Parliamentary questions

Richard Baker

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

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in which prisons the Violence Prevention Programme runs and whether the Scottish Government plans to increase the number of such prisons in future.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: In 2009-10, the Violence Prevention Programme will be delivered to prisoners in HMP Edinburgh, HMP Glenochil, HMYOI Polmont and HMP Shott…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners accessed the Violence Prevention Programme while serving a custodial sentence in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: The number of prisoners who commenced a Violence Prevention Programme were: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead>…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported comment of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland that resourcing problems are limiting prisoners’ access to the Violence Prevention Programme and what action it is taking to address this issue.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The SPS delivers a range of offending behaviour programme that address the issue of violence. The Violence Prevention Prog…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is concerned at the report in The Press and Journal on 17 September 2009 that a record 177 prisoners have been recalled to prison following release and, if so, what action it will take.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The increase in the number of recalls is partly a reflection of the continued rise in the number of prisoners: 6,620 in 2004, rising to more than 8,000 in 2009. It also reflects the fact that those released on licence must abide by their licence conditions or…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of reported calls from the Lord Advocate for guidance to be given to judges dealing with violent crimes involving knives and swords to reflect statistics that indicate that just under half of the killings in Scotland were committed by individuals using sharply …

Answer · Elish Angiolini: It is a matter for the court to determine the appropriate sentence to impose on a convicted person. Section 108 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, provides the Lord Advocate with a right of appeal against sentence on the grounds of undue …

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers 30 years an appropriate maximum punishment part of a life sentence.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Punishment parts are set by the High Court in accordance with the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993, as amended by the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001. There is no statutory limitation on the maximum punishment part tha…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on reported comments of the Lord Advocate that in relation to life sentences there may be a need to review the range of punishment parts available to the courts to better reflect the seriousness of a crime, given the relatively compressed scale from 12 to 30 years tha…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported recent comments of the Lord Advocate in relation to life sentences that in some exceptional cases a punishment part of the sentence that exceeds natural life expectancy may be appropriate.

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days’ notice was given to retailers prior to the introduction by licensing boards of any bans on alcohol multi-buy promotions in the off-trade and whether it considers such notice adequate.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The length of any consultation concerning a licensing board''s policy is a matter for each individual board. As set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 any policy pursued by a licensing board should be in that board''s policy statement. Such statements m…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive from how many licensing boards it has received formal notification of an intention to ban alcohol multi-buy promotions in the off-trade.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: None.

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many licensing boards have banned or plan to ban alcohol multi-buy promotions in the off-trade, broken down by (a) board and (b) date of commencement of ban.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Paragraph 8(e) of Schedule 3 to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 states that a drinks promotion is irresponsible if it encourages, or seeks to encourage, a person to buy or consume a larger measure of alcohol than the person had otherwise intended to buy or …

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that (a) consumers and (b) licensees were adequately informed of changes to alcohol licensing introduced by the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 and that came into effect on 1 September 2009.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Yes. The combined activity by government, licensing boards, trade bodies and other representative groups, licensing solicitors, the police, retailers, publicans, health organisations, the licensed trade press, the mainstream media, and individual MSPs meant t…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to communicate to consumers changes to alcohol licensing introduced in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, broken down by (a) date and (b) nature of action.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: As part of a campaign to inform both the licensed trade and the public, a leaflet was produced to raise awareness of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. Copies were distributed in December 2007 to relevant organisations that deal with the public on a daily bas…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Scotland’s prisons are universities of crime and, if so, what action it is taking in prisons to address this.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: We believe that Scottish prisons, and Scottish Prison Service staff, play an important role in challenging offending behaviour. We are developing a coherent Offender Management Strategy to ensure that we help them and build effectively on their efforts.

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering a one-in-one-out model to deal with current levels of prison overcrowding, as reported as raised by the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service in The Herald on 11 September 2009.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: We have no current plans to introduce such a system.

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact a one-in-one-out model to deal with prison overcrowding, reported in The Herald on 11 September 2009 as raised by the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, would have on public safety.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27419 on 25 September 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/Ap…

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of comments by the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, as reported in The Herald on 11 September 2009, in relation to a one-in-one-out model to deal with prison overcrowding.

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive,further to the answer to question S3W-25269 by Kenny MacAskill on 2 July 2009, what update it can provide on when it expects the Scottish Prison Service to (a) complete and (b) roll out the new Sex Offender Treatment Programme.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: Development of the new Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) remains on target for completion by the end of October 2009. The new SOTP …

17 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25699 by Kenny MacAskill on 23 July 2009, what update it can provide on what the motivational element to encourage further participation of prisoners in appropriate interventions, such as the Sex Offender Treatment Programme, is likely to involve and…

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows: The revised Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) is still under development.

4 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-26694 by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009, whether it considers that under the terms of the bilateral prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) between the UK and Libyan governments there is no obligation to meet a prisoner in prison but rather a suggesti…

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The terms of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK and Libya make no reference to the views of the prisoner into account. As outlined in my statements on 20 and 24 August, the commitment that a prisoner should be able to make representations was give…

4 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-26717 by Kenny MacAskill on 4 September 2009, for what reason this information is not available and whether it intends to collect such information in future.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: A large volume of correspondence has been received, in a variety of formats and by a variety of routes, expressing views either supportive of or opposing the decisions I took in relation to Mr Megrahi. It would not be a good use of public resources to spend t…

4 Sep 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be 17,278 or more full-time equivalent police officers in Scotland in May 2011.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Official statistics revealed that on 30 June there were already 17,278 police officers in Scotland, the highest number ever on record. This means that the Scottish Government has reached its target of having 1,000 more police officers in Scotland compared to …

27 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate was briefed with details of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi’s current medical condition prior to court proceedings in the High Court to have Mr Al Megrahi’s second appeal against his conviction dropped.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: I was not briefed with details of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi''s current medical condition prior to his abandonment of his appeal against conviction.

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive at what date and time the Cabinet Secretary for Justice received each representation and piece of information which he considered in reaching his decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from HMP Greenock on compassionate grounds.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The final advice on the applications for prisoner transfer and compassionate release were sent to my office at 17:50 on 14 August 2009.

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive at what date and time the Cabinet Secretary for Justice received the recommendation from the Parole Board to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26720 on 4 September 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/App…

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date or dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice met with the Parole Board to discuss the case of prisoner Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and what was discussed.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have not met with the parole board to discuss this case. Mr Megrahi''s application for compassionate release, and the reports from the Scottish Prison Service, were sent to the parole board on 10 August and considered by them on 11 August. Their decision an…

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to it of the return of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from HMP Greenock to Libya, broken down by nature of expense.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The only costs relating to Mr Megrahi''s return to Libya arise from the transportation from HMP Greenock to Glasgow Airport. Those are operational costs borne by Strathclyde Police and the Scottish Prison Service and are not separately identified.

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations the (a) First Minster or (b) Cabinet Secretary for Justice made to the Libyan Government regarding the return of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to Libya on 20 August 2009.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The issue was raised in my meetings with the Libyan delegation on 6 July and 10 August. Note of the meetings have been published and are available at: <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/lockerbie">www.scotland.gov.uk/lockerbie</a>.

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) emails and (b) letters the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has received disagreeing with his decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, broken down by country of origin.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The information requested is not available.

26 Aug 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the evidence submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in relation to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi’s health, what the (a) shortest and (b) longest estimate was of how long Mr Al Megrahi would survive.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The advice to me was that the clinical assessment is that a three month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate for this patient. That relates to the median life expectancy “ minimum and maximum life expectancies have not been estimated. As I said in my statem…