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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: S3W-03998

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the prisoner capacity is at HM Prison Inverness.

Question reference: S3W-03999

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners are held in HM Prison Inverness.

Question reference: S3O-00514

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executivewhen it intends to publish the report on the evaluation of the Rural Voices programme which funded action research projects in rural communities and whether it will consider reviving Rural Voices as part of the new Scottish Rural Development Programme.

Question reference: S3W-02382

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest position is in respect of council housing stock transfer.

Question reference: S3W-01944

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 24 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 or over have been convicted of carrying knives or possessing an offensive weapon in Moray in each of the last five years.

The available information onpersons with a charge proved in court is given in the following tables.

Persons Aged Under 18 in MorayLocal Authority Area¹ with a Charge Proved in Court for CarryingKnives or Possessing an Offensive Weapon², 2001-02 to 2005-06

Year	Having in a public place an article with a blade or point	Possession of an offensive weapon	Total
2001-02	2	3	5
2002-03	-	-	-
2003-04	4	1	5
2004-05	2	2	4
2005-06	3	1	4

Notes:

1. MorayDistrict Court and Elgin Sheriff Court.

2. Wheremain offence.

Persons Aged 18 and over in MorayLocal Authority Area with a Charge Proved in Court for Carrying Knives orPossessing an Offensive Weapon¹, 2001-02 To 2005-06

Year	Having in a public place an article with a blade or point	Possession of an offensive weapon	Total
2001-02	7	7	14
2002-03	5	7	12
2003-04	6	9	15
2004-05	7	15	22
2005-06	7	16	23

Notes:

1. MorayDistrict Court and Elgin Sheriff Court.

2. Wheremain offence.

Question reference: S3W-01943

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 24 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 or over have been convicted of carrying knives or possessing an offensive weapon in the Northern Constabulary area in each of the last five years, broken down by local area command.

The available information onpersons with a charge proved in court is given in the following tables.

Persons Aged Under 18 in theNorthern Police Force Area with a Charge Proved in Court for Carrying Knives orPossessing an Offensive Weapon¹, 2001-02 To 2005-06

Year	Having in a public place an article with a blade or point	Possession of an offensive weapon	Total
2001-02	2	2	4
2002-03	6	2	8
2003-04	1	2	3
2004-05	2	1	3
2005-06	7	1	8

Note: 1.Where main offence.

Persons Aged 18 and Over inThe Northern Police Force Area with a Charge Proved in Court for CarryingKnives or Possessing an Offensive Weapon¹, 2001-02 to 2005-06

Year	Having in a public place an article with a blade or point	Possession of an offensive weapon	Total
2001-02	15	25	40
2002-03	22	23	45
2003-04	26	18	44
2004-05	20	33	53
2005-06	28	16	44

Note: 1.Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-01977

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimate is of the number of people earning the national minimum wage or below in the (a) Orkney Islands, (b) Shetland Islands, (c) Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, (d) Ross, Skye and Inverness West, (e) Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, (f) Argyll and Bute, (g) Western Isles and (h) Moray parliamentary constituencies.

The preferred source for earningsestimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried outby the Office for National Statistics.

The following table shows theestimated number of employees earning the National Minimum Wage (NMW) or below inthe Orkney and Shetland Islands; Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross; Ross, Skye and InvernessWest; Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber; Argyll and Bute; WesternIsles, and Moray parliamentary constituencies in 2006 (latest data).

It is not possible to provideindividual estimates for the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands using ASHE data.

Table 1: Number of people earningthe minimum wage or below in selected parliamentary constituencies, 2006

	2006
Orkney and Shetland Islands	400
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	1,800
Ross, Skye and Inverness West	2,500
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	2,900
Argyll and Bute	1,100
Western Isles	800
Moray	2,200

Source: Annual Survey of Hoursand Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. The estimates are based onthe hourly pay excluding overtime and shift premium payments.

2. The estimates are based on a samplesurvey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

3. The estimates are based onplace of residence.

4. Parliamentary constituenciesbased on 2005 revision.

Question reference: S3W-01942

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 or over have been convicted of carrying knives or possessing an offensive weapon in Argyll and Bute in each of the last five years.

The available information onpersons with a charge proved in court is given in the following tables.

Persons Aged Under 18 in Argylland Bute Local Authority Area¹ with a Charge Proved in Court forCarrying Knives or Possessing an Offensive Weapon², 2001-02 to 2005-06

Year	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Total
2001-02	1	-	1
2002-03	2	1	3
2003-04	1	2	3
2004-05	1	-	1
2005-06	-	-	-

Notes:

1. Argyll and Bute DistrictCourt and Campbeltown, Dunoon, Oban and Rothesay Sheriff Courts.

2. Where main offence.

Persons Aged 18 and Over in Argylland Bute Local Authority Area with a Charge Proved in Court for Carrying Knives orPossessing an Offensive Weapon¹, 2001-02 to 2005-06

Year	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Possession of an Offensive Weapon	Total
2001-02	14	2	16
2002-03	5	6	11
2003-04	10	11	21
2004-05	9	9	18
2005-06	8	4	12

Notes:

1. Argyll and Bute DistrictCourt and Campbeltown, Dunoon, Oban and Rothesay Sheriff Courts.

2. Where main offence.

Question reference: S3W-00681

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 18 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to address the shortage of affordable homes in areas where a significant proportion of homes are classed as second or holiday homes.

The Scottish Governmentis currently assessing a broad range of housing issues across the country and isaware of the pressures on affordable housing in some areas. Scotland is characterisedboth by areas of demand for housing and by areas which have a surplus of housing,so it is the responsibility of local authorities to assess housing need in theirareas, taking account of all pressures on the housing stock, in their Local HousingStrategies.

Question reference: S3W-00678

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 15 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will continue to support the Homestake shared ownership housing grant scheme.