Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2011
17 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Executive Question Time
Public Safety
General Questions
We appreciate that some areas in Scotland face significantly greater problems than other areas face. We must get matters into perspective; equally, we must remember particular problems and instances such as Mr McCabe mentioned.
We are doing what we are doing. We are maintaining a significant police presence. More than a quarter of a million stop and searches have been carried out in Strathclyde alone, which disclosed that fewer people are carrying and more people are getting caught. The people who are caught are getting longer sentences, which is as it should be. The average sentence for a knife offence is nine months, and people who perpetrate serious offences such as murder face a mandatory life sentence, as of course they should do.
We will work with the local authority, and discussions are on-going, to see how we can roll out the no knives, better lives programme, which has delivered remarkable success in Inverclyde, in areas that are equally blighted.
We are doing what we are doing. We are maintaining a significant police presence. More than a quarter of a million stop and searches have been carried out in Strathclyde alone, which disclosed that fewer people are carrying and more people are getting caught. The people who are caught are getting longer sentences, which is as it should be. The average sentence for a knife offence is nine months, and people who perpetrate serious offences such as murder face a mandatory life sentence, as of course they should do.
We will work with the local authority, and discussions are on-going, to see how we can roll out the no knives, better lives programme, which has delivered remarkable success in Inverclyde, in areas that are equally blighted.
In the same item of business
Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab)
Lab
2. To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recent events such as the murder of Reamonn Gormley, what measures it will bring forward to improve safety on S...
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Kenny MacAskill)
SNP
Every murder is a tragedy, and my deepest sympathies are with Reamonn Gormley’s family and friends, as well as with the wider community. Reamonn was clearly ...
Tom McCabe
Lab
I appreciate the minister’s answer, but within a square mile of that tragic murder there have been around eight murders over the past 18 months. My local pap...
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
We appreciate that some areas in Scotland face significantly greater problems than other areas face. We must get matters into perspective; equally, we must r...
Christina McKelvie (Central Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I thank the cabinet secretary for taking time last week to meet my constituents John Tierney, Michelle McInally and Dominic Flynn, from Blantyre, who were am...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Come to a question, please.
Christina McKelvie
SNP
Does the cabinet secretary agree that training and equipping a range of organisations in communities, such as the Blantyre walk ’n’ rollers group, to take th...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Can we have a relatively brief answer, please, cabinet secretary?
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
The work in Inverclyde has been successful and we hope to roll it out in South Lanarkshire—it is already being rolled out in Edinburgh, Clackmannan and Glasg...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Question 3 is from Mike Pringle, who I do not think is in the chamber, which is unfortunate.