- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to tackle internet fraud.
Answer
In 2006, total UK losses foronline banking fraud from scams such as phishing and Trojans reached £33.5 million.There were 14,156 phishing incidents in 2006, up from 1,713 in 2005. “Card Not Present”fraud, including online, phone and mail order fraud, totalled £212.6 million in2006. Data published by Post Office on 17Dec 2007 shows that fear of fraud is the single largest barrier for the over 50sconsidering internet access. These are thereforeserious issues that need to be tackled by government, police and business.
The Scottish Government is engagingwith the UK Government on its Fraud Review, the report of which was published inMarch 2007. Activity is under way in relation to the establishment of a NationalFraud Strategic Authority to provide leadership and coordination for anti-fraudeffort, development of better measurement of fraud loss, and improvements to fraudreporting and intelligence to target investigations.
Guidance for members of the publicto help them to stay safe online is available at
www.stop-idfraud.co.uk, www.identitytheft.org.uk and www.banksafeonline.org.uk.Thereare established links and processes in place which allow the Scottish police serviceto engage with forces internationally on a range of issues, including investigationsinto internet fraud. For example, Europol facilitates co-operation between the competentauthorities of the member states in preventing and combating serious internationalorganised crime.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ofConstabulary for Scotland are conducting a thematic review of serious fraud in Scotland. Their report and recommendations will be published indue course. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland’s work has shown that the financial and banking sectorsare very active in crime and fraud prevention. Some institutions are bringing intwo factor authentication for web-based transaction and most are well integratedwith law enforcement and counter fraud forums. The banking industry works closely with SOCA, the SCDEA and overseas partnersto minimise online banking fraud committed via phishing and Trojan scams.
The Scottish Crime and Drug EnforcementAgency houses the e‑crime Unit which provides specialist support to the ScottishPolice Service on serious organised crime facilitated by computer and other informationtechnology. The unit is also continually researching, evaluating and developingnew techniques which allow them to remain effective in the rapidly changing worldof hi‑tech crime. This includes forging links with the Scottish business communityto maximise opportunities for information sharing and to identify solutions in responseto concerns over potential vulnerabilities in corporate e‑infrastructures.
The Scottish Government sponsorsthe Scottish Business Crime Centre, a non-profit making organisation created in 1996 and which operatesas a partnership approach between the police, business community and government. The centre acts as secretariat to the Scottish FinancialCrime Group and a sub-group of that is the e-crime Group. This group involves thepolice and major Scottish banks and was formed in early 2007 with the purpose ofestablishing a forum in which to share information and good practice on e-crime.
The centre also act as secretariatto the Scottish Commercial Crime Group. As part of the remit of this group, it wasdecided that the retail sector should be included and a number of meetings havetaken place. Again, this sub-group is in its infancy but it will undoubtedly belooking at current and emerging threats, including e-crime.
The centre has produced a bookletentitled Targeting RetailCrime in Scotland – A Training Booklet for Staff. They are presently working on the second booklet which will include cardcrime and helpful advice on preventing internet fraud.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with the banking and financial services sector concerning internet fraud.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8342 on 21 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland’s police forces engage with forces internationally to tackle internet fraud.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8342 on 21 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the retail industry to enlist it in the fight against internet crime.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8342 on 21 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions for breaches of health and safety legislation in the last five years failed in court.
Answer
The available information isgiven in the following table.
Persons with a Charge not Proved1for Offences Related Health and Safety at Work Acts2
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| 18 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 7 |
Notes:
1. Includes findings of acquittednot guilty, acquitted not proven, pleas of not guilty accepted, or where cases weredeserted or dropped after a person has been called to court.
2. Where main offence.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions for health and safety breaches there were in the courts in each of the last five years.
Answer
The available information isgiven in the following table.
Persons Proceeded Against forOffences Related to Health and Safety at Work Acts1
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| 137 | 120 | 132 | 92 | 56 |
Note: 1.Where main offence.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what it regards as an acceptable waiting period for those eligible to receive central heating under the central heating programme.
Answer
The primary purposeof the central heating programme is to help owners in fuel poverty by improvingthe energy efficiency of their houses. The programme deals with demand for supportaccording to the resources and installation capacity available and the waiting perioddepends on the balance between these factors. The average waiting period has variedbetween eight and five months since the programme began in 2001 and is now betweenfive and six months. Waiting times vary around this average and as announced on21 November 2007 we are taking action to accelerate installations this winter forapplicants who are eligible for an installation and in the meantime have no heatingand hot water. At the same time we are reviewing the policy for the longer termin order to best achieve its purpose while avoiding large waiting lists.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how its recent budget announcement will impact on waiting times for the central heating programme.
Answer
The Cabinet Secretaryfor Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon, announced on 21 November 2007 that weare making £7 million available this financial year to accelerate up to 1,600 installations.If the rate of new applications continues at current levels, accelerating installationswill reduce the average time applicants would otherwise have to wait this winterand ease the pressure on the programme next year. The budget for future years announcedon 14 November 2007 includes continued funding for fuel poverty at the current level,against the background of a tight overall settlement.
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 26 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it is using to assess the future of sportscotland.
Answer
The Scottish Governmenthas set terms of reference for the review of sportscotland as follows: “to examinewhether sportscotland’s current functions continue to be necessary and, if so, whichorganisational arrangements are most effective in delivering them.”
- Asked by: Patricia Ferguson, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 26 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors it will consider in its review of sportscotland.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentwill consider whether sportscotland’s current functions continue to be necessaryand, if so, which organisational arrangements are most effective in delivering them.The needs of sport will be central to the review process.
