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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: S2W-09151

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the commitment within A Partnership for a Better Scotland “to consult on a national system of warnings for young offenders with a restorative element where appropriate”.

Following consultation with stakeholders, guidelines setting out the principles and operation of the new restorative warning system will be issued to the police on Monday 21 June. The purpose of the new system which will apply to young people between the ages of eight and 15, and 16 and 17-year-olds under supervision is:

· to provide a rapid and effective way of dealing with young offenders by bringing home to them the impact of their actions and thereby help to reduce future offending behaviour;

· to address victim concerns by ensuring that victims are fully informed throughout the process and have the opportunity, if they so wish, to tell the offender about the impact of the offence on them, and

· to help address public concerns about youth disorder and minor offences.

Researchers (Blake Stevenson) were commissioned to identify best practice in consultation with stakeholders. This found that restorative cautions are more effective in preventing re-offending than traditional warnings; that most victims do not want to attend restorative justice conferences where the offence is relatively minor (and therefore suitable for a warning) but that victims do want the offender to be made aware of their views, and to know how he/she is dealt with. Guidance has been prepared on the basis of these findings. It focuseson cautioning (where the victim is not present) and it will form an integral partof the wider programme to develop restorative approaches, including conferencing,for dealing with the range of youth offending. This work was overseen by a multi-agency steering group.

£410,000 has already been allocated to all Scottish forces and the police college to facilitate the roll out of training in restorative cautioning and we will provide further funding over the next two years to support the implementation of the new arrangements, which will replace the traditional senior officer warning throughout Scotland by April 2006. There will be an ongoing monitoring and evaluation process to measure the impact of the new Police Restorative Warning system. A national recording system will also be put in place which will, for the first time, allow comparison across force areas.

Question reference: S2O-02357

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what lessons have been learned from HM Inspectorate of Prisons: Report on HM Prison Shotts.

Question reference: S2O-03050

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its conclusions following receipt of the Airdrie to Bathgate rail line engineering feasibility study.

Question reference: S2O-01843

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to extend its anti-smoking campaign to young people, particularly young women.

Preventingyoung people from starting to smoke is a matter of great importance to the Scottish Executive, and many of our initiativesdirectly target young women.

A “Breathof Fresh Air for Scotland”, the first ever tobacco actionplan designed specifically for Scotland,commits the Executive to undertake a review of the current national tobacco educationand communication programmes and build any learning into the development of acoherent long-term communication strategy on prevention activity. Young people,particularly young women, will remain a principle target for preventionmessages.

Inaddition. the Executive, in partnership with NHS Health Scotland, will also commission research withyoung people to provide a clearer picture of the factors that lead them tostart or resist smoking, with particular emphasis on developing messages thathave a resonance with young women.

Question reference: S2W-07042

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 31 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered increasing the minimum age at which a person can purchase alcohol from an off-licence from 18 to 21.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to raise the minimum age for purchasing alcohol from anoff-licence. Ministers are considering the regulation of off-licences followingthe report of the working group on off-sales in the community and will respondto that report and to the Nicholson Committee’s Review of Liquor Licensing in Scotland indue course.

We understand that in someareas, for example in Aberdeen, voluntary arrangements have been piloted withoff-licences which include a minimum age of 21 for purchases of alcohol.

Question reference: S2W-06614

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to tackle high re-offending rates.

We have put the reform of the criminal justice system at the heart of our policies. The people of Scotlanddeserve strong, safe communities. To deliver this we must address theunacceptably high rate of re-offending we see in Scotland.

Today I am launching Re:duce,Re:habilitate, Re:form – A Consultation on Reducing Reoffending in Scotland.This meets our partnership agreement commitment to consult on the establishmentof a single agency to deliver custodial and non-custodial sentences.

Over the next 12 weeks,officials from the Scottish Executive Justice Department and secondees from the ScottishPrison Service, local authorities and voluntary sector, will be undertaking aseries of meetings, workshops and discussion groups to listen to the views ofthose with an interest in the criminal justice system. In particular, we willmeet those who provide criminal justice services, victims of crime, offendersand their families, as well as representatives from communities which have beenblighted by persistent offending. Written submissions will also be welcome.

Copies of the consultationpack have been place in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number: 31194).The pack is also available on the Scottish Executive website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/ReoffendingConsultation/.

Question reference: S2O-01236

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 5 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to assist social inclusion projects with funding.

Question reference: S2O-01158

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 29 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage the use of public transport from suburban areas into city centres.

Question reference: S2W-05351

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking regarding the use of seatbelts on school buses.

The Scottish Executive issued revised guidance to education authorities on school transportissues in August 2003. Circular 7/2003, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 29135), reminds them of their dutyof care for the safety of pupils, including pupils using school transport, andmakes it clear that all statutory requirements must be complied with.

The guidance sets out thelegal requirements with regard to the fitting of seat belts in vehicles used totransport children on organised school trips, including home to schooltransport. It also encourages local authorities to consider how best to ensurethat children use seat belts, where these are provided.

Question reference: S2W-05154

Asked by: Karen Whitefield, MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Scottish Prison Service has to upgrade the sewerage plant at Longriggend to ensure that it is of an acceptable standard for Scottish Water and what the time scale is for any such plans.