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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-12504

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 May 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals against convictions have been received by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in each year since 1999, broken down by grounds for appeal.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

Number of applications received by the SCCRC, broken down by main grounds of review - 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2008

Ground of Review	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
110 Day Rule	0	0	0	0	0
Advanced Technology	1	3	0	1	0
Change in the Law	1	0	1	0	2
Change of Witness Testimony	2	0	0	0	0
Commission''s Powers Required	0	0	0	1	0
Comparative Justice	0	0	0	0	0
Conspiracy	0	0	0	1	2
Credibility/Reliability of Evidence	1	3	5	1	9
Credibility/Reliability of Witness	0	0	0	1	3
Defective Representation	23	20	19	19	17
Denies Acting in Concert	0	1	0	0	0
Diminished Responsibility	0	0	4	3	0
Duress	0	0	0	3	0
Excessive Sentence	3	3	0	2	5
False Accusations	0	1	0	1	0
False Confession	0	0	1	0	0
Human Rights Issue	5	2	2	2	2
Illegal Search	0	0	0	1	0
Improper Service of Indictment	0	1	0	0	0
Jury Misconduct	0	1	0	0	0
Lack of Corroboration	1	2	0	2	0
Mental Health Issues	0	0	0	0	0
Misdirection by Trial Judge	1	4	4	6	4
Mistaken Identity	0	0	1	0	1
New Evidence	34	16	12	5	4
New Witness	0	0	3	4	2
Perjury	15	3	3	2	1
Point of Law	1	0	0	0	0
Police Misconduct	4	1	3	7	3
Procedural Irregularity	2	0	2	1	0
Review of Art and Part	1	0	0	0	0
Self Defence	1	0	0	0	0
Sufficiency	0	0	0	2	0
Unfair Trial	10	0	4	9	16
Unreasonable Jury	2	0	4	1	0
Wrong Sentence Imposed	0	0	0	0	0
Wrongful Conviction	0	1	0	2	4
Not Stated	12	7	3	2	7
Totals	=SUM(ABOVE) 120	=SUM(ABOVE) 69	=SUM(ABOVE) 71	=SUM(ABOVE) 79	=SUM(ABOVE) 82

Ground of Review	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	Total
110 Day Rule	2	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 2
Advanced Technology	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 5
Change in the Law	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 4
Change of Witness Testimony	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 2
Commission''s Powers Required	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 1
Comparative Justice	1	2	1	0	=SUM(LEFT) 4
Conspiracy	0	3	0	2	=SUM(LEFT) 8
Credibility/Reliability of Evidence	27	24	18	13	=SUM(LEFT) 101
Credibility/Reliability of Witness	2	5	3	6	=SUM(LEFT) 20
Defective Representation	9	22	20	19	=SUM(LEFT) 168
Denies Acting in Concert	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 1
Diminished Responsibility	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 7
Duress	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 3
Excessive Sentence	6	7	1	2	=SUM(LEFT) 29
False Accusations	1	4	1	2	=SUM(LEFT) 10
False Confession	1	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 2
Human Rights Issue	2	1	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 16
Illegal Search	0	0	0	0	=SUM(LEFT) 1
Improper Service of Indictment	0	1	0	0	2
Jury Misconduct	1	4	1	1	8
Lack of Corroboration	1	14	0	0	20
Mental Health Issues	1	3	5	1	10
Misdirection by Trial Judge	3	5	2	4	33
Mistaken Identity	0	1	1	1	5
New Evidence	3	3	3	3	83
New Witness	0	0	0	0	9
Perjury	0	0	0	1	25
Point of Law	0	1	0	0	2
Police Misconduct	4	5	0	0	27
Procedural Irregularity	0	0	0	0	5
Review of Art and Part	0	0	0	0	1
Self Defence	1	2	2	0	6
Sufficiency	0	1	1	1	5
Unfair Trial	7	7	17	13	=SUM(LEFT) 83
Unreasonable Jury	1	0	1	1	10
Wrong Sentence Imposed	0	2	0	0	2
Wrongful Conviction	2	2	4	2	=SUM(LEFT) 17
Not Stated	5	3	0	1	=SUM(LEFT) 40
Totals	=SUM(ABOVE) 80	=SUM(ABOVE) 122	=SUM(ABOVE) 81	=SUM(ABOVE) 73	=SUM(LEFT) 777

It should be noted that other grounds of review may subsequently be identified. However the commission''s system records only the main ground in the first instance.

Question reference: S3W-12507

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 May 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what action can be taken against solicitors referred to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission for defective representation.

Solicitors are not referred to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Where the Commission refers a case to the High Court, and the court overturns a conviction on the grounds of defective representation, it may be possible for disciplinary proceedings to be taken against the legal representative concerned. The Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates are responsible for investigating complaints against solicitors and advocates respectively.

The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman (SLSO) looks into complaints about how the professional bodies handle complaints against legal practitioners. Under the terms of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007, the SLSO will be replaced by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commissioner (SLCC). The SLCC will receive complaints about legal practitioners where local resolution between the practitioner and client has been attempted but has proven unsuccessful. The SLCC will investigate complaints about service while the professional bodies will continue to address concerns relating to conduct. We anticipate that the new body will become operational in late 2008.

Question reference: S3W-12401

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 May 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what powers the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has to determine what is defined as an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Question reference: S3W-12400

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 May 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for determining what is an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Under the provisions of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, the operational deployment of individual officers is subject to the direction of the chief constable.

However, there are circumstances when chief constables are legitimately influenced in their deployment by parties external to the police service. These circumstances arise when officers are deployed in more general terms under the force''s operational priorities. The tripartite system of governance for police forces dictates that these priorities are arrived at following consultation between the chief constable, the relevant police board and Scottish ministers.

Question reference: S3W-11103

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Taser weapons are defined as firearms.

Question reference: S3W-11104

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the deployment of Taser weapons is an operational matter for Chief Constables and, if so, what (a) legislation or guidelines define such deployment as an operational matter and (b) the scope is of the term “operational matter”.

Question reference: S3W-10923

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the organisations that have benefited from the Cashback for Communities scheme, broken down by (a) amount of award and (b) activity type.

We are at present providing £2.238 million of funding under CashBack for Communities to the Scottish Football Association to roll out a range of free football activities across Scotland. These activities address playing and coach/volunteer development work. Further information is available on the CashBack website.

Regarding the agreement with YouthLink to administer the £3 million local grant scheme, decisions on funding applications will be taken in May and an announcement on successful candidates will be made following this.

Further announcements will be made over the course of the next two months.

Question reference: S3W-11317

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 27 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what new arrangements the First Minister has put in place to develop and maintain the relationship between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament following the election of the SNP minority administration in May 2007.

The First Minister has appointed 14 Parliamentary Liaison Officers (PLOs), listed as follows, to play a role in contributing to the effective communication of the government''s policy within the Parliament to support Cabinet Secretaries. Parliamentary Liaison Officers are unpaid, not members of the government and are not, therefore, bound by Collective Responsibility.

Portfolio	Parliamentary Liaison Officer
Office of the First Minister	Aileen Campbell Keith Brown Alasdair Allan Chris Harvie
Deputy First Minister/Health and Wellbeing	Stuart McMillan Ian McKee
Education and Lifelong Learning	Christina McKelvie Bob Doris
Environment and Rural Affairs	Rob Gibson Jamie Hepburn
Justice	Nigel Don Angela Constance
Finance and Sustainable Growth	Joe Fitzpatrick Shirley Ann Somerville

Question reference: S3W-10904

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how organisations should bid for funding from the £200,000 to tackle gang culture, announced on 14 February 2008.

Question reference: S3W-10906

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which professionals will receive special training and toolkits as a result of the £200,000 funding to tackle gang culture, announced on 14 February 2008.