- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any sheriff courts except Peebles where access for disabled people is still required, giving in each case the access requirements and the cost of providing such access.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Court Service is currently assessing the scale and extent of the work required to bring the court up to the level of compliance required by the Disability Discrimination Act. In most courts there is already disabled access to the sheriff clerk's offices but in other cases work may be needed to extend the access to a wider range of courts, jury rooms and witness accommodation. The full extent of work needed and costings have yet to be determined. The following table lists the courts where work is likely to be required.Facilities for the Disabled
Location | Disabled Access to Jury and Witness Rooms | Disabled Access to Courts | Disabled Access to General Office |
Aberdeen | Yes | Yes in Cts 2,3 4 & 7 | Yes |
Airdrie | Yes | Yes but not Ct 4 | Yes |
Alloa | No | No | Yes |
Banff | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Campbeltown | No | Yes | Yes |
Cupar | No | Yes | Yes |
Dingwall | No | No | Yes |
Dornoch | No | No | Yes |
Dumfries | Ct 1 only | Ct 1 only | Yes |
Dunoon | No | No | Yes |
Duns | No | No | - |
Elgin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Forfar | Ct 1 only | Yes | Yes |
Fort William | No | No | Yes |
Greenock | Only 1 | Yes | Yes |
Hamilton | Not Ct 2, 4 | Yes but not Ct 4 | Yes |
Inverness | Not Ct 1, 3 | No | Yes |
Kilmarnock | Yes | No | Yes |
Kirkcaldy | Ct 2 & 3 only | Ct 1 only | Yes |
Kirkcudbright | No | No | Yes |
Kirkwall | No | No | No |
Lanark | Ct 3 only | No | No |
Lerwick | No | No | Yes |
Linlithgow | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lochmaddy | No | No | No |
Oban | No | No | Yes |
Paisley | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Peebles | No | No | Yes |
Portree | Yes but too small | Yes | Yes |
Rothesay | No | No | Yes |
Selkirk | No | No | Yes |
Stirling | One Ct | One Ct only | Yes |
Stonehaven | No | No | No |
Stornoway | No | Yes | Yes |
Stranraer | No | No | Yes |
Tain | No | No | Yes |
Wick | No | No | Yes" |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what facilities for access for disabled people there are in Lochmaddy, Tain, Dingwall and Portree Sheriff Courts.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:Tain Sheriff Court has no facility to allow easy access for disabled persons. However Lochmaddy, Dingwall and Portree all have disabled access into the building and disabled toilet provisions. In addition Portree has a stair lift to gain access to the courtroom on the first floor.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive which courts do not currently have custody suites and what action is being taken to provide such suites.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:A number of rural courts have custody suites within the court building. Eleven rural sheriff courts do not have custody holding facilities within the court building. Nine of these (Duns, Fort William, Jedburgh, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Oban, Portree, Stonehaven and Wick) are adjacent to the local police station from which prisoners in custody can be taken into the court without using the public courthouse. In the case of Peebles and Rothesay prisoners are held in the police station which is located a short distance from the court.The Scottish Court Service is currently reviewing the custody accommodation across the court estate in consultation with the police to determine what, if any, improvements to that accommodation is required. No decisions have yet been taken on whether it will be necessary to provide such accommodation in locations other than Peebles.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what special arrangements are being made to facilitate access for disabled people to all courts.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Court Service is currently undertaking an audit of the Court estate to determine the scale and extent of work required throughout the Estate to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. Additional resources have been provided to the Court Service to enable any reasonable and necessary adaptations to proceed. The information is not collected centrally in respect of District Courts as responsibility for this rests with the relevant local authority.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how Scottish Water has re-prioritised its investment programme following the recent contamination of water supplies by the cryptospiridium bacterium.
Answer
The Cryptosporidium Directions required Scottish Water to carry out a risk assessment on all its supplies and introduced sampling appropriate to the assessed risk. The Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) audits the requirements of the directions annually. Following the recent events in Glasgow and Edinburgh I have asked the DWQR to carry out a review of the detailed workings of the directions. The outcome of this review will be available in about two months. In the meantime, my initial assessment is that the investment priorities for 2002-06 given in the Quality and Standards paper published in August 2001 were broadly correct.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to upgrade or rebuild the police station at Peebles; whether consideration has been given to building a combined police station and courthouse; whether such a combined police station and courthouse has been built elsewhere, and, if so, how much it cost.
Answer
Provision of a police station at Peebles is a matter for Lothian and Borders Police. I am not aware of any proposals for upgrading or refurbishing the police station at Peebles nor of any plans for building a combined police station and courthouse at Peebles. No combined police station and courthouse have been built elsewhere in Scotland in recent years.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27460 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 August 2002, whether, in calculating the additional cost of implementing the transfer of sheriff court business from Peebles to either Edinburgh or Selkirk, an informed assessment of any additional costs associated with the use of police resources, including personnel, will be made.
Answer
Yes. The Scottish Court Service will be consulting with Lothian and Borders Police on the options for future provision of court services in Peebles.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the staffing levels have been at HM Prison and Young Offenders' Institute Cornton Vale in each quarter in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 to date, expressed as a percentage of the full staff complement.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The readily available information is shown in the following table.
Date | Staff in Post | %Age |
1 April 1999 | 250 | 102 |
1 August 1999 | 247 | 100 |
1 December 1999 | 246 | 99 |
1 April 2000 | 246 | 99 |
1 August 2000 | 248 | 100 |
1 December 2000 | 245 | 99 |
1 April 2001 | 239 | 97 |
1 August 2001 | 244 | 99 |
1 December 2001 | 254 | 99 |
1 April 2002 | 278 | 107 |
1 August 2002 | 269 | 103 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what directions or guidance is given to Children's Panels on the information panels may forward to the Youth Crime Diversion Programme when making a referral to the programme.
Answer
Rule 21 of the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Rules 1996 sets out what information, and to whom, the Reporter should communicate following the decision of a Children's Hearing. However, that is only one aspect of the network of communication involved in these situations. Where a child is referred to a diversionary project, the project itself will usually have clear expectations, agreed with referring agencies, about what information it should receive.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 12 August 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners at HM Prison Young Offenders' Institute Cornton Vale have been (a) on remand and (b) in custody awaiting sentence in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, (iii) 2001-02 and (iv) 2002-03 to date.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The information is not available in the requested format. Figures are available for average daily population and are listed below.Average Daily Population on Remand in Cornton Vale
Year | Untried | Convicted | Awaiting Sentence | Total Remand |
1999-2000 | 35 | 13 | 18 | 48 |
2000-01 | 27 | 13 | 23 | 40 |
2001-02 | 38 | | | 55 |
2002 (Apr-Jul) | 47 | | | 70 |
Note: Components may not add due to rounding.