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: S4W-06085

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that the integration of local authority and health services will not be used to reduce funding to the third sector.

Question reference: S4W-05983

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to publish a policy statement on its future approach to ferries procurement and how it will relate to wider procurement reforms.

Question reference: S4W-05701

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been for littering since 2003, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the following table

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Litter Offences¹, By Police Force Area, 2003-04 to 2010-11

Police Force	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Central	0	3	2	5	5	8	4	4
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	1	0	2	3	1	1
Fife	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Grampian	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0
Lothian and Borders	1	3	2	4	20	1	4	3
Northern	0	2	1	1	1	2	0	0
Strathclyde	19	30	33	45	64	33	15	18
Tayside	7	2	0	1	1	1	1	1
Scotland	28	43	39	57	93	48	25	27

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S4W-05702

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fixed penalties have been issued for littering offences since 2003, broken down by police force area.

The available information on non-court disposals for littering offences is given in the following table. The information held centrally is only available from the financial year 2008-09.

Information on fixed penalties issued by local authorities is not held centrally.

People Given Non-Court Disposals For Littering Offences¹, By Police Force Area, 2008-09 To 2010-11

Police Force	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Central
Police Formal Adult Warning	8	4	43
Police Restorative Justice	1	1	1
Fiscal Fine	76	50	200
Fiscal Fixed Penalty Notice	1	0	0
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)²	1	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway
Fiscal Fine	24	22	9
Fife
Fiscal Fine	9	0	13
Grampian
Police Formal Adult Warning	2	2	1
Warning Letter	3	0	0
Fiscal Fine	3	2	33
Lothian and Borders
Police Formal Adult Warning	0	0	3
Warning Letter	0	0	1
Fiscal Fine	77	141	350
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)²	1	0	0
Northern
Police Formal Adult Warning	0	1	1
Fiscal Fine	7	3	5
Strathclyde
Police Formal Adult Warning	29	68	36
Police Restorative Justice	2	2	2
Warning Letter	6	0	1
Fiscal Fine	516	1,309	1,366
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)²	14	0	2
Tayside
Fiscal Fine	30	30	39
Unknown
Fiscal Fine	0	2	11
Scotland
Police Formal Adult Warning	39	75	84
Police Restorative Justice	3	3	3
Warning Letter	9	0	2
Fiscal Fine	742	1,559	2,026
Fiscal Fixed Penalty	1	0	0
Fiscal Fixed Penalty (pre-SJR codes)²	16	0	2

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Number of pre-Summary Justice Reform procurator fiscal fixed penalty codes. It is known that this category contains both fiscal fines and fixed penalties, however it is not possible to separate the numbers of each.

Question reference: S4W-05772

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2012
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the interim location will be of the proposed single (a) police and (b) fire and rescue service and when the new organisations will become operational.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill 2012 was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 16 January. Discussions have been on-going with the services and other key stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to the new services.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the legislation, the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan Castle will be the interim operating base for the new Police Service of Scotland, and Perth Community Fire Station will be the interim operating base for the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Both these locations provide convenient, cost-effective venues for a small senior management team to lead the new services and reach informed decisions about how they can best serve communities across Scotland. Neither of these locations are current service headquarters, which will help ensure there is no disruption to the public or senior officers and help ensure a smooth transition to the new services.

Both services are aiming for a start date of 1 April 2013. This will be dependent on key members of the senior management team being in place and ministers and senior personnel being assured the new services can continue to provide an excellent service which keeps Scotland safe and strong.

Question reference: S4O-00707

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds on how many lives have been saved by the use of Naloxone in the last year.

Question reference: S4W-05323

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what services the Scottish Ambulance Service provides for private patients.

The Scottish Ambulance Service are permitted to generate income from sources other than the Scottish Government and NHSScotland as long as this is consistent with their main functions. The Scottish Ambulance Service provides a range of services including private event cover (for example music festivals and sporting events), admission and discharge to and from private hospitals, and social care journeys.

Question reference: S4W-05321

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-05130 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 January 2012, for what reason information on private journeys made by the Scottish Ambulance Service is not held centrally.

Question reference: S4W-05236

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many evictions have been carried out in each year since 2000, broken down by local authority area, and how many have involved children.

The number of eviction actions against council house tenants is published annually by local authority area on the Scottish Government website. Data is available from 2001-02 which was the first year this data collection was carried out.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/Evictions.

The Scottish Housing Regulator publishes the number of eviction actions against registered social landlord tenants annually by local authority area. Data is available from 2006-07 to 2010-11.

http://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/shr_statisticstables-evictions.hcsp#TopOfPage.

Data on the number of evictions involving children is not held centrally.

Question reference: S4W-05238

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide the reasons for all (a) evictions and (b) evictions involving children carried out in each year since 2000, broken down by local authority area

(a) The number of eviction actions against council house tenants broken down by reason for eviction is published annually by local authority area on the Scottish Government website. Data is available from 2001-02 which was the first year of this data collection:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/Evictions.

The Scottish Housing Regulator publishes data on the number of eviction actions against registered social landlord tenants annually by local authority area. Data on the reasons for evictions is available for 2006-07 to 2008-09:

http://www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/shr_statisticstables-evictions.hcsp#TopOfPage

(b) Data on the number of evictions involving children by type is not held centrally.