First Minister's Questions: Claims and truths

SALMOND: "The Strasbourg court, unlike the Supreme Court, does not quash convictions. It doesn't unlock prison cells" – on the UK Supreme Court's influence in Scottish appeal cases.

REALITY: Nat Fraser remains behind bars and, although his conviction is set to be quashed, he may face a retrial and be remanded in custody during this period.

SALMOND: "We should go back to what always was the case, that our appeal court should be in Scotland" – his claims on the diminishing power of the Scottish judiciary.

REALITY: Criminal appeals are all heard by the courts in Scotland and they can only be heard by the UK Supreme Court in London on human rights grounds.

SALMOND: "Those of us who are not frightened of ECHR (the European

Convention on Human Rights] because we have faith in our system's ability to accommodate that convention should want to have a situation where Scottish justice is brought home to where it was always meant to be by the courts of Scotland."

REALITY: The Supreme Court and its predecessor, the Privy Council, have

heard just 23 Scottish cases since 1999 and rejected 14 of them. Of

the nine appeals that have been successful, four have been prosecution appeals, while five have come from defendants such as Nat Fraser.

SALMOND: "It should be a cautionary note for those who seem to think

that private intervention is either a solution in the health service or, indeed, the social care service" – the First Minister on the plight of care provider Southern Cross.

REALITY: The SNP-led administration at Fife Council is in the process of transferring its publicly owned care homes into the private sector.