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Separately I have establisheda “task group” with representatives of SCRA, the Association of Chief PoliceOfficers in Scotland and the Association of Directors of Social Work. Inrespect of cases which otherwise might generate a referral to the reporter onnon offence grounds, the role of the group is to consider what appropriatealternatives might be available for the Police Service to adopt. Since May 2006the group has met twice.

At the UK level, however,the “UK Threat Assessment 2006-07”, published by the Serious Organised CrimeAgency (SOCA) on 31 July 2006 estimates that 90% of the UK's identified heroinsupply originates in Afghanistan. The report is available at http://www.soca.gov.uk/assessPublications/downloads/threat_assess_unclass_250706.pdf.

Work is also under way to developthe scheme of assistance under part 2 of the act. The form of any assistance forhouse sellers will be considered as part of that.

Statistical information aboutthe factors which may have contributed to the occurrence of an injury road accidentis only available if it occurred since the start of 2005, when the Stats 19 specificationwas expanded to include such information. The following table gives the statisticswhich are now available. It must be emphasised that the contributory factors shown in the Stats 19 returnsreflect the reporting officer’s opinion atthe time of making the report, and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation:subsequent enquiries could lead to a change in the opinion of the reporting officer.The Stats 19 contributory factors are largely subjective, and depend upon the skilland experience of the reporting officer in reconstructing the events which led directlyto the accident, based upon the information available at the time of making thereport.

Fatal and Serious Road Accidentsin 2005 for which One or Both of the Specified Contributory Factors were Recorded

Three points should be noted.First, the results from the first year of the collection of new statistical information like this could be subject to “teethingtroubles”. Second, the total is less than the sum of the figures for the two factorsbecause there were some accidents for which both factors were reported. Finally,these figures are “provisional” because the data for 2005 have not yet been finalised- for example, contributory factors have not been supplied for about 5% of the injuryroad accidents which were reported for 2005. It is hoped to obtain these detailsbefore the final figures for 2005 are produced. There may, however, be some accidentsfor which the reporting officers cannot identify any contributory factors.

Analyses of the final contributoryfactor data for 2005 will be included in Road Accidents Scotland 2005, which isscheduled to be published in November 2006.

Fatal and Serious Injury Road AccidentsInvolving Heavy Goods Vehicles

There is no standard definitionof what is meant by an “economically inactive community”. The Annual Scottish LabourForce Survey (now know as the Annual Population Survey) is the main source for providingup-to-date information on economic inactivity (people who are not in employmentbut do not satisfy all the criteria for unemployment - this group comprises (1)those who want a job but who have not been seeking work in the last four weeks (2)those who want a job and are seeking work but are not available to start and (3)those who do not want a job).

Results from the Annual LabourForce Survey are available by a range of geographical areas (subject to the reliabilityof the results together with maintaining the confidentiality of individuals). SCRAdata is only reliably available at local authority area. Therefore, the followingtable shows data at local authority level. The top 10 most economically inactivelocal authorities are highlighted in bold in the following table. The percentageof children from those 10 areas referred to the Children’s Reporter under section52(2)(c), represented as a percentage of the total number referred under section52(2)(c), was 37.6% in 2003-04 and 32.1% in  2004-05.

Table: Children Referred to theReporter and Economic Inactivity Rates by Local Authority Area in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Notes:

(1a) (1b) Source:SCRA Referrals Administration Database (RAD).

(2a) (2b) Source:Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2004-05.

*A child maybe referred in more than one local authority in the year. The total number of childrenreferred for Scotland is a count of each child once, and does not therefore reflectthe sum of the local authorities.