Parliamentary questions

Richard Baker

2,136 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

9 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of prison literacy programmes.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: Her Majesty Inspectors of Education (HMIE) in conjunction with Her Majesty Inspectors of Prison (HMIP) inspect the educatio…

9 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners took part in literacy programmes in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The information is not available in the form requested. The SPS do collate the number of literacy learners on a month…

9 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were estimated to be illiterate in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: The Scottish Prison Service does not have estimations of the number of prisoners who are illiterate for each of the last th…

9 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were assessed as illiterate in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: The information requested is not available. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29870 on 11 January 2…

9 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29480 by Kenny MacAskill on 8 December 2009, how many prisoners were known to have drug dependency issues in each year since 1970, broken down by prison.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: This information is not available; however SPS Addiction Testing information, broken down per prison establishment, is pub…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes were recorded by the police as causing death by (a) dangerous driving and (b) careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in each of the last three years, broken down by month of incident.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The police recorded crime statistics collected centrally are based on an aggregate return from each of the eight police forces in Scotland and are not broken down by the month in which the crime/offence was recorded. Information on the number of crim…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of drink driving were recorded in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on the number of drink driving offences recorded by police force area for the last three years is given in table 4a in the annual statistical bulletin series Recorded Crime in Scotland, for each of the years 2006-07 to 2008-09, published by the Sc…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of drink driving were recorded in (a) January and (b) December in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally. The police recorded crime statistics collected centrally are based on an aggregate return from each of the eight police forces in Scotland and are not broken down by the month in which the crime/offence was rec…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of housebreaking were recorded in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on the number of crimes of housebreaking recorded by police force area for the last three years is given in table 4a in the annual statistical bulletin series Recorded Crime in Scotland, for each of the years 2006-07 to 2008-09, published by the S…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of housebreaking were recorded in December in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25654 by Kenny MacAskill on 12 August 2009, what further work it plans to undertake to disseminate the good practice identified in the report and whether it plans to provide additional funding to community justice authorities to implement such practi…

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: We are working with community justice authorities to develop, with other agencies, ways of raising public awareness and support for community service activities. Furthermore, the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill contains measures to ensure engag…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community service orders were issued in the last 12-month period for which figures are available; how many such orders were breached, and how the effectiveness of such orders was monitored.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The most recent available information is given in the 2007-08 criminal justice social work bulletin. This can be accessed at <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/09091001/0">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/09091001/0</a>. <…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is between sentence and commencement of a community service order in each local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The information is not held centrally. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29490 on 14 December 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: …

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community service orders were breached in each month of 2009.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on community service orders is currently collected on an annual basis which does not allow a monthly breakdown. Information on breaches of community service orders during 2007-08 can be found in table 3.1 of the 2007-08 criminal justice social wor…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many custodial sentences have been imposed for breaches of community service orders in each month of 2009.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on community service orders is currently collected on an annual basis which does not allow a monthly breakdown. Information on breaches of community service orders resulting in custodial sentences during 2007-08 is given in the answer to question …

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29301 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 November 2006, how many custodial sentences have been imposed for breaches of community service orders in each year since 2005.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The figures provided in the answer to question S2W-29301 were derived from Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts data up to 2004-05. While it is possible to update these figures on a comparable basis to 2006-07, the introduction of a new IT system within th…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of community service orders begins (a) within seven days, (b) between 8 and 14 days, (c) between 15 and 31 days and (d) more than a month after sentencing, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This information is not held centrally. However, an audit of individual local authority performance on the commencement and completion periods for community service orders was undertaken at the end of 2008. This was based on a snapshot of throughput at Novemb…

1 Dec 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community service orders were revoked before being completed in each month of 2009, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on community service orders is currently collected on an annual basis which does not allow a monthly breakdown. Information on community service orders that were revoked during 2007-08 is given in the answer to question S3W-22858 on 23 June 2009. …

30 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 18 have had a charge proved for handling an offensive weapon in each of the last five years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The available information is given in the following table. Persons Aged Under 18 Convicted of Handling an Offensive Weapon1, by Age, 2003-04 - 2007-08 <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td nowrap vali…

30 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28444 by Fergus Ewing on 5 November 2009, what the age by year was of each offender.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The available information is given in the following tables. Persons Convicted of Handling an Offensive Weapon1 by Age2 and Gender, 2007-08 <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td nowrap vali…

19 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the continuation of central government funding for additional police officers beyond the current parliamentary session.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: A well resourced police service will remain a priority for the Scottish Government, but at this stage it is not possible to commit funding beyond the current spending review period.

11 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) part-time retained and (b) part-time volunteer firefighters there were in each of the last 10 years, broken down by fire and rescue service.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to the question S3W-28902 on 19 November 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…

11 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time firefighters there were in each of the last 10 years, broken down by fire and rescue service.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government no longer collects records of the numbers of personnel employed by each of the fire and rescue services. The last recorded data was given in Appendix 2; Establishment and Strength of Fire and Rescue Services, of the Annual Repo…

6 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of compliance with section 5 of The Fire (Additional Function) (Scotland) Order 2005; whether it intends to take action, and, if so, what action.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scotland''s fire and rescue services have a statutory duty to respond to major flooding incidents. As such, the legal responsibility for ensuring that these duties are carried out safely and effectively rests with the relevant fire and rescue authorities.…

6 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the flooding in the north east on 1 November 2009, whether it considers that fire and rescue services are acting in accordance with their own risk assessments and standard operating procedures in committing personnel to these situations.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The responsibility for ensuring that staff in a fire and rescue service follow instructions, including the service''s standard operating instructions for dealing with incidents, lies with that service. The Operational Assessment of Service Delivery …

6 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the flooding in the north east on 1 November 2009, whether it shares the concerns expressed by the Fire Brigades Union in a press release on 2 November 2009 that firefighters were working waist deep in water without the specialist training required to undertake that task safely.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: All fire and rescue services have a statutory duty to respond to major flooding incidents and the Scottish Government has made over £1.3 million of funding available to support the purchase of related equipment and training. The Scottish Government would ther…

6 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the flooding in the north east on 1 November 2009, whether it shares the concerns expressed by the Fire Brigades Union in a press release on 2 November 2009 that it is both inappropriate and dangerous that firefighters working waist deep in water were wearing clothing designed …

6 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, following the flooding in the north east on 1 November 2009, what its position is on the concerns expressed by the Fire Brigades Union in a press release on 2 November 2009 that fire service personnel attended incidents and effected rescues while ill-prepared in terms of training and per…

2 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the finding in the 2008/09 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: First Findings that in 32% of violent crime where the offender had a weapon the victim reported that it was a knife and what action it will take.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is working with the Violence Reduction Unit, Association of Chief Police Officers, local Community Safety Partnerships and other partners to tackle knife crime in Scotland. Through CashBack for Communities, we will invest at l…

2 Nov 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the finding in the 2008/09 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: First Findings that 69% of adults perceived the crime rate in their local area to have stayed the same or reduced in the last two years, how many perceived it to have (a) stayed the same and (b) reduced.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The information requested is given in Figure 6.2 on page 111 of 2008/09 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: First Findings, published by the Scottish Government on 27 October 2009. This publication can be accessed via the following link: </p…