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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: S3O-12696

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provided to farmers during the recent severe weather.

Scottish Government officials have been in daily contact with farmers and key stakeholders to understand industry priorities during the severe winter weather.

The Scottish Government secured the case for an emergency relaxation of the EU drivers'' hours enforcement, to help inward and outward distribution of urgent feed and fuel supplies.

Over 18,000 farmers and crofters have already been paid their single farm payment (SFP) this year, over £463 million which represents 98% of the total SFP net budget. The payments made on the earliest possible date, 1 December 2010, were a record since the scheme began.

Question reference: S3W-38348

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 19 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what payments have been made from its Post Office Diversification Fund.

Question reference: S3W-38350

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 19 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vandalism charges have been dealt with out of court in each year since 2007, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

The following table shows the number of charges under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1) which were reported to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in the last three financial years, and which were dealt with by direct measures.

Direct measures includes all decisions other than instructions for court proceedings or no action, i.e. fiscal fines, compensation offers, combined fiscal fine and compensation offers, diversions, work orders, warnings and referrals to the Scottish Children''s Reporter Administration. It is notable that a significant proportion of the charges of this type received by COPFS and dealt with by direct measures were referred to the Scottish Children''s Reporter Administration (1,848 in 2007-08, 1,284 in 2008-09, and 861 in 2009-10).

The information is presented below using court jurisdictions as the COPFS database does not contain information to identify parliamentary constituency boundaries and court jurisdictions do not match parliamentary boundaries.

Charges: Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1)

Court Jurisdiction	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Aberdeen	236	427	282
Airdrie	93	137	86
Alloa	81	49	46
Arbroath	32	89	50
Ayr	133	245	106
Banff	4	14	23
Campbeltown	18	23	12
Cupar	120	107	36
Dingwall	41	54	35
Dornoch	9	2	8
Dumbarton	223	86	98
Dumfries	59	72	133
Dundee	82	137	107
Dunfermline	169	199	120
Dunoon	3	4	42
Duns	10	31	24
Edinburgh	255	318	165
Elgin	47	98	48
Falkirk	111	141	183
Forfar	36	54	56
Fort William	17	35	20
Glasgow	553	511	596
Greenock	119	50	94
Haddington	95	8	19
Hamilton	195	178	154
Inverness	82	122	91
Jedburgh	22	81	20
Kilmarnock	359	313	162
Kirkcaldy	262	316	193
Kirkcudbright	7	18	25
Kirkwall	18	36	9
Lanark	17	44	18
Lerwick	55	25	18
Livingston	28	136	158
Lochmaddy	3	5	4
Oban	11	15	13
Paisley	84	200	117
Peebles	16	7	10
Perth	78	105	100
Peterhead	56	62	60
Rothesay	20	1	10
Selkirk	19	21	52
Stirling	118	102	103
Stonehaven	56	34	18
Stornoway	17	46	27
Stranraer	12	23	20
Tain	35	27	22
Wick	52	29	124
COPFS Total as Direct Measures	4,002	4,749	3,873
Charges reported under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1)	17,740	15,679	14,536

Notes:

The information in this table has been extracted from COPF''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S3W-38351

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 17 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been (a) reported to the procurator fiscal and (b) fined by local authorities for illegal dumping in each year since 2007, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

The following table shows the number of charges reported to Procurators Fiscal under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Section 33(1).

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) database does not contain information to identify parliamentary constituency boundaries and court jurisdictions do not match parliamentary boundaries. As a result, the information has been split into court jurisdictions.

Information about any action taken by local authorities is not held centrally.

Charges: Environmental Protection Act 1990, Section 33(1)

Court	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Aberdeen	-	-	2
Airdrie	5	5	6
Arbroath	-	1	-
Ayr	-	-	1
Banff	-	2	-
Campbeltown	-	1	-
Cupar	1	-	2
Dumbarton	-	4	1
Dumfries	2	2	1
Dundee	-	-	7
Dunfermline	2	1	4
Dunoon	-	1	-
Edinburgh	68	43	67
Falkirk	7	5	1
Glasgow	5	40	5
Greenock	-	-	5
Hamilton	5	1	3
Inverness	-	-	2
Kilmarnock	-	5	-
Kirkcaldy	-	9	2
Livingston	6	2	4
Oban	-	1	-
Paisley	-	4	-
Peterhead	-	1	-
Stirling	-	1	-
Stonehaven	-	1	-
Stornoway	2	2	-
Stranraer	-	-	1
Tain	-	1	-
Wick	-	-	1

The information in this table has been extracted from COPF''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S3W-38349

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 10 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what applications have been made for funding from its Post Office Diversification Fund.

Question reference: S3O-12059

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 25 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has to give more control of schools to head teachers.

Question reference: S3W-37105

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is to see an emergency hearing aid repair specialist, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-37106

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to NHS boards with regard to emergency services for hearing aid repair.

The Quality Standards for Adult Hearing Rehabilitation Service was published in April 2009. It makes clear that NHS boards should provide effective ongoing life time maintenance of hearing aids. In particular it states that all hearing aid repairs should be carried out within two days of the repair service receiving the hearing aid.

To assist NHS boards to measure their progress towards meeting the quality standards for the adult hearing rehabilitation service an Improvement Quality and Outcomes in Adult Audiology Rehabilitation service through Critical Evaluation “ a Quality Rating Tool for Audiology Service was also issued in April 2009.

Question reference: S3W-35971

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 22 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in offering the Scottish Baccalaureate in arts and social sciences.

Question reference: S3W-35970

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 22 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many university places for 2010-11 were made conditional to success in the Scottish Baccalaureate in the May 2010 SQA diet of examinations.