Parliamentary questions

Bill Aitken

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

10 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of all concordats that it has entered into with Her Majesty’s Government.

Answer · Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19786 on 31 October 2005, which lists current concordats between the Scottish Executive and UK Government. Since that date, one new concordat – on the Inquiries Act - has been agreed with the Department for Con…

10 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6045 by Mr Andy Kerr on 12 March 2005, which joint ministerial committee meetings it has attended since February 2004; where each joint ministerial committee meeting took place; which ministers attended, and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Margaret Curran: There have been no meetings of the full joint ministerial committee (JMC) since 1 February 2004. The following table provides a complete list of Scottish Executive ministerial attendance at all joint ministerial sub-committee meetings that have taken …

4 Jan 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is addressing any increased levels of fly-tipping in Glasgow, especially after the Christmas period.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Tackling fly-tipping in Glasgow is a matter for the relevant bodies. Local authorities and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency can require the removal of illegally dumped waste or remove it themselves. They act within a national framework of law and …

22 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many cases where arrest warrants have been issued by Glasgow District Court and Glasgow Sheriff Court no proceedings were taken by the Procurator Fiscal in each of the last five years.

Answer · Colin Boyd: The following table provides details of the number of accused where court proceedings were initiated and a warrant was issued by Glasgow Sheriff Court or Glasgow District Court but the warrant was subsequently withdrawn by the Procurator Fiscal and the case a…

8 Sep 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16781 by Peter Peacock on 2 June 2005, which schools took part in the OECD's "PISA 2003" survey, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) sector.

Answer · Peter Peacock: It is not our policy to make public the identity of individuals and organisations that take part in Scottish Executive commissioned research. This is to ensure that responses can not be directly attributed to individuals and to encourage individuals and organ…

1 Sep 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fines of £200 or less were remitted by Glasgow District Court following breaches of supervised attendance orders from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not available. The latest available statistics show that 12 breach applications in relation to supervised attendance orders were made to Glasgow City District Court in the year ending 31 March 2004.

1 Sep 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many supervised attendance orders were issued by Glasgow District Court in respect of non-payment of fines from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Figures for this period are not yet available. The latest available statistics show that for the year ending 31 March 2004 Glasgow City District Court reported a total of 40 financial penalties resulting in a supervised attendance order being imposed for non-…

25 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of crimes and offences have resulted in a conviction in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table. The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. A person may be proceeded against for more than one crime or offence involving more than one…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the salary is of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and how many hours she works per week.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Ombudsman’s current salaryis £43,340 (pro-rata £53,452) and she works 29 hours 36 minutes per week. The Ombudsmanworked full time between January and May 2005 (37 hours per week).

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

Answer · Hugh Henry: The figures are as follows: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> 2000-01</td> <td> 164</td> </tr> <tr> <td> 2001-02</td> <td> 169</td> </tr> <tr> <td> …

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman employed in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2002-03, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2004-05 and how many she expects to employ in 2005-06.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Ombudsman’s staff complement in 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 was two full-time complaints investigators and a part-time office secretary. In 2003-04 the staff complement was increased to four full-time complaints investigators and the part-time office sec…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman sets herself in respect of (a) responding to correspondence, (b) investigating a handling complaint and (c) producing an opinion on a handling complaint.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The ombudsman’s current targets are: (a) To acknowledge new complaints within two working days of receipt and to answer letters about current cases within five working days of receipt.(b) and (c) to complete 75% of Opinions within eight weeks an…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsmans office was in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2002-03, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2004-05 and what the projected costs are for 2005-06.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The costs are provided in the Annual Reports of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman for 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 14580, 22484, 28277, 33250). The reports a…

23 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many documents in each of its departments have been shredded or deleted from computer records in anticipation of the implementation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive regularly and routinely destroys both paper and electronic documents and records as part of effective records management policies. The Scottish Executive does not keep individual details of all documents destroyed or shredded. In line w…

20 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were convicted in each of the last 10 years for carrying a knife.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The available information for the relevant crime categories in the ScottishExecutive Justice Department classification of crimes and offences is given in the following table.Persons Convicted in Scottish Courts for Handling an Offensive Weapon1</s…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the time delay is between first diet and trial diet in the stipendiary courts in Glasgow District Court.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The management of the Stipendiary Magistrate Courts in Glasgow and the effective use of court time is the responsibility of Glasgow District Court.All custody cases will be set for trial within 40 days of the pleading diet. For all other cases, as at 2…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of carrying a knife were recorded in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The available information for the relevant crime categories in the ScottishExecutive Jusice Department classification of crimes and offences is given for the years 1994 to 1998 in the following table. For information for the years 1999 to 2002, I refer the me…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were sentenced to custody as a result of convictions for carrying a knife in each of the last five years.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The available information for the relevant crime categories in the Scottish Executive Justice Department classification of crimes and offences is given in the table.Custodial Convictions in Scottish Courts for Handling an Offensive Weapon1, …

27 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is between sentence and commencement of a community service order in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Aberdeen and (d) Perth.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The current average waiting period, in calendar days, between sentence and commencement of a community service order is as follows:Glasgow, 15 days Edinburgh, 22 days Aberdeen, 26 days Perth, 13 days .The waiting period wil…

21 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals on the sex offenders’ register are resident in Scotland.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: At 1 November 2004, there were 2,344 individuals resident in Scotland who are registered with Scottish police forces under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice is given to ministers regarding acting as referees on behalf of applicants applying for public positions.

Answer · Tavish Scott: There is no specific guidanceor central source of advice to ministers regarding acting as referees on behalfof applicants applying for public positions.

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what instructions are given to officials regarding the sifting of applications for judicial appointments prior to these applications being submitted to the Judicial Appointments Committee.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: All applications for judicial appointment are received, considered and sifted by members of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. Scottish Executive officials are not involved in that process.

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) applications were received, (b) persons were interviewed and (c) appointments were made by the Judicial Appointments Committee on each of the last two occasions on which applications were invited for shrieval appointments.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The two most recent exercises carried out by the Judicial Appointments Board were to fill shrieval vacancies at Perth and Dundee and for all-Scotland floating sheriffs. The vacancies at Perth and Dundee were advertised together. The information on each of the…

21 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8395 by Cathy Jamieson on 10 June 2004, how many warrants in respect of this category are included in the number of warrants outstanding given by Cathy Jamieson in the answer to question S2W-7167 on 22 April 2004.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Strathclyde Police advise that, as at end-June 2004, there were 21 Refusal of Appeal Warrants outstanding (where an appellant on bail has had their leave of appeal refused and the sentence was one of imprisonment, and as a consequence, a warrant was issued to…

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8018 by Cathy Jamieson on 18 May 2004, how the decision of the High Court is intimated to the accused in such circumstances and what action is taken to take the accused into custody where the appeal is against a custodial sentence.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: In applications to the High Courtfor leave to appeal, it is the responsibility of the Clerk of Justiciary to notifywithout delay the appellant or his solicitor and the Crown Agent of the High Court’sdecision and, where leave has been refused, the reasons for …

12 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are being supplied with methadone in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: It is estimated that there are7,055 people in receipt of methadone treatment for their drug problems.

12 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many injecting drug abusers there are in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The study referred to in the answer given to question S2W-8128 on 25 May 2004 estimatedthat there were 7,187 drug injectors in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area. Allanswers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament'swebsite, the searc…

12 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered drug abusers there are in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: There is no central registerwhich records details of individuals who have drug problems. However, the Universityof Glasgow study “Estimating the National and Local Prevalence of Problem Drug Misusein Scotland” (November 2001), estimated that there were 15,975…

4 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7167 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 April 2004, whether it will give a breakdown of the 5,627 outstanding warrants into those for (a) murder, (b) rape or serious sexual assault, (c) assault to severe injury, (d) other indictable offences and (e) summary cri…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The answer given to question S2W-7167 on 22 April 2004, gave a figure of 5,327 outstanding apprehension warrants in relation to Strathclyde Police as at 14 April 2004. At end-May 2004, Strathclyde Police held the following number of warrants in relation to se…

4 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the procedure is in circumstances where an accused person, having launched an appeal against sentence, has that appeal refused at the second sift stage.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The decision of the High Court,or second sift, in applications for leave to appeal is final, subject only to theright of the convicted person to apply to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commissionfor review.The commission has the powerto review a ca…