Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-27610

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 28 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many exemptions it has applied under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to requests for information in each month since January 2005.

Information on the use of exemptions by the Scottish Executive during 2005 is available in a report on informationrequest handling in the Scottish Executive. This report is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 39491) and on the Freedom of Information pages of the Scottish Executive website:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/monitor2.

The Executive will bepublishing the report for requests received during the first six months of 2006once the figures for this period have been analysed.

Question reference: S2W-27611

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 28 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the top five most commonly used exemptions it has applied under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 are to requests for information in each month since January 2005.

Information on the level of use of each exemption by the Scottish Executive during 2005 is availablein a report on information request handling in the Scottish Executive. Thisreport is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number39491) and on the Freedom of Information pages of the Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/monitor2.

The Executive will bepublishing the report for requests received during the first six months of 2006once the figures for this period have been analysed.

Question reference: S2W-27613

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 28 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many internal reviews by it under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 resulted in successful appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner since January 2005.

A request by an applicantfor an internal review of a decision is required before any appeal for aDecision of the Scottish Information Commissioner can be made. To end of July2006, 108 Executive requests have been appealed to the Scottish InformationCommissioner and he has issued decisions to date in 33 of these cases. Detailabout the decisions, including whether or not the commissioner has upheld theappeal, is published on the commissioner’s website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/appealsdecisions/decisions/index.php.

Question reference: S2W-27606

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10945 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 October 2004, what progress has been made towards recognising the bravery and historic importance of the Scottish women of the suffrage movement.

After considering the options,ministers decided to commission a sculpture which would mark not only the contributionof Scottish women of suffrage but of all Scottish women - past, present and future- in getting the vote for women and advancing democracy.

I announced the name of the successfulartist on 8 March 2006 at an evening event in the Scottish Parliament, whichtook place against the backdrop of a small Executive-funded exhibition that includedsuffragette memorabilia and a large reproduction of a suffragette banner.

Further details aboutthe sculpture, including developing plans for the unveiling in December 2006, canbe found on the following Executive website page.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18500/comsculp.

Question reference: S2W-27239

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 24 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26585 by Cathy Jamieson, what the total cost was of employing PA Consulting from April 2004 and May 2006.

Question reference: S2W-27466

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the extent of its own investigations into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency or its proxies were involved in the transportation of individuals via airports in Scotland to destinations where it is alleged that they were subsequently tortured.

Question reference: S2W-27462

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drivers were involved in road traffic accidents in each year since 1999, broken down by age group

Question reference: S2W-27436

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what new targets it has set for reducing the numbers of persistent young offenders, in light of a 10% reduction by March 2006 not being achieved.

Question reference: S2W-27452

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were treated by the NHS for drug dependency in each year since 1999.

The number of people dischargedfrom general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland withan explicit diagnosis of drug dependency from 1999-2000 onwards is detailed in thefollowing table:

Discharge Period	Number Discharged from General Acute Hospitals	Number Discharged from Psychiatric Hospitals
1999-2000	1,285	543
2000-01	1,507	591
2001-02	1,424	555
2002-03	1,507	483^P
2003-04	1,478
2004-05	1,610^P

^PProvisional.

Source: SMR01; SMR04.

Notes:

1. Includes Scottish residentsonly.

2. Figures in the table relateonly to those individuals who are treated as in-patients in acute hospitals or psychiatrichospitals. They do not include individuals managed as out-patients.

3. Information is on individualpatients within a year. If one patient is admitted in two different years, theywill be counted separately in each year.

4. Diagnostic information isdefined by using the World Health Organization’s International Classification ofDiseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Dependence syndrome uses a subset of drug misusecodes (F11.2, F12.2, F13.2, F14.2, F15.2, F16.2, F18.2, F19.2).

5. Caution is necessary wheninterpreting these figures. The recording of drug misuse may vary from hospitalto hospital and over time. Where drug dependency is suspected but unconfirmed itmay not be recorded by the hospital.

6. 2002-03 is the most recentyear for which complete SMR04 data is available.

Question reference: S2W-27510

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of any connection between homelessness and offending or reoffending.

Research suggeststhat there is a complex interaction between homelessness and offending: experienceof homelessness is a risk factor for involvement in offending, and spending timein prison is a risk factor for homelessness: previously having been in prison isalso a risk factor for involvement in offending. In addition, there is evidencethat homeless people experience higher levels of crime than the general population.

Data on homelessnessapplications for 2004-05 show that around 10% of single men applying as homelesscited “discharge from prison” as the reasonfor applying as homeless. See:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1125/0018961.pdf

p.31 Table A.

Asummary of relevant research can be found at Annex A of the document Criminal JusticeAccommodation Services – A review and Consultation Paper:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/cjar-15.asp.

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