Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 20 January 2011
20 Jan 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Executive Question Time
Scottish Court Service (Weapons)
Justice and Law Officers
What would have been the impact on the seizure of knives and other weapons if mandatory sentencing, as proposed by some parties, had been introduced? How would that have affected communities such as Inverclyde, where there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of knife-related incidents since the no knives, better lives initiative was established?
In the same item of business
Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab)
Lab
5. To ask the Scottish Executive how many knives and other weapons have been seized by the Scottish Court Service since 2007. (S3O-12646)
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Kenny MacAskill)
SNP
The term “weapon” has been taken to mean any form of knife—the most prevalent being lock knives, penknives, kitchen knives and Stanley knives—along with scis...
Andy Kerr
Lab
I welcome the initiatives that have been taken to ensure that weapons are confiscated and people are brought to justice as a result. However, we know that, i...
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
I practised in the criminal courts in Scotland for 20 years and, during that period, which ended almost 12 years ago, security measures such as metal detecto...
Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
What would have been the impact on the seizure of knives and other weapons if mandatory sentencing, as proposed by some parties, had been introduced? How wou...
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
As I said, it is clear that significant progress has been made. The member is correct to point out that significant and substantial progress has been made in...