- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatal accident inquiries have been handled by the Crown Office in each year since 1999, broken down by sherffidom.
Answer
The number of fatalaccident inquiries (FAIs) recorded as completed in the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service’s case management database in each sheriffdom for each of the lastfive financial years is shown in the following table.
Fatal AccidentInquiries Completed: 2002-07
| Sheriffdom | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| Glasgow and Strathkelvin | 16 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 5 |
| Grampian Highland and Islands | 12 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 12 |
| Lothian and Borders | 3 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 2 |
| North Strathclyde | 6 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 1 |
| South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway | 10 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 6 |
| Tayside, Central and Fife | 11 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 9 |
Note: The Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case managementsystem in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain completedata which is capable of electronic analysis.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of administering fatal accident inquiries in each year since 1999.
Answer
The information requestedis not held.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for a fatal accident inquiry there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom and also showing the number of refused requests.
Answer
Statistics are notcollated for the number of requests for Fatal Accident Inquiries.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the longest period has been between authorisation of a fatal accident inquiry to the determination and report in the last 10 years.
Answer
Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between the Procurator Fiscal instructing afatal accident inquiry and the sheriff issuing the determination.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 22 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been from receipt of a request for a fatal accident inquiry to authorisation in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriffdom.
Answer
Statistics are notcollated for the length of time between a request for an fatal accident inquiry(FAI) and an FAI being instructed.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to establish an advisory panel on sentencing and, if so, within what timescale.
Answer
Scotland at present has no system of sentencing guidelines.We believe that there is a case for guidelines so as to deliver more consistentsentencing and for setting up a Sentencing Council to create them. However, we considerthat there needs to be further consultation and dialogue with key interests, principallythe judiciary, on the arguments for establishing such a body.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which recommendations of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland’s report, The Scope to Improve Consistency in Sentencing, it intends to accept and what priority it attaches to the recommendations.
Answer
The Scope to ImproveConsistency in Sentencingwas presented to the previous administration and published in September 2006. Itcontains 25 recommendations which for the most part pertain to the introductionof a process for giving effect to sentencing guidelines and the creation of a newstatutory body which would be responsible for their preparation and presentationfor consideration to the Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary.
We believe that thereis a case for sentencing guidelines in order to deliver consistent sentencing andso improve public confidence in the criminal justice system. We are taking forwardour consideration of the case for a Sentencing Council but our immediate priorityin the context of sentencing is to improve the delivery of community sentences soas to improve judicial and public confidence in them as alternatives to custody.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20071 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2005, how many bankruptcies there have been in each year since 2005-06, broken down by sheriff court district.
Answer
The Accountant inBankruptcy (AiB) maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of the numbers of bankruptcies awarded by sheriffdomsby financial year are compiled by AiB and included in the annual report.
The following tablegives the number of bankruptcies for the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Further informationon bankruptcies is available in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s AnnualReport which is available at www.aib.gov.uk.
| Sheriffdom (Sheriff Court) | Awards per Sheriff Court |
| | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| Tayside, Central and Fife | | |
| Alloa | 55 | 69 |
| Arbroath | 44 | 54 |
| Cupar | 76 | 65 |
| Dundee | 459 | 429 |
| Dunfermline | 198 | 191 |
| Falkirk | 229 | 231 |
| Forfar | 27 | 45 |
| Kirkcaldy | 264 | 247 |
| Perth | 179 | 170 |
| Stirling | 76 | 75 |
| Total awards for Sheriffdom | 1,607 | 1,576 |
| South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway | | |
| Airdrie | 324 | 313 |
| Ayr | 124 | 147 |
| Dumfries | 77 | 85 |
| Hamilton | 367 | 408 |
| Kirkcudbright | 25 | 34 |
| Lanark | 54 | 64 |
| Stranraer | 34 | 39 |
| Total awards for Sheriffdom | 1,005 | 1,090 |
| North Strathclyde | | |
| Campbeltown | 13 | 22 |
| Dumbarton | 132 | 176 |
| Dunoon | 13 | 22 |
| Greenock | 77 | 82 |
| Kilmarnock | 185 | 247 |
| Oban | 17 | 22 |
| Paisley | 198 | 162 |
| Rothesay | 8 | 7 |
| Total awards for Sheriffdom | 643 | 740 |
| Grampian, Highland and Islands | | |
| Aberdeen | 315 | 252 |
| Banff | 20 | 16 |
| Dingwall | 28 | 32 |
| Dornoch | 6 | 3 |
| Elgin | 76 | 106 |
| Fort William | 29 | 28 |
| Inverness | 60 | 92 |
| Kirkwall | 18 | 20 |
| Lerwick | 9 | 12 |
| Lochmaddy | 7 | 4 |
| Peterhead | 64 | 76 |
| Portree | 11 | 22 |
| Stonehaven | 36 | 36 |
| Stornoway | 26 | 18 |
| Tain | 14 | 22 |
| Wick | 25 | 14 |
| Total awards for Sheriffdom | 744 | 753 |
| Lothian and Borders | | |
| Duns | 11 | 19 |
| Edinburgh | 364 | 467 |
| Haddington | 108 | 117 |
| Jedburgh | 36 | 27 |
| Linlithgow | 193 | 184 |
| Peebles | 4 | 18 |
| Selkirk | 37 | 34 |
| Total awards for Sheriffdom | 753 | 866 |
| Glasgow and Strathkelvin | | |
| Glasgow | 671 | 860 |
| Total Awards | 5,423 | 5,885 |
Source: Accountantin Bankruptcy.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20070 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2005, how many debt arrangement schemes there have been in each year since 2005.
Answer
The statutory DebtArrangement Scheme came into force on 30 November 2004. There have been 149 debt payment programmes approvedin 2005-06 and 113 debt payment programmes approved in 2006-07. There have been50 debt payment programmes approved between 1 April 2007 and 31 July 2007.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2020 by John Swinney on 23 July 2007, what departments the 381 staff on loan to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority normally work in and how much the Home Office is paying for the loan of these staff.
Answer
The costs chargedto the Home Office for the Scottish Government employees working at the CriminalInjuries Compensation Authority (CICA) are as follows:
2001-02 - £6,389,925.64
2002-03 - £6,988,188.22
2003-04 - £7,402,028.52
2004-05 - £6,511,248.31
2005-06 - £6,811,804.67
2006-07 - £7,795,202.94.
The above costs coversalaries, NiCs and employers pension contributions.
The Scottish Governmentstaff working at the CICA are assigned to the agency. They can, however, elect totransfer to core areas of the Scottish Executive or to its Executive Agencies forcareer development reasons or when promotion opportunities arise.
