- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have been detained in Cornton Vale prison for non payment of fines.
Answer
Provisional figures indicate that there were 512 receptions to Cornton Vale prison for non payment of fines in the calendar year to 31 December 1998 and 148 to 31 August 1999.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what community service provision there currently is for female offenders, and whether it has any specific plans to reduce the female prison population.
Answer
All local authority criminal justice social work departments in Scotland provide Community Service Schemes. Authorities are required to ensure that schemes for unpaid work in the community offer a sufficient range of placements to be able to accommodate offenders with differing employment, personal or domestic circumstances.Following the publication of a major review of the use of custody for women, Women Offenders - A Safer Way, undertaken by the Chief Inspector of Prisons and Chief Inspector of Social Work, an inter-agency forum, chaired by Professor Sheila McLean, was set up last year to consider the issues raised by the review.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a decision on the future of cardiac surgery at Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Answer
Today I announced my decision on the future of the paediatric cardiac surgery service in Scotland. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill is to become Scotland's single centre for children's heart surgery.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a decision on the future of cardiac surgery at Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Answer
Today I announced my decision on the future of the paediatric cardiac surgery service in Scotland. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill is to become Scotland's single centre for children's heart surgery.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how rising crime will be managed following the reported shortfall in the number of police officers employed in Scotland.
Answer
The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for chief constables to control from within their GAE provision. For the current year police authorities and joint police boards have set budgets totalling £711.9m, which represents an increase of 4% over last year's figure. This should be sufficient to allow police numbers to be maintained at adequate levels.An effective and well resourced police service is only part of the answer to tackling crime. As Partnership for Scotland made clear, we are committed to taking action against crime on a broad front, through crime prevention to wider social policies.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to encourage other bus companies to follow the "overground" initiative announced by the First Bus Group in Glasgow this week.
Answer
Initiatives such as "Overground", based upon co-operation and partnership, are key to the delivery of better bus services. We shall bringing forward, later this session, legislation to encourage development of more Quality Partnerships. We want local authorities to pursue these against the background of their local transport strategies so that bus service provision can be properly integrated within overall transport policies. Better infrastructure and better quality buses can lead to more frequent services and increased patronage. I expect that our forthcoming decisions on authorities' bids for public transport fund support will encourage bus operators across Scotland to deliver similar improvements.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 7 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an intention to increase the number of civilians working in the police force in the future.
Answer
The recruitment, direction and monitoring of civilian support staff in Scottish police forces is a matter for chief constables. There are presently 4725 civilian support staff employed by the eight forces. This is a 36% increase since 1992 and support staff now represent 24% of police service personnel. The Scottish Executive supports all initiatives which enable police officers to be released for front line policing duties.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 7 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to fund an equivalent Scottish audit to the Department of Health funded National Sentinel Audit into epilepsy-related deaths in England.
Answer
The Scottish Executive are proposing to fund a bid by the charity Epilepsy Bereaved to extend the national sentinel audit they are undertaking into epilepsy deaths in England, to cover cases of epilepsy-related deaths in Scotland.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 3 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the pricing policy in respect of public transport.
Answer
The Scottish Transport White Paper gave a commitment to ensure that our transport policies fit with our priorities in combating social exclusion. A number of public transport operators already offer discounted travel for participants in the New Deal programme. We shall explore with operators whether these principles can be applied more widely to other low income and unemployed people. We shall legislate to encourage the introduction of simpler fare structures and better through ticketing arrangements, so as to improve the overall effectiveness of bus services. The Government will also be seeking to ensure there are affordable air and sea links to Scotland's islands communities.At present, under legislation concerning concessionary fares schemes, each Scottish local authority can decide the discount offered to the different eligible groups set out in statute. We will, however, encourage the improvement and integration of concessionary fares schemes for pensioners and those with special needs.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 3 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it plans to encourage the availability of park and ride initiatives.
Answer
The Government's Preliminary Guidance on Local Transport Strategies encouraged local authorities to set out their plans for park and ride in their interim strategies which were due to be submitted in July 1999. The Scottish Executive's Public Transport Fund encourages local authorities to develop projects promoting the use of public transport such as the establishment of park and ride sites and associated bus priority measures. In the first round of the Fund, 3 projects involving new park and ride sites were successful in securing additional capital allocations. Applications to the second round of the Fund are currently being considered.