Parliamentary questions
Stewart Stevenson
2,358 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports procurators fiscal received from each police force in 2003-04 and, of these, how many (a) were marked "no proceedings" on account of delay on the part of the reporting agency, (b) proceeded to trial, (c) resulted in a conviction and (d) are currently pending.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: The collation and analysis of the relevant information for this parliamentary question means that it cannot beanswered by the deadline. I will write providing a detailed answer to the questionas soon as the collation and analysis is complete.</p>
3 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of assault victims reported their attacker to have been under the influence of alcohol in each year since 1997, broken down by type of assault.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: The question of whether or not a person accused of assault was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the alleged offence can be a relevant evidential matter to be considered during a trial and is therefore generally included in a police report to the …
3 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many drink-driving convictions there were in (a) 1997 and (b) 1998, broken down by police force area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table.</p> <p>Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving<sup>1</sup>, 1997–98</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Police Force Area</p></td> <t…
3 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many females were convicted of drink-driving offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table.</p> <p>Females with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Drink-Driving<sup>1</sup>, 1997-2002</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Police Force Area</p></td> …
3 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the life expectancy is of (a) males and (b) females who (i) drink alcohol above recommended levels, (ii) drink alcohol at recommended levels, (iii) drink alcohol below recommended levels and (iv) abstain from alcohol.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: This information is not held centrally.</p>
2 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether contracts into which it enters have a requirement that any personal data recorded as part of the contract conform to the standards adopted as to name lengths and numbers of names in the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages and whether it will indicate what other requirements i…
Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive does not set any standards regarding name lengths or number of names in respect of data recorded as part of contracts awarded.</p>
2 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the legal implications are of a name being recorded in the criminal justice system in a different form from the name registered in the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages or from any name, or combination of names, commonly used by the individual concerned.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Data Protection Act 1998 requires that information recorded on computer databases is accurate. The act acknowledges, however, that data subjects must take some responsibility for providing accurate data in the first instance. In police work, people who ar…
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many criminal justice cases have been delayed or dropped due to the names of accused persons being (a) incorrectly and (b) incompletely recorded in each of the last five years.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13591 by Tavish Scott on 7 February 2005, which of the computer systems used by it or its agencies for recording personal details cannot record (a) people's full names as legally recorded in the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages, (b) all the i…
Answer · Tom McCabe: As there is no central repository for name formats in ICT systems in use across the Executive and its agencies, to provide the information requested on an individual system basis could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p>
28 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the planning system to assist farmers to diversify or move towards retail activity.
Answer · Johann Lamont: On 7 February the Executivepublished a series of planning documents designed to grow the economy andencourage sustainable development in rural areas.</p><p>National planning policy, ascontained in Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 15: <i>Planning for RuralDevelo…
28 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a presumption against retail development in rural areas.
Answer · Johann Lamont: There is no absolutepresumption against retail development in rural areas. It is for planningauthorities to assess all applications against national planning policy andother material factors.</p><p>National Planning PolicyGuideline (NPPG) 8: <i>Town Centres a…
28 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that shops should be located in towns rather than rural areas and what guidance it issues to planners in rural areas such as the north east on the location of retail developments.
Answer · Johann Lamont: It is for planningauthorities to assess all applications for retail development against a widerange of factors and local circumstances and, in particular, national planningpolicy as set out in National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 8: <i>TownCentres and Re…
28 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there have been in (a) the NHS Grampian area, (b) Banff and Buchan, (c) Gordon, (d) West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and (e) Eastwood in each year since 1997.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The following table providesa breakdown of the NHS dentists in the areas requested </p><p>Number of NHS General DentalPractitioners<sup>1,2,3</sup> (at 30 September 2004)</p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td…
25 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) regular, (b) full-time reserve and (c) part-time reserve police officers were medically retired as a result of being injured on duty in each year since 1997.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The total number of regular policeofficers medically retired from the eight Scottish forces since 1997 is shownin the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>1997-98</p> </td> <td> <p>1998-99</p> </…
25 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of NHS staff was (a) medical, (b) nursing, (c) technical, (d) managerial administrative, (e) clerical administrative and (f) auxiliary and support in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Detailed information on staff in post in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at <b><a href="http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce">www.isdscotland.org/workforce</a></b>.</p><p>In particular, tables A1…
25 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what proportion of, burglars convicted for a third offence received a custodial sentence in the most recent year for which information is available and what the average length of sentence was.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: A total of 172 persons were givena custodial sentence in 2002 having been convicted for a third time for housebreakingsince the start of 1989, 62 per cent of all such offenders. The average lengthof custodial sentence imposed for these offenders was 179 days.…
25 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many public house licences were withdrawn due to the sale of alcohol to (a) individuals below the minimum legal age and (b) inebriated individuals in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-14224 answered on 25 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:</p><p><a href="http://www.scott…
25 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13662 by Mr Jim Wallace on 15 February 2005, how many people were registered as self-employed in each year since 1997.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Table 1 shows the number of people who were self employed in the spring quarter of each year from 1997 to 2004. The spring quarter runs from March to May in each year. These figures are estimated from the Labour Force Survey which is carried out by the Office…
23 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information is collected on incidents of violence and aggression against NHS staff and what systems are in place for ensuring that all such incidents are recorded.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on incidents of violenceand aggression against NHSScotland staff is collected annually and can be seen at<a href="http://www.isdscotland.org/">www.isdscotland.org</a>. NHS employers arerequired to have appropriate reporting systems in place that e…
23 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will reply to my letter of 18 January 2005 regarding the A90 trunk road south of Fraserburgh.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: I replied to your letter on 18 February 2005.</p>
23 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will reply to my letter of 11 January 2004 regarding flooding at Stirling Village, Peterhead.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: I replied to your letter of 11 January 2005 on 21 February 2005.</p>
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have (a) had proceedings taken against them and (b) received (i) an adjudication or (ii) a criminal conviction for assault against (1) another prisoner and (2) a member of staff, in each prison since 1995.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p>Most of the information requested is not available.</p><p>The number of adjudications for “assault” as reported in the SPS Annual Re…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each of its departments spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by ministers and officials in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister, is the only residential property on the Scottish Executive core estate. The table below sets out the expenditure as requested. The Executive does not pay council tax in respect of this property but non…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the amount of public funding required to finance PPP projects (a) in each of the last seven years and (b) which are repayable in each of the next 15 years.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Theestimated annual expenditure to service PPP projects undertaken by public sectorbodies over the period requested is shown in the table below.</p><p>Existing Deals (Operational andSigned): Total Estimated Service Payments (in Cash Terms)</p><table border=1…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the cost of raising a child to the age of 18 at 2004 prices.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: There is no reliableinformation on these costs.</p>
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it will spend on schools in respect of (a) backlog repairs and (b) future maintenance work in the next five years, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Detailed spending decisions of this nature are matters entirely for local authorities.</p>
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual attendance rate for pupils was in (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) special and (d) all schools in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Statistics on attendance rates in primary and secondary schools are published on the Executive’s website and are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.</p> <p>Data up to 2002-03 is at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00304-00.asp">h…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been deployed to the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency in each year since it was established.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: All police officers with the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency are seconded from Scottish police forces. Numbers may fluctuate throughout the year as officers join or are released back to their force. The table provides details of the number of officers with t…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes it will make to its use of telephone numbers, in light of Ofcom's guidance for government departments using 0845 and 0870 numbers, referred to in Number Translation Services - Options for the future, published by Ofcom on 22 October 2004.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Ofcom consultation document<i>Number Translation Services - Options for the future</i> was published by Ofcomon 22 October 2004 with the consultation closing on 7 January 2005. Following receipt and consideration of responses,Ofcom will set out its decisi…
17 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many 09 or other premium rate numbers (a) it uses, (b) its agencies use and (c) non-departmental public bodies use and what revenue it has derived from each such number in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Information on the use of 09or other premium numbers across the Scottish Executive, its agencies and non-departmentalpublic bodies is not held centrally and therefore the information requested couldonly be provided at disproportionate cost. </p><p>Communicati…