- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when, and how, it intends to introduce legislation in respect of sexual grooming.
Answer
There canbe no more tragic a problem than child abuse. The damage and heartbreak canlast for a life time. We know that those who carry out that abuse are cleverand cunning and that they will exploit any opportunity, including the internet.That is why the Executive has continued to take action to protect young people,and to promote internet safety. But let me make it very clear once again wewill continue to pursue those who abuse and exploit children. We will legislateon internet grooming, and we will do so at the earliest opportunity.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 10 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive in how many, and what percentage of, cases before the High Court in each of the last five years (a) up to 25, (b) 26 to 50, (c) 51 to 75, (d) 76 to 100 and (e) more than 101 witnesses have been called in total for both the preliminary and final witness lists.
Answer
The information requestedcould only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 2 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated for the funding of local alcohol action plans, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
We expect to announcespecific funding for the implementation of local alcohol action plans in thefirst week in March. The release of funding isconditional on alcohol action teams having agreed outcome expectations and systemsin place to measure key indicators. We will be monitoring the use of the newresources through alcohol and drug action team annual reporting arrangements.
Funding for servicesaddressing alcohol problems is provided within resources allocated to NHS boardsand local authorities, but is not specifically identified by the Executive.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any steps have been taken to design the proposed online route for the M80 extension from Stepps to Haggs to protect the Roman fortlet at Mollins and, if not, whether it has any plans to fund a full excavation and recording of the site.
Answer
The current scheme designwill minimise and restrict the impact on the Fort to a small area. Any requiredexcavation and recording will therefore be restricted to this area with themajority of the site remaining undisturbed.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for fraud by adults who pretend to be a child for the purpose of securing a meeting with a child or committing, or attempting to commit, a sexual offence in each of the last six years.
Answer
This type of case, which maybe covered by offences such as common law fraud or an offence under section7(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation)(Scotland) Act 1995, cannot beseparately identified within the statistics available centrally.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for lewd communication with a child through an internet chatroom in each of the last six years.
Answer
There is no specific offencefor lewd communication in an internet chatroom. These cases may be covered byother offences such as common law lewd, indecent and libidinous practices, butthey cannot be separately identified within the statistics available centrally.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for accessing and downloading child pornography on the internet in each of the last six years.
Answer
The available information is given in the following table. The figures are for offences under sections 52 and 52A of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, which cover the possession, distribution and making of indecent material relating to children. Not all such offences will necessarily relate to images obtained from the internet.
Persons Proceeded Against Under Sections 52 and 52A of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982(1), 1996-2001
| | Year of Sentence |
| | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Persons proceeded against | 10 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 17 | 22 |
| Persons with a charge proved | 7 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 16 |
Note:
1. Where main offence.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by district courts in each of the last six years to cover loss of earnings by Justices of the Peace.
Answer
Under section 17 of theDistrict Courts (Scotland) Act 1975, Justices of the Peace are entitled toreceive, where appropriate, financial loss allowance for loss of earnings andtravel and subsistence costs where expenditure is necessarily incurred by them inthe performance of their duties. Payment of these allowances is made by localauthorities and the information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals are in place to improve direct transport links for patients within the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area who have to travel between North Lanarkshire and the city of Glasgow for health care services, in particular for those who have to take three separate bus journeys to attend hospital appointments.
Answer
This is a matter for NHSGreater Glasgow and its planning partners.
I understand that GreaterGlasgow NHS Board is currently undertaking a major piece of work on transportand access as part of their Acute Hospitals Modernisation Programme. They aimto appoint a transport and access manager in the spring of this year. That postwill be focused on improving their existing patient transport provision,working with transport providers and Strathclyde Passenger Transport to engagemore public transport routing to hospitals.
The board has undertaken tocontact you direct with a view to establishing which locations are giving causefor concern in this regard and providing a more detailed response.
- Asked by: Margaret Mitchell, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had regarding any potential impact on the justice system resulting from the introduction of a European public prosecutor.
Answer
We have been fully engaged with the preparationof the UK line in the IntergovernmentalConference and have stressed the importance of ensuring that any agreedproposal for a European Public Prosecutor is compatible with the responsibilityof the Lord Advocate for the prosecution of criminal cases in Scotland.
