Parliamentary questions
Robert Brown
1,531 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
29 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with licensing boards about the pursuit of cases against licensees in breach of licensing conditions based on incidents taking place before 31 August 2009 when the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 comes into effect.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Staff of one licensing board sought advice from Scottish Government officials on this issue. Advice on the provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 was provided. There has been no contact on this issue from other boards.</p>
29 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether licensing boards will be able to take action under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 against licensees in breach of licensing conditions occurring before 31 August 2009.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25442 on 22 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <u><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Ap…
29 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there is a legal loophole preventing sanctions being imposed against licensees of on and off-sales premises after 31 August 2009 for breach of licensing conditions occurring before that date.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 provides a mechanism for premises licences to be reviewed. The licence conditions as such do not apply before the licence takes effect, so it is not possible to breach them. However the grounds for review include grounds …
29 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will develop a national dementia strategy.
Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24446 on 11 June 2009. 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/Apps2/B…
29 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in response to the report, Remember, I’m still me, produced jointly by the Care Commission and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, relative to the quality of care for people with dementia living in a care home.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Dementia Strategy, to be developed over the summer months, will also focus on the issues identified in that report.</p>
22 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive in how many cases reported to the police in which the accused was aged (a) 16 or 17 and (b) under 16 the decision had not yet been made about whether to prosecute in the criminal courts as of 12 June 2009.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally.</p> <p >The Scottish Government does not hold individualised data on any crimes or offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, and as such does not hold information on the age of perpetrators of crimes or…
22 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases in which the accused was aged (a) 16 or 17 and (b) under 16 were pending in the criminal courts as of 12 June 2009.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: As at 12 June 2009 there were 3,260 accused persons, aged 16 or 17, who had cases pending in the criminal courts, including 12 in the High Court of Justiciary. There were 104 accused persons under 16, including six in the High Court of Justiciary. These figur…
18 Jun 2009 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a target for teacher numbers in Scotland.
Answer · Keith Brown: Class sizes in Scotland are at a record low. Maintaining teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls is a mechanism to deliver reduced class sizes. We will work collectively with COSLA, local authorities and others to ensure we achieve even more progr…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the rate of turnover was in procurator fiscal legal staff in each of the last five years.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: The information requested is set out in the following table for each of the last four years. It is not possible to provide information prior to 2006 since the information was not held in this form.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > …
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) vacancies and (b) long-term or maternity leave absences there were in (i) procurator fiscal and (ii) depute procurator fiscal posts in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: The information set out in the following tables identifies vacancies and absences at the specific dates, broken down by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) Area since staffing of COPFS is not structured by sheriff court area. There are a variet…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the legally qualified establishment is of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and how many of these posts were filled in each of the last five years.
Answer · Frank Mulholland: The information requested is set out below for each of the last four years. It is not possible to provide information prior to 2006 since the information was not held in this form.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td valign=top >…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many attempts to defraud and abuse legal aid have been identified in each of the last five years.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Table 1 gives details of the numbers of cases of suspected fraud or abuse by applicants investigated by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) in each of the last five financial years.</p> <p >Table 1: Applicant Investigations</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many solicitors’ practices provide legal aid services in civil matters and how many have undertaken such work in each of the last five years, broken down by parliamentary region.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The following tables give the numbers of solicitors'' firms which have submitted intimations of advice and assistance and applications for civil legal aid in each of the last five financial years, broken down by parliamentary region. The Scottish Legal Aid Bo…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for civil legal advice have been made to the civil legal assistance service in Argyll and Bute; how many were for advice and assistance, and how many were granted, broken down by type of matter.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Advice and assistance is granted by the solicitor subject to a test of the applicant''s financial eligibility. Solicitors then intimate to the board that advice and assistance has been granted. Applications for civil legal aid are made by solicitors to the Sc…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for civil legal aid have been made to the Highlands and Islands Civil Legal Assistance Office; how many were for advice and assistance, and how many were granted, broken down by type of matter.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Advice and assistance is granted by the solicitor subject to a test of the applicant''s financial eligibility. Solicitors then intimate to the board that advice and assistance has been granted.</p> <p >Applications for civil legal aid are made by solicitors …
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for civil legal aid have been made under the legal aid scheme in each of the last five years and what percentage was granted, broken down by type of matter.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Full details of the applications for and grants of civil legal aid in each of the last five financial years are contained in the statistical tables in the annual reports published by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. These can be found in the Scottish Parliament'…
16 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for legal advice and assistance in civil matters have been made under the legal aid scheme in each of the last five years, broken down by type of matter, and how many sanctions were granted broken down by range of amount.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Full details of the intimations of advice and assistance and assistance by way of representation in each of the last five financial years are contained in the statistical tables in the annual reports published by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. These can be fou…
15 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners are receiving medication or other treatment for physical health conditions, broken down by prison and showing the type of (a) treatment and (b) condition.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >The information is not available in the format requested. However, the Scottish Prison Service published <i >Prison Health in Scotland: …
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on methadone use.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Our national drug strategy <i >The Road to Recovery</i> makes it clear that a range of services, including substitute prescribing, needs to be in place to enable people to recover from their drug use. It is, however, for clinicians to decide the most appropri…
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it remains committed to the objective of harm reduction as a key priority of its drug strategy.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The key aim of our national drug strategy is recovery from problem drug use. People achieve recovery in different ways. The strategy makes it clear that there needs to be a range of services in place to make recovery a reality, including harm reduction servic…
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to support action on drug issues in each of the last three years, broken down by recipient group.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government allocates funding from a variety of sources to support action on drug issues.</p> <p >The following tables set out details of funding allocations for each of the last three financial years as well as for the current financial year.</p…
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake research to determine the extent to which the Sex Offender Treatment Programme aids the rehabilitation of serious sex offenders.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >SPS has monitored and researched its Sex Offender Treatment Programmes (SOTPs) since their introduction in 1994.</p> <p >A study o…
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what methods are used to address the offending behaviour of serious sex offenders who decline to sign up for the Sex Offender Treatment Programme.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >Sex offenders managed on the enhanced version of integrated case management (ICM) are subject to initial and annual case conference…
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of serious sex offenders completed the Sex Offender Treatment Programme before their release from prison in each of the last five years.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >The SPS makes no such distinction between sex offenders. This information is not currently available for the last five years.</p> …
12 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many places on the Sex Offender Treatment Programme were available in prisons in each of the last five years, broken down by establishment.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >The following table details the number of Sex Offender Treatment Programmes (SOTP) completed by SPS over the last five years:</p> …
8 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how long, on average, phone calls made by inmates from prisons last.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >On average, phone calls made by inmates from prison during the last five years (2004-09) have lasted 4.1 minutes.</p>
8 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much a 30 minute phone call from a prison to a landline costs.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >A 30 minute phone call from a prison to a UK landline would cost £3.24.</p>
8 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executivewhat justification the phone service provider for prisons has given the Scottish Prison Service for the high cost of calls for prisoners compared with calls made from payphones.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >Siemens commercial proposal, at contract award, between SPS and Siemens was based on the current call charge rates, which at the ti…
8 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instruct the Scottish Prison Service to reduce the cost of phone calls made by prisoners in line with the 12% average reduction agreed by the National Offender Management Service for prisons in England and Wales and its service provider, BT.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >As recommended by Ofcom, SPS discussed with Siemens the possibility of reducing the rates that they charge prisoners for phone call…
8 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service has responded to the direction by Ofcom to reduce the cost of phone calls made by prisoners and, if not, when such a response will be made.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >Ofcom''s response to the super-complaint on the cost of calls made by prisoners, published on 22 September 2008, contained the fol…