Questions and answers

Question reference: S1W-18970

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) police officers and (b) civillian staff are currently employed by each police force, expressed per head of population in each police force area.

The number of police officers and civilians in each force at 30 September 2001, expressed per 1,000 population is shown in the following table.

Force	Estimated population	No. of police officers	No. per 1,000 population	No. of support staff	No. per 1,000 population
Central	278,000	719	2.58	273	0.98
Dumfries & Galloway	145,800	474	3.25	269	1.84
Fife	350,400	883	2.51	311	0.88
Grampian	523,400	1,274	2.43	527	1.00
Lothian & Borders	890,500	2,646	2.97	1,033	1.16
Northern	277,700	679	2.97	351	1.26
Strathclyde	2,263,300	7,298	3.22	2,132	0.94
Tayside	385,500	1,164	3.01	504	1.30
Scotland	5,114,600	15,137	2.95	5,400	1.05

Notes: Estimated population at 30 June 2000.Number of police officer and support staff at 30 September 2001.

Question reference: S1W-18969

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding (a) was received by each police force in each of the past three years, (b) is projected in each force for each of the next two years expressed per head of population in each police force area and (c) what the average funding was per head of population nationally.

The information requested is shown in the following table.Police Funding Per Head of Population

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Central	£118.56	£120.39	£127.91
Dumfries & Galloway	£141.77	£146.21	£155.35
Fife	£111.56	£118.87	£125.60
Grampian	£116.29	£120.24	£130.82
Lothian & Borders	£146.33	£150.20	£158.22
Northern	£133.54	£140.49	£153.22
Strathclyde	£149.55	£155.61	£163.89
Tayside	£141.68	£149.41	£159.40
Scotland	£139.62	£145.06	£153.78

The figures are based on Grant Aided Expenditure, which is the maximum level of expenditure supported by police grant. In 2002-03 and 2003-04 the average funding per head of population will be £160.74 and £165.17. Decisions have yet to be made on the allocations to individual forces.

Question reference: S1W-18971

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) police vehicles there are and (b) manned police stations there are per square mile, in each police force area.

Question reference: S1W-18972

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of any grants awarded to each police force for the last year in addition to core funding.

Grants worth over £10 million have been, or will shortly be, made available to forces in the current financial year, to meet special pressures which have arisen during the course of the year. These are in addition to grant aided expenditure. Figures, where a breakdown is available, are given in the table (figures in £000).

Force	Recruitment	DNA Testing
Central	369	63
Dumfries & Galloway	233	40
Fife	435	74
Grampian	676	116
Lothian & Borders	1,442	246
Northern	423	72
Strathclyde	3,710	634
Tayside	612	105
Total	7,900	1,350

In addition, £117,000 has been allocated to Lothian & Borders Police to support its Parliamentary Policing Unit; and discussions are on-going with forces about the allocation of £1.0 million to support implementation of the National Intelligence Model and £0.1 million for analysis of drug driving samples. Some further sums were allocated across individual forces at various times during the year in connection with expenditure on a range of security measures.

Question reference: S1W-18662

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by David Steel on 22 October 2001

To ask the Presiding Officer whether there are any plans to provide an enhanced and accessible out of hours IT support service for MSPs.

The IT Helpdesk has new extended opening hours for MSPs during sitting days:Tuesdays until 19.30Wednesdays until 21.30Thursdays until 21.30Further information can be found on SPEIR at http://intranet/speir/Temp/bits.htmThe IT Helpdesk directly resolves most reported problems, such as account lookouts, password problems, email configuration, printer problems, advice on MS Office and Outlook, and remote access guidance.Proposals for further extending cover for members beyond these hours to weekends and during recess, and to include other IT support services, are under active consideration and are being assessed against current budgets.

Question reference: S1W-17542

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 18 October 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive to whom drug action teams are accountable and whether there are any plans to measure their performance.

Drug Action Teams (DATs) are accountable to the Executive through annual corporate planning arrangements. They are required to report current and planned activity in their area to meet objectives across the four pillars of the drugs strategy and their own local targets, identifying direct spend on drugs issues. Their performance is assessed by the Executive and feedback is given. This year's DAT plans will be published on the Scottish Drug Misuse website: www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org shortly.

Question reference: S1W-17718

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 October 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost has been for each local and open prison establishment of the absence of prison officers through sickness in each of the last three years and this year to date.

Question reference: S1W-17732

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 18 October 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place to measure the performance of Drug Action Teams.

Question reference: S1W-17717

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 October 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days have been lost through sickness in each local and open prison establishment, broken down by staff category, giving the totals for each prison and the Scottish Prison Service as a whole, in each of the last three years and this year to date.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows

The information requested is not held in the format sought. The following data is taken from available material.

There are currently (as at 23 September 2001) 141 staff absent; 28 report mental health conditions including stress and six are absent as a result of assault by prisoners.

Establishment	Average Number of Working Days lost through Illness
	Average no. of working days lost through illness 1998-99	Average no. of working days lost through illness 1999-2000	Average no. of working days lost though Illness 2000-01
Aberdeen	8.2	7.5	10
Barlinnie	14	10.6	11
Castle Huntly	12.6	9.1	10.2
Cornton Vale	14.8	11.8	13
Dungavel	7.5	13.4	-
Dumfries	11.8	13.4	20.3
Edinburgh	9.8	10.3	11.9
Friarton	12.1	13.6	-
Glenochil	14.1	14.3	16
Greenock	7.5	6.4	9.3
Inverness	9.6	6.4	8.8
Longriggend	22.9	14.8	-
Low Moss	16	18.6	11.5
Noranside	5.6	9.4	9.7
Penninghame	11.2	6.3	-
Perth	10.4	7.6	9

Establishment	Average Number of Working Days lost through Illness
	Average no. of working days lost through illness 1998-99	Average no. of working days lost through illness 1999-2000	Average no. of working days lost though Illness 2000-01
Peterhead	8.1	10.6	6.6
Polmont	10.6	12.6	10.9
Shotts	10.6	10.1	9.8
Totals	11.5	10.9	11.2

Establishment	Number of members of staff absent as at 23 September 2001	Number of members of staff absent from work for mental health reasons or staff assault as at 23 September 2001
	Current	Mental Health	Staff Assaults
Aberdeen	13	2	1
Barlinnie	14	-	0
Castle Huntly	2	-	0
Cornton Vale	9	3	2
Dungavel	-	-	-
Dumfries	4	1	1
Edinburgh	1	-	1
Friarton	-	-	-
Glenochil	23	9	1
Greenock	1	-	0
Inverness	6	1	0
Longriggend	-	-	-
Low Moss	9	1	0
Noranside	2	-	0
Penninghame	-	-	-
Perth	19	5	0
Peterhead	6	1	0
Polmont	14	2	0
Shotts	16	3	0
Totals	141*	28	6

* Includes HQ , SPSC and FauldhouseAverage Cost To SPS Caused By Illness

Year	Average cost to the SPS (£ million)
1998-99	5.3
1999-2000	5.6
2000-01	5

Question reference: S1W-17719

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 October 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff, broken down by staff category, are currently absent through illness in each local and open prison establishment, giving details of stress-related illnesses or prisoner-related injuries, and what the total figures are for the Scottish Prison Service.

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