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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: S3W-09969

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to the public purse has been of the police investigation leading to charges of perjury against Tommy Sheridan, Rosemary Byrne and Graeme McIver.

Question reference: S3W-09143

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what scientific advice it has sought regarding the proposed major development of a large poultry farm in the Scottish Borders which will be situated below the flight path of a number of species of migratory birds.

Question reference: S3W-08920

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all existing protocols between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Crown Office which determine and set out when police investigations should be undertaken.

The current formal protocols between ACPOS and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which determine and set out when police investigations should be undertaken are as follows:

Joint Protocol between ACPOS and COPFS on Domestic Abuse.

Work Related Deaths - A Protocol for Liaison among COPFS, ACPOS, the Health and Safety Executive and British Transport Police.

These protocols deal with specific types of investigation.

Question reference: S3W-09142

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed in the poultry industry, broken down by local authority area.

Information on the total number of people employed throughout all parts of the poultry industry is not available in the Scottish Government.

Information is available from the June Agricultural Census on the number of people working on specialist poultry holdings¹. The following table shows the number of people working full-time and part-time on 1 June 2007 by local authority area, and includes occupiers, spouses, family members, employees as well as casual and seasonal workers.

Local Authority	Holdings	Workers
Aberdeen City	*	*
Aberdeenshire	231	254
Angus	28	49
Argyll and Bute	64	76
Clackmannanshire	9	30
Dumfries and Galloway	129	212
Dundee City	0	0
East Ayrshire	29	48
East Dunbartonshire	7	17
East Lothian	14	50
East Renfrewshire	*	*
Edinburgh (City of)	*	*
Eilean Siar	73	52
Falkirk	18	33
Fife	69	228
Glasgow City	0	0
Highland	227	194
Inverclyde	*	*
Midlothian	8	23
Moray	40	48
North Ayrshire	27	43
North Lanarkshire	12	15
Orkney Islands	60	43
Perth and Kinross	71	148
Renfrewshire	*	*
Scottish Borders	79	317
Shetland Islands	23	23
South Ayrshire	28	29
South Lanarkshire	44	46
Stirling	34	45
West Dunbartonshire	9	12
West Lothian	27	59
Scotland	1,374	2,124

Source: June 2007 Agricultural Census.

Notes:

* - Indicates cell suppressed to prevent disclosure of information about individual holdings

1. A specialist poultry holding is classified as one where poultry accounts for more than two-thirds of that holding''s economic activities. Consequently, there will be some workers involved in poultry production on other holdings which are not included in these results. Data from the June Agricultural Census show that 89% of poultry in Scotland on 1 June 2007 were kept on specialist poultry holdings.

People working on more than one holding are only recorded once, which explains why for some local authorities the number of holdings is greater than the number of workers.

Question reference: S3W-09752

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8921 by Mr Frank Mulholland QC on 7 February 2008, whether the protocol between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Electoral Commission relates specifically to the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections held in May 2007 and no other elections held in Scotland for any purpose.

on 7 February 2008, whether the protocol between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Electoral Commission relates specifically to the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections held in May 2007 and no other elections held in Scotland for any purpose.

(S3W-09752)

Frank Mulholland QC The Protocol between the Electoral Commission and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland deals with offences created by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The protocol is not specific to the May 2007 elections.

Question reference: S3W-09695

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8921 by Frank Mulholland QC on 7 February 2008, whether the protocol between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Electoral Commission, specifically relates to the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections of May 2007.

on 7 February 2008, whether the protocol between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Electoral Commission, specifically relates to the Scottish parliamentary and local government elections of May 2007.

(S3W-09695)

Frank Mulholland QC I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9752, on 20 February 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S3W-09097

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents there have been of illegal drugs recovered by prison authorities from individuals who have attempted to smuggle drugs into prison in each year since 1999, broken down by category of drug and prison.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table illustrates the number incidents where drugs have been recovered from visitors attending Scottish Prisons. Reliable data is not available prior to 2001 and category of drug is not recorded.

Incident Establishment Name	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Grand Total
Aberdeen				3	6	32	24	4	69
Barlinnie			2	25	58	39	21	4	149
Cornton Vale		1	1	2	3	6	5		18
Dumfries				2	1	2	1		6
Edinburgh	4	1	2	13	17	14	14	1	66
Glenochil Prison	4	11	7	3	2	4	9	1	41
Glenochil YOI		2	2						4
Greenock	1	1		7	14	3	14	1	41
Inverness	1					1	1		3
Kilmarnock			10	21	32	28	19	1	111
Low Moss	3		1	7	6		1		18
Perth	5	4	7	25	29	29	18	1	118
Peterhead						3	1		4
Polmont				10	14	15	22	2	63
Shotts	2	2	7	9	14	18	9	2	63
Grand Total	20	22	39	127	196	194	159	17	774

Question reference: S3W-09100

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders released on licence have been recalled to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence in each year since 1999, broken down by prison.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table illustrates those offenders who have been recalled having been released on licence.

Establishment	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Grand Total
Aberdeen	16	22	16	21	20	22	16	23	19	2	177
Barlinnie	156	133	132	163	147	117	137	156	137	24	1,302
Castle Huntly	2	4	4	12	9	5	1	1			38
Cornton Vale	14	15	17	9	5	10	7	15	18	1	111
Dumfries	7	7	10	13	13	7	8	16	9	3	93
Edinburgh	48	41	55	85	85	70	93	115	133	12	737
Glenochil	26	21	23	31	39	50	50	82	85	7	414
Glenochil YOI	4	2									6
Greenock	28	27	34	34	11	26	24	22	28	5	239
Inverness	7	4	6	8	7	10	9	7	9	0	67
Kilmarnock	70	61	82	81	40	30	46	64	57	5	536
Low Moss	30	17	21	11	12	11	14	9	2		127
Noranside		1		4	5	4	1				15
Open Estate	3	7	3	8	20	12	16	17	8	0	94
Perth	40	26	44	31	45	43	30	59	78	11	407
Peterhead	6	2	4	5	7	10	16	19	17	1	87
Polmont	6	3	5	2	3	10	10	23	38	6	106
Shotts	27	14	21	24	22	21	41	31	34	0	235
Grand Total	490	407	477	542	490	458	519	659	672	77	4,791

Question reference: S3W-09087

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners were assaulted in Scottish prisons while (a) on remand and (b) serving their sentence in each year since 1999, broken down by gender and category of assault.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table illustrates the total number of assaults broken down by establishment and gender. Reliable data is not available prior to 2001, neither is it possible to distinguish between remand and convicted.

Establishment	Prisoner Gender	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Grand Total
Aberdeen	F	1	4			1				6
	M	19	30	21	12	30	32	20	2	166
Barlinnie	M	55	77	47	34	51	62	60	8	394
Castle Huntly	M	1					3			4
Cornton Vale	F	11	8	8	7	31	22	32	1	120
Dumfries	M	6	10	17	8	17	18	29		105
Edinburgh	M	32	41	51	51	52	80	66	7	380
Glenochil Prison	M	14	8	13	15	15	15	20	5	105
Glenochil YOI	M	3	9	2						14
Greenock	F		1	3	6	1				11
	M	8	10	10	30	21	25	22	3	129
Inverness	M				2	12	13	17		44
Kilmarnock	M	18	31	16	21	41	38	49	11	225
Low Moss	M	4	19	9	14	19	16	6		87
Noranside	M		1		1	2				4
Open Estate	M							1		1
Perth	M	10	33	53	92	59	37	59	8	351
Peterhead	M	8	4	3	2	4	8	10		39
Polmont	M	24	51	95	151	151	145	141	10	768
Shotts	M	6	10	13	10	15	14	11	1	80
Grand Total		220	347	361	456	522	528	543	56	3,033

Question reference: S3W-09140

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what role the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has in monitoring large-scale poultry developments and planning requests that lie in the path of migratory birds.