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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: S4W-08705

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions there have been under section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, broken down by year.

Section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 does not create a specific criminal offence and therefore there have been no prosecutions under this particular section. Instead, section 51 creates a list of factors which must be considered by the court in any prosecution of common law assault on a child, where the defence raise the issue of 'justifiable assault' (reasonable chastisement).

As records are not kept on the defence position at any trial, it is not possible to state how many times this section has been raised during a prosecution of an assault on a child.

Question reference: S4W-08702

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions there have been under section (a) 50 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and (b) 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 in each year since 1999.

The available information is given in the following table.

People proceeded against in Scottish Courts under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 Section 50 and the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 Section 12¹, 1999-2000 to 2010-11:

Financial year	Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 Section 50	Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 Section 12
1999-2000	437	185
2000-01	401	169
2001-02	337	182
2002-03	322	216
2003-04	348	270
2004-05	265	217
2005-06	218	161
2006-07	183	197
2007-08	168	239
2008-09	112	201
2009-10	114	163
2010-11	89	182

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S4O-01190

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Indonesian Government.

Question reference: S4O-01090

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the possibility of waste material being transported from Dounreay to Sellafield.

Question reference: S4O-01043

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in implementing Scotland’s Digital Future - Infrastructure Action Plan.

Question reference: S4F-00661

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 May 2012

To ask the First Minister what impact the recent increase in the cost of postage will have on the Scottish economy.

Question reference: S4O-00937

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 26 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive at what stage phase III of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme is.

Question reference: S4W-06438

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 12 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service about its staff or representatives discussing the matter of a precognition with an individual approached for precognition by counsel for an appellant.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has issued comprehensive guidance to staff on the precognition process including guidance for witnesses who are asked to provide a statement or precognition to the defence. The guidance states that witnesses should generally be encouraged to co-operate with requests for precognition. Accordingly, while there may on rare occasions be particular circumstances which mitigate against a witness providing a precognition at specific points in the investigation of a criminal offence, the general approach taken by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is to encourage witnesses to co-operate with such request for precognition.

Question reference: S4W-06308

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations there are requiring haulage companies to obtain an escort for their vehicles on public roads.

The movement of abnormal loads is a reserved matter. There are currently no legislative requirements for abnormal loads to be escorted; however, in the interests of public safety the police decide when an escort is required. The Highways Agency on behalf of the Department for Transport has published a Code of Practice and Operating Guidance on Abnormal Load Escorting which gives guidance on when an escort vehicle is required. This may be a police escort or a Self-Escort and is a matter for the police.

Question reference: S4W-06309

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the police can insist on undertaking escort duties for haulage company vehicles on public roads and, if so, under what legislation.

Where a haulage company vehicle’s laden dimensions exceed a defined overall width, length or weight the police in the interest of public safety will decide whether an escort vehicle is required and whether the escort is provided by the police or the haulier. There are currently no legal requirements for abnormal loads to be escorted; however there are legal requirements for the haulier to provide an attendant dependent on the dimensions of the load.