Chamber and committees

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: S2W-09727

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each temporary judge, giving their date and period of appointment.

The information is given in the following table:

Name	Date of First Appointment	Date of Expiry
Sheriff Principal E F Bowen QC	9 June 2000	2 July 2006
Roderick F Macdonald QC	16 July 2001	15 July 2005
Sheriff Principal R A Dunlop QC	4 February 2002	31 January 2005
Sheriff Principal C G B Nicholson QC	4 February 2002	31 January 2005
Sheriff A L Stewart QC	24 October 1996	31 December 2004
Sheriff Ian Peebles QC	June 2003	31 May 2006
David S Burns QC	2 September 2002	31 August 2005
Leonna J Dorian QC	2 September 2002	31 August 2005
James G Reid QC	2 September 2002	31 August 2005
Malcolm G Thomson QC	2 September 2002	31 August 2005
Colin J MacAulay QC	13 January 2003	31 December 2005
Sheriff Roger Craik QC	February 2004	31 January 2005
Sheriff Kevin Drummond QC	February 2004	31 January 2005
Sheriff Hugh Matthews QC	February 2004	31 January 2005
Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC	February 2004	31 January 2005
Sheriff Rita Rae QC	February 2004	31 January 2005
Sheriff Ian Simpson	February 2004	31 January 2005

Question reference: S2W-09726

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary judges have been made permanent judges in the last 10 years.

Question reference: S2W-09725

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are applied in the appointment of temporary judges.

Question reference: S2W-08892

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any proposals to regulate the operation and activities of private security organisations.

Question reference: S2O-02428

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 20 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines it gives to social inclusion partnerships (SIPs) in respect of their definition and evaluation of best value.

Question reference: S2W-07856

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 11 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on publishing its consultations in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-07614

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what value of fixed penalty notices (a) were offered, (b) were collected and (c) remained outstanding in each of the last four years.

The available information is given in the following tables:

Number of Police Fixed Penalty Notices Issued for Stationary Vehicle Offences

Calendar Year	Total Number Issued¹	Percentage² Resulting In:
Calendar Year	Total Number Issued¹	Payment	Registered Fine	Other³
1999	296,368	63	19	18
2000	185,987	64	19	17
2001	179,553	61	19	20
2002	164,037	61	20	19

Notes:

1. Includes estimated data.

2. Notices where the outcome was outstanding or could not be separately identified are included in the number of total notices issued but are excluded from the percentage calculations. There were 37,618 such notices in 1999 and 9,316 in 2000.

3. Includes cases where no further action is taken, e.g. notice cancelled, or where a hearing was requested.

Value of Fixed Penalties Received

Financial year	Value Received (£000)
1999-2000	7,041
2000-01¹	6,065
2001-02	9,996
2002-03²	7,578

Notes:

1. Excludes City of Edinburgh – data not available.

2. Excludes Eilean Siar, North Lanarkshire and Stirling – data not available.

Question reference: S2W-07613

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what the value of fiscal fines (a) were offered, (b) were collected and (c) remained outstanding in each of the last four years, broken down by district court.

The available information is given in the following tables:

Number of Fiscal Fines Offered And Accepted

Commission Area	Number Offered				Number Accepted
Commission Area	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	N/A	1,267	749	928	749	511	391	401
Aberdeenshire	N/A	676	540	462	670	429	346	281
Angus	N/A	631	574	770	535	339	358	374
Argyll and Bute	N/A	495	625	605	407	N/A	334	379
Clackmannanshire	N/A	312	201	232	145	160	102	114
Dumfries and Galloway	N/A	587	636	933	983	454	381	530
Dundee City	N/A	1,495	1,376	1,377	769	794	647	661
East Ayrshire	N/A	938	788	921	647	508	417	495
East Dunbartonshire	N/A	371	363	460	249	191	207	211
East Lothian	N/A	134	195	168	189	103	121	118
East Renfrewshire	N/A	295	242	286	240	186	144	84
Edinburgh, City of	N/A	N/A	1,264	1,408	598	N/A	645	725
Eilean Siar	N/A	147	135	N/A	103	89	102	N/A
Falkirk	N/A	920	927	615	418	469	463	340
Fife	N/A	1,387	881	617	1,342	783	N/A	345
Glasgow City	N/A	8,141	9,582	10,092	10,792	N/A	N/A	3,616
Highland	N/A	1,597	1,931	1,903	2,533	1,011	1,377	1,313
Inverclyde	N/A	693	475	689	486	425	265	387
Midlothian	N/A	257	171	214	122	137	98	106
Moray	N/A	284	380	305	288	158	268	205
North Ayrshire	N/A	1,267	1,142	1,077	805	335	356	336
North Lanarkshire	N/A	2,973	2,331	3,692	2,754	2,014	1,777	2,328
Perth and Kinross	N/A	691	632	591	363	341	348	324
Renfrewshire	N/A	897	576	689	517	466	298	255
Scottish Borders	N/A	749	699	503	510	546	515	350
South Ayrshire	N/A	774	865	836	2,142	506	743	775
South Lanarkshire¹	N/A	3,323	4,855	4,412	1,417	1,865	2,817	2,515
Stirling	N/A	593	N/A	N/A	236	305	N/A	N/A
West Dunbartonshire	N/A	633	688	684	870	263	302	319
West Lothian	N/A	706	547	N/A	339	327	295	N/A
Scotland	N/A	33,233	34,128	35,469	32,218	13,715	13,973	17,805

Note:

1. Excludes Lanark – fiscal fine details are not separately identifiable from other fine types.

N/A: information not available.

Value of Fiscal Fines Received And Outstanding

Commission Area	Total Value Received in Financial Year (£000)				Total Value Outstanding at 31 March (£000)
Commission Area	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	34	23	18	19	13	6	4	3
Aberdeenshire	26	19	15	12	2	3	1	1
Angus	8	11	13	16	3	4	3	8
Argyll and Bute	13	18	14	15	1	0.2	1	1
Clackmannanshire	5	7	5	6	2	2	1	3
Dumfries and Galloway	41	27	21	26	10	5	10	9
Dundee City	26	32	25	27	7	4	11	7
East Ayrshire	19	15	14	15	2	4	7	6
East Dunbartonshire	10	8	8	9	3	12	1	3
East Lothian	5	3	5	5	0.2	0.2	1	2
East Renfrewshire	11	6	10	3	2	1	1	1
Edinburgh, City of	21	N/A	30	35	8	N/A	1	9
Eilean Siar	6	2	N/A	N/A	1	1	N/A	N/A
Falkirk	28	18	17	13	3	3	3	4
Fife	15	14	N/A	16	1	6	N/A	1
Glasgow City	156	133	157	154	89	106	97	123
Highland	61	44	52	56	32	7	5	17
Inverclyde	15	13	8	13	2	3	4	3
Midlothian	N/A	5	3	5	1	1	1	1
Moray	14	13	15	9	2	2	2	3
North Ayrshire	28	27	25	23	2	3	3	3
North Lanarkshire	N/A	N/A	63	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Perth and Kinross	21	15	15	15	N/A	N/A	12	3
Renfrewshire	24	23	16	12	2	10	5	4
Scottish Borders	17	22	22	16	11	4	5	6
South Ayrshire	13	13	13	13	5	6	6	2
South Lanarkshire	(1)	68	93	94	9	19	37	28
Stirling	7	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
West Dunbartonshire	9	20	22	23	4	4	4	7
West Lothian	14	16	N/A	N/A	7	15	N/A	N/A
Scotland	650	627	700	650	225	229	228	258

Note:

1. Total value of fiscal fines received is not separately identifiable from other fine types.

N/A: information not available.

Question reference: S2W-06643

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 16 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority planning applications seeking planning permission for development on green belt areas it has called in in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001, (d) 2002, (e) 2003 and (d) 2004, showing how many applications it approved in each year.

Question reference: S2W-06644

Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority school closure applications involving schools with an occupancy level greater than 80% it has called in in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001, (d) 2002, (e) 2003 and (f) 2004, showing how many closures it approved in each year.

The Scottish Executive does not call in such proposals. Education authorities are required by statute to seek the consent of the Scottish ministers to any proposal to close any school where the number of pupils in attendance is greater than 80% of the school’s pupil capacity.

The table gives the number of applications for consent under the 80% rule to the closure of schools received in the calendar years concerned.

Year	Number
1999	0
2000	2
2001	1
2002	1
2003	6
2004 to date	0

Consent was given in all cases in which decisions have been made. Three of the six 2003 cases were received late in the year and are currently under consideration.