Sex Education Pack and Living and Growing to all MSPs to enable them to inform constituents about the material in the Guide for Teachers and Managers: Health Education 5-14, produced by Learning and Teaching …

Answer · Jack McConnell: No. This would not be an appropriate use of public resources.<P>In March 2001, the Executive issued a circular to Directors of Education giving guidance on the conduct of sex education. At the same time, Learning and Teaching Scotland issued three new publica…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners who had been subjected to a self-harm risk assessment were transferred from Kilmarnock Prison to Low Moss in the last year and, of these, how many were Ayrshire home-based.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>All prisoners admitted into prison are assessed for suicide risk - therefore all prisoners who are subsequently transferred will have been ass…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the additional #10 million earmarked for work with prisoners with a drug problem in the period 2001-02 to 2003-04 has been allocated to each prison in each year and what criteria were used to determine these allocations.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Additional funding for expanding work performed within the Scottish Prison Service drug strategy has not been allocated to individual establis…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners entering Kilmarnock Prison in each year since 1997 were (a) drug abusers and (b) drug injectors.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Precise figures of the number of drug abusers entering Scottish prisons are not available, but a prisoner survey at Kilmarnock showed that ove…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the table:<P>Crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland in which a firearm was alleged to have been used, 1995-96 to 1999-2000<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Percentage<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=597><T…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences involving (a) firearms and (b) handguns were recorded in (i) 1995-96, (ii) 1996-97, (iii) 1997-98, (iv) 1998-99, and (v) 1999-2000.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the following table:<P>Crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland in which a firearm was<P>alleged to have been used, 1995-96 to 1999-2000<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=635><TR><TD WIDTH="49%"…

4 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many robberies involving (a) firearms and (b) handguns were committed in (i) 1995-96, (ii) 1996-97, (iii) 1997-98, (iv) 1998-99 and (v) 1999-2000.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the table:<P>Robberies recorded by the police in Scotland in which a firearm was alleged to have been used, 1995-96 to 1999-2000<P>Number<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=606><TR><TD WIDTH="38%" VALIGN="TOP"…

29 May 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in the past month Ayr hospital has been unable to accept GP referred admissions.

Answer · Susan Deacon: This is essentially an operational matter for Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.<P>All NHS hospitals will face peaks in demand at certain points of the year.<P>I understand that a recent outbreak of sickness and diarrhoea has put additional pressur…

23 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many charges were brought during 2000 for driving while disqualified from holding a licence and, of these, how many related to repeat offences, specifying in each case the number of convictions in respect of such charges which resulted in (a) a jail sentence, (b) community service and…

Answer · Jim Wallace: The latest available information, which relates to 1999, is given in the table.<P>Number of offences of driving while disqualified proceeded against in Scottish courts, 1999<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=597><TR><TD WIDTH="53%" VALIGN="TOP" H…

23 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many charges were brought during 2000 for driving without insurance and, of these, how many related to repeat offences, specifying in each case the number of convictions in respect of such charges which resulted in (a) a jail sentence, (b) community service and (c) an admonishment.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The latest available information, which relates to 1999, is given in the table. In the majority of cases, information on prosecutions of repeat offences in relation to this type of offence cannot be separately identified within the data held centrally.<P>Numb…

16 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14481 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 April 2001, why Louis McDonald was (a) recalled to custody on 19 May 1999 and (b) re-released on 4 July 1999.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-15809.

16 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14481 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 April 2001, why Louis McDonald served only two-and-a-half years of his sentence before being released on parole licence.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Mr Louis McDonald was released on licence on 3 January 1997 in accordance with section 1(3) of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993, in the light of a recommendation from the Parole Board which the Secretary of State was statutorily obli…

10 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many male teachers there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The School Census at September 1999 shows there were 1,553 (FTE) male teachers, out of a total of 22,643 (FTE) teachers in publicly funded primary schools. Out of a total headcount of 27,621 primary teachers there were 1,927 male teachers.<P>In publicly funde…

10 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many permanently employed teachers there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The latest information available from the Teacher Census at September 1998, shows there were an estimated 20,398 (FTE) teachers who were permanently employed, out of a total of 22,508 (FTE) teachers employed in publicly funded primary schools. The School Cens…

9 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were released on parole in 2000; how many of these were serving life sentences for (a) violence, (b) drug dealing offences and (c) sex crimes, and what the level of recall to prison was in each of these categories.

Answer · Jim Wallace: In the year ended 31 December 2000, the Parole Board recommended the early release on licence of 374 prisoners sentenced to a term of imprisonment of four years or more. Scottish Ministers were statutorily obliged to accept the board's recommendation in 344 o…

25 Apr 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes there have been in recent years with respect to the provision of funding for braces for children's teeth.

Answer · Susan Deacon: None.

23 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what further prosecutions are being considered given the number of alleged transgressions of the law revealed within transcripts of the trial in which Gary Sanders was discharged and Louis McDonald was released on a Not Proven verdict in 1997.

Answer · Colin Boyd: As far as I am aware, transcripts have not been ordered from the High Court of Justiciary in this case. I am therefore unable to comment further.

23 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation took place between the Cawley family and the Procurator Fiscal's Office from the date of the murder to the end of the trial, and whether the Procurator Fiscal's Office provided accurate information on (a) the case against Gary Sanders and (b) the case against Louis McDo…

Answer · Colin Boyd: Members of the Cawley family met with the precognoscer of the case at the Procurator Fiscal's Office in Glasgow on 8 November 2000 when the precognition process, the trial process and the options available to a jury were explained to them. The Cawley family w…

23 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how long, from time of appointment, James Drummond Young QC had to prepare the prosecution case against Louis McDonald and Gary Sanders, both charged with the murder of Christopher Cawley.

Answer · Colin Boyd: Trial Advocates Depute are given case papers 10 days in advance of a sitting of the High Court they are prosecuting. Cases are already fully prepared by legal staff of the Procurator Fiscal Service and Crown Office before being given to Advocates Depute.<P>Mr…

23 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what length of time Louis McDonald, recently discharged under a Not Proven verdict for the murder of Christopher Cawley, served of the six year sentence he received in 1997 for violent assault.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>Mr McDonald did not receive a sentence in 1997 for violent assault. He was, however, convicted of Assault to Severe Injury and Permanent Disfig…

21 Mar 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3052 by Neil Davidson on 8 March 2001, what further details it can give of the 1,113 cases marked no proceedings on a time expiry basis and what steps are being taken to address the situation.

Answer · Colin Boyd: In almost every case the problem stems from the late reporting of the case to the Procurator Fiscal. The overwhelming majority of them are reported by agencies other than the police and the Executive has very limited powers in relation to those agencies. Howe…

20 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why the release from prison of James William Murray, formerly of Tarbolton, was not intimated in advance to his victims or their families.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The release of Mr Murray was not intimated to his victims or their families as they were not eligible to be included in the current Victim Notification Scheme (VNS). The VNS provides for the victims of violent or sexual crimes or their next of kin to be notif…

20 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why James William Murray, formerly of Tarbolton, has been released from prison after serving nine months of the three and a half years to which he was sentenced on 1 June 2000.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:-<P>Mr Murray appealed against his sentence at the High Court in Glasgow on 1 September 2000. The Court quashed his original sentence and substitu…

19 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is from the date of first appointment to the date of treatment for those treated at the Glasgow Dental Hospital for each year from 1997 to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally.

19 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is from the date of referral to the date of appointment for those referred to Glasgow Dental Hospital for each year from 1997 to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The median waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant at Glasgow Dental Hospital, following a General Medical Practitioner/General Dental Practitioner referral, for each year from 1997/8 is given in the table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=…