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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-27346

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it now expects to reach the target set in August 2005 of reducing the number of persistent young offenders to 1,080 by March 2006.

Question reference: S2W-27345

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether PA Consulting Group was involved in the generation of figures on persistent young offenders included in the data published by the Executive and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on 11 July 2006.

Question reference: S2W-27344

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive why different agencies involved in tackling youth crime are still using different methods to define who is and is not a persistent young offender and when this situation will be ended.

Question reference: S2W-27510

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of any connection between homelessness and offending or reoffending.

Research suggeststhat there is a complex interaction between homelessness and offending: experienceof homelessness is a risk factor for involvement in offending, and spending timein prison is a risk factor for homelessness: previously having been in prison isalso a risk factor for involvement in offending. In addition, there is evidencethat homeless people experience higher levels of crime than the general population.

Data on homelessnessapplications for 2004-05 show that around 10% of single men applying as homelesscited “discharge from prison” as the reasonfor applying as homeless. See:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1125/0018961.pdf

p.31 Table A.

Asummary of relevant research can be found at Annex A of the document Criminal JusticeAccommodation Services – A review and Consultation Paper:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/cjar-15.asp.

Question reference: S2W-27466

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the extent of its own investigations into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency or its proxies were involved in the transportation of individuals via airports in Scotland to destinations where it is alleged that they were subsequently tortured.

Question reference: S2W-27452

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were treated by the NHS for drug dependency in each year since 1999.

The number of people dischargedfrom general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland withan explicit diagnosis of drug dependency from 1999-2000 onwards is detailed in thefollowing table:

Discharge Period	Number Discharged from General Acute Hospitals	Number Discharged from Psychiatric Hospitals
1999-2000	1,285	543
2000-01	1,507	591
2001-02	1,424	555
2002-03	1,507	483^P
2003-04	1,478
2004-05	1,610^P

^PProvisional.

Source: SMR01; SMR04.

Notes:

1. Includes Scottish residentsonly.

2. Figures in the table relateonly to those individuals who are treated as in-patients in acute hospitals or psychiatrichospitals. They do not include individuals managed as out-patients.

3. Information is on individualpatients within a year. If one patient is admitted in two different years, theywill be counted separately in each year.

4. Diagnostic information isdefined by using the World Health Organization’s International Classification ofDiseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Dependence syndrome uses a subset of drug misusecodes (F11.2, F12.2, F13.2, F14.2, F15.2, F16.2, F18.2, F19.2).

5. Caution is necessary wheninterpreting these figures. The recording of drug misuse may vary from hospitalto hospital and over time. Where drug dependency is suspected but unconfirmed itmay not be recorded by the hospital.

6. 2002-03 is the most recentyear for which complete SMR04 data is available.

Question reference: S2W-27917

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministerial visits to the Scottish Borders have been made by Liberal Democrat ministers in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-27577

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has contributed to (a) memorials and (b) commemorations in each year since 1999, also broken down by memorial or commemoration.

Our records show that, since1999, the Scottish Executive has made the following payments towards war memorialsand commemorations.

In 2004-05, the Hearts GreatWar Memorial received £5,000 for the memorial cairn at Contalmaison in France commemoratingthe 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots. Also in 2004-05, the Scottish Executive madean ex-gratia payment of £1,000 to the 51st Highland Division Veterans PilgrimageAssociation towards the costs of erecting a memorial in Normandy.

In 2005-06, the Executive underwrotethe commemorations in Scotland organised by Veterans Scotland for the 60th anniversaryof the end of the Second World War, totalling £33,585.71. This year, 2006-07, the Executive has again assisted Veterans Scotland to commemorate veterans by providingfunding of up to £10,000 towards the costs of the National Veterans Day celebrationsthat took place in Dundee on 1 July 2006.

In addition to this, HistoricScotland, as custodians of historic buildings and monuments across the nation, carriedout repairs to the Argyll and Sutherland War Memorial at Stirling Castle in 2005-06at a cost of £14,797.80. Between 1999 and 2006 the agency has also undertaken conservationand maintenance works on the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle at a totalapproximate cost of £55,000. This can be broken down as follows:

1999-2006: On-going cleaningand electrical maintenance works- £14,000

2001-02: Conservation works-£2,000

2003-04: Roofing works- £19,000

2005-06: Masonry works, glassrepairs and disabled ramp works- £20,000.

For the years 2001-07, the ScottishExecutive has provided funding totalling £405,568.13 to communities across Scotland forthe commemoration of Holocaust Day. This total includes £126,280 funding for primaryand secondary school education packs. Details of this funding are as follows:

2000-01:Edinburgh- £47,288.13 (contribution to event)

2001-02:Glasgow- £20,000 (contribution to event) + £73,280 Primary Education Pack

2002-03:UKevent Edinburgh- £20,000 (contribution to event) + £53,000 SecondaryEducation Pack

2003-04:East Renfrewshire- £45,000 (contribution to event)

2004-05:South Lanarkshire- £25,000 (contribution to event)

2005-06:Edinburgh- £82,000 (fully-funded event and exhibition)

2006-07: Fife- £40,000(contribution to event).

Question reference: S2W-27918

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministerial visits to the Scottish Borders by Liberal Democrat ministers are (a) scheduled and (b) under consideration to take place prior to the 2007 dissolution of the Parliament.

Question reference: S2W-27438

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources it will commit to ensure that the number of persistent young offenders does not increase next year.

The Scottish Executive is fundinga range of activity to prevent and address youth crime and disorder to the extentof £63 million this year, this having increased from a £3.5 million baseline in2001.

Details of the Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) are set out in Grant Aided Expenditure (the Green Book) for each financialyear and these are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 39230).

Local authorities have the discretionand flexibility to distribute resources within the core settlement to meet localneeds and priorities. The total Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) is £9 billion in 2006-07,and £9.2 billion in 2007-08. The GAE figures are used to distribute grant to localauthorities on the basis of need.

Other resources allocated bythe Scottish Executive include around £57 million from the Sure Start programmewhich is intended to provide more integrated services for our most vulnerable childrenand families and the Changing Children’s Services Fund which will provide over £65million to support the modernisation and integration of services for children. Fromthis year, £15 million from the Changing Children’s Services Fund will be includedin GAE with a further transfer of £20 million from 2007-08.

It is the responsibility of eachlocal authority to allocate its total resources to meet local needs and priorities.