- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which of the 38 recommendations contained in the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, it has accepted; how it has prioritised these, and what action it has taken, or plans to take, in respect of them.
Answer
Twenty-seven of the 38 recommendations are being implemented. We are in agreement with a further six recommendations and we are developing proposals to take these forward. Recommendations 26, 27, 30, 31 and 36 require further consideration.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 44 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that "data on the number of young people committing offences, being warned, referred to the children's hearings system or the procurator fiscals are poor" and what changes it has made to the collection and classification of such data since May 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration has successfully implemented major changes to the collection and classification of data since May 1999. The Referrals Administration Database is now fully operational across Scotland. It records all children referred to Children's Reporters and the process in the Children's Hearings system. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) database is designed to be an operational case-tracking system rather than a purely statistical database. At the time data was requested from COPFS by Audit Scotland, there was a major roll-out of an upgraded case-tracking system. COPFS are now in a position to provide this type of data for current cases.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of placing young offenders in residential care have been in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 to date.
Answer
The following table provides information on the cost of placing in secure accommodation young people who have been sentenced by the courts to be detained under sections 205 or 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995:
| Year | Cost (£) |
| 1999-2000 | 2,559,137 |
| 2000-01 | 2,712,498 |
| 2001-02 | 2,669,471 |
| 2002 (1 April to 31 December) | 2,427,379 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 58 of the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people, that "the data, as currently recorded, do not indicate the number of cases where the reporter's decision is influenced by non-availability of resources, but it is likely that there are significant numbers of young people who could benefit from a voluntary service who do not receive it."
Answer
Decisions by Reporters and Children's Hearings should be based solely on what is in the best interests of children. It is for other agencies to provide the resources to implement those decisions.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for children's services social workers in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30873 on 19 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive why there is no uniformity across police forces as to what constitutes an informal or a formal warning; whether these warnings are recorded at force level, as recommended by the ad hoc Ministerial Group on Youth Crime, and why only five out of the eight police forces could provide annual figures for warnings issued, as identified in the Audit Scotland report, Dealing with offending by young people.
Answer
Action point 6 of Scotland's Action Programme to Reduce Youth Crime 2002, which we announced in summer 2002, was to develop a Scotland-wide system of cautions/warnings. At the time, we recognised that there were variations across Scotland in the approaches adopted by police forces in relation to warnings. In December 2002, following discussion with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, we made available £250,000 to the Scottish Police Service, across all forces, to enable the police to put in place formal training and support for restorative justice methods linked to warnings. The next stage will be to commission researchers to gather information on existing activity and to produce national guidance (including guidance on standards and recording) under the auspices of a steering group involving representatives from the main public and voluntary organisations with an interest. Future funding would then be linked to the criteria set in that guidance.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any representations have been made to it on the European Union Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant and, if so, what representations it has received and from whom.
Answer
No such representations have been received. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32404 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30691 by Dr Richard Simpson on 8 November 2002, what legal advice it received, in preparing amendments to the Extradition Bill, with regard to the removal of the requirement in Scots law of corroboration of the identity of the accused for the implementation of the European arrest warrant.
Answer
Legal advice was obtained as appropriate to ensure that the bill made it clear that, in line with the rest of the United Kingdom, corroboration was not required in Scotland.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received concerning the protection afforded by the 110-day rule, or its equivalent, for suspects arrested under a European arrest warrant.
Answer
Whilst some members have raised in questions and debate the issue of the 110-day rule for suspects arrested under the European arrest warrant, no specific representations have been received on this issue.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30468 by Mr Jim Wallace on 10 October 2002, what stage the discussions between Scottish Borders Council and the Scottish Court Service have reached and when it expects (a) those discussions to be concluded and (b) the consultation paper on the future of sheriff court facilities at Peebles to be issued.
Answer
I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows.The discussions between the Scottish Court Service and Scottish Borders Council on the possible use of the court buildings in Rosetta Road for court purposes are continuing. The Scottish Court Service believes that with appropriate modifications the council buildings could be used for the sheriff court. However, agreement has still to be reached with the council on the modifications required. Alternative options are under examination but it is not possible to say when the discussions will be concluded. Agreement on certain key issues has yet to be reached. Since it is hoped that court services can be retained in Peebles, the consultation exercise envisaged previously would only commence if the outstanding issues between the Scottish Court Service and Scottish Borders Council cannot be agreed. If agreement can be reached the means by which the administrative services of the sheriff court would be delivered in Peebles will be subject to discussion with interested parties.
