Parliamentary questions
Richard Baker
2,136 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the statement reported in The Sunday Herald on 23 January 2011 that “If you sack police staff you cut frontline policing”.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-39172 on 7 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busines…
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of comments by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) reported in The Sunday Herald on 23 January 2011 that “significant reductions to police staff numbers alone are seen to upset the efficient balance between police staff and police with …
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government''s priority remains frontline policing. Putting 1,000 additional police officers in our communities has helped to reduce crime to a 32 year low. Our draft budget puts in place the resources to maintain police officer numbers in 2011-12…
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people given a custodial sentence in cases involving domestic abuse received a sentence of three months or less in 2010.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: This information will not be available until publication of the <i>Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin</i>, which is provisionally scheduled for later in 2011. Once confirmed, the publication date will be added to the information pr…
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people given a custodial sentence in cases involving domestic abuse received a sentence of three months or less in 2009.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38829 on 7 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busines…
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people given a custodial sentence in cases involving domestic abuse received a sentence of three months or less in 2008.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37570 on 26 November 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busine…
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 4,783 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the Violence Reduction Unit in December 2010 were recorded in each (a) police force and (b) local authority area.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: This information requested is not held centrally.</b></p>
28 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of domestic violence were reported to Grampian Police in (a) 2008, (b) 2009 and (c) 2010.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The following table shows the number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by Grampian police in 2007-08 to 2009-10. The corresponding figures for 2010-11 are not due to be available until November 2011.</b></p> <p >Domestic Abuse Incidents Recorded by the Po…
24 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will commence sections 1 to 13 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Sections 1 to 13 and Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 establish provisions for the Scottish Sentencing Council. In light of the extremely tight financial climate, we are currently examining all the options for the establish…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37637 by Kenny MacAskill on 2 December 2010, whether there has been a change to the mid-2013 target date for the Gartcosh crime campus to be fully operational.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No.</b></p>
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32624 by Kenny MacAskill on 13 April 2010, what progress has been made in developing the information regarding qualifications gained by prisoners during time spent in custody and whether further information is now available as a result of this progre…
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</b></p> <p >I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38833 on 28 January 2011 advising that information on other vocational qualification…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32624 by Kenny MacAskill on 13 April 2010, how many prisoners obtained (a) SQA and (b) vocational qualifications in 2009-10, broken down by prison.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:</b></p> <p >Information on the number of SQA Qualifications obtained in 2009-10 and the number of prisoners who attained them is set out in the f…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline its position before 5 May 2011 on the creation of a single Scottish police force.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38563 on 24 January 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busines…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the creation of a single Scottish police force.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38563 on 24 January 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busines…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38036 by Kenny MacAskill on 2 December 2010, how many offenders received a custodial sentence of three months or less in 2009-10, broken down by (a) main offence and (b) police force area.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is given in Table 10(a) of the additional datasets to the statistical bulletin Court Proceedings in Scotland 2009-10, which is available at:</p> <p >http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/Datasets/PFA0910.…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of those convicted for an offence with a domestic aggravator received a custodial sentence of three months or less in 2009-10.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Of the 8,837 persons with a charge proved for an offence with a domestic aggravator, 457 received a custodial sentence of three months or less in 2009-10 (5%). As the recording of aggravators has improved over time, caution is needed if comparing changes over…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of how many (a) prisoners and (b) young offenders estimated to be (i) illiterate and (ii) innumerate, broken down by (A) prison and (B) gender.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:</b></p> <p >SPS does not hold this information as it is not practicable or cost effective to assess all prisoners to determine their liter…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the change has been in the number of (a) primary school teachers, (b) secondary school teachers and (c) classroom assistants in the North East of Scotland parliamentary region in each year since May 2007, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Michael Russell: The following tables give the changes in teachers and classroom assistants in the North East of Scotland parliamentary constituency, since the September 2006 school census.</p> <p >Primary</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr >…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of wasting police time were committed in the Grampian Police force area in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Offences of public mischief<sup>1</sup></b> recorded by Grampian Police, 2008-09 and 2009-10 </b></p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td nowrap valign=top > <p align=left > </p> </td> <td nowrap valign=top > <p align=…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-33724 by Stewart Stevenson on 27 May 2010, what progress has been made on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and when it anticipates that the road will be fully operational.
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-11578 on 7 October 2010. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliament''s website, the official report can be viewed at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/…
17 Jan 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-34240 by Fergus Ewing on 7 June 2010, how many racist incidents were recorded in the Grampian Police force area in 2009-10, broken down by ethnic origin of the victim.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The statistical bulletin <i >Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2009-10</i> is scheduled for publication on 29 March 2011. Under the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008, the requested data will not be available un…
23 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what access to prisoners the Scottish Prison Service will be required to provide to those canvassing for votes following the UK Government’s announcement on prisoner voting; when it anticipates such access to commence; what discussions it had with the UK Government prior to the announceme…
Answer · Jim Mather: On 17 December 2010, the UK Government announced its proposals to enable convicted prisoners sentenced to terms of four years or more to be automatically barred from registering to vote. Initially this will only extend to UK and European Parliament elections …
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported comment of the Minister for Housing and Communities that the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is “not worth a farthing”.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Mr Neil''s comments were made in his capacity as an MSP and were referring to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) performance of two years ago.</b></p> <p >Complaints and concerns about SPSO have already been considered in some detail and key recom…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the future of the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a consultation with stakeholders on the future of the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland. We welcome all views on how we can ensure that external scrutiny of police complaints handling is effective and…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the creation of a single police force for Scotland.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No decisions on structural reform of our police service have been taken. Significant arguments have been made for a single force but questions remain over accountability and centralisation of services.</b></p> <p >We will launch a public consultation in Febr…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication of Homicide in Scotland, 2009-10, how many homicides there were in each police force area in 2009-10, broken down by main method of killing.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The following table provides information on the number of homicide victims recorded in each police force area in Scotland in 2009-10, broken down by main method of killing.</b></p> <p align=left >Victims of Homicide by Main Method of Killing and Police Forc…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the award of a £100,000 European grant to sustain operations at Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd and what impact it considers that this will have.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Usan Salmon Fisheries Ltd has the right to fish for wild salmon and sea trout by net in the near coastal waters in accordance with law.</p> <p >The business made an application for grant support from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) programme towards an on-…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to preserve natural salmon stocks.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Through a strategic partnership with the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland and its network of 25 member trusts over the last three years this Government has invested £1.2 million directly into the preparation of modern, up-to-date fishery management pla…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on mixed stock fisheries and what impact such fisheries have on individual river stocks.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has its approach to mixed stock fisheries under consideration in the light of the report of the Mixed Stock Salmon Fisheries Working Group published last year. A copy of the report can be found on the Scottish Government website at <a …
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the Usan Ness mixed stock netting station immediately south of Montrose is having on individual river stocks.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The impact of netting on individual river stocks depends on the composition of the catch in the fishery and the status of river stocks that are being exploited. Data on the precise stock composition of catches at individual netting stations such as the Usan N…
22 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation and what matters were discussed.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The last meeting with the SSPO took place in Perth on 11 January 2011 to discuss issues involving the use of wrasse for the biological control of sea lice infestations on populations of Atlantic salmon in aquaculture facilities. The discussion was wide rangin…