Seòmar agus comataidhean

Any death from fire is atragedy and the Executive is fully aware of Scotland’s appalling record offire fatalities. However, we take some comfort that there has been anunderlying downward trend in fire fatalities in Scotland over the past decadeand we want this trend to continue. The Executive will therefore use the newlegislation to work with the service and others to place an even greateremphasis on fire prevention to further reduce the level of deaths and injuriesfrom fire. But we do not believe that it would be appropriate or indeed helpfulto use primary legislation to set targets for the level of fire fatalities.

To date only the non-residentialaspects of the Time Out Centre have been in operation. Five hundred and twentyone women have so far been assessed for these services. Of these, 163, or 31%,were on methadone; 143, or 27%, had a heroin problem; and 80, or 15%, hadalcohol problems.

Of the 30 women currentlymaking use of the service, 18 (60%) have a heroin problem. In addition 12 (40%)of the 30 women have alcohol problems, a number of whom also use heroin.

The Time Out Centre is dueto be fully operational from 16 December and will be available 24 hours a day,every day of the year. In addition to the day programmes, there will be a six beddetox unit and an eight bed supported accommodation unit, which it is estimatedwill be used annually by up to 85 and 50 women, respectively.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

I and Ed Wozniak, Head of businessand analytical services, represented SPS at the International Corrections and PrisonsAssociation, of which we are national members, where I chaired part of the conferenceand Ed Wozniak delivered a paper. The costs of approximately £5,200 were metfully by SPS.

This is a matter for the NewOpportunities Fund, which can be contacted at 33 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 6NL.

The sources of the nationaland local drug misuse statistics which are provided annually to Drug ActionTeams by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency(ISD Scotland) to inform service planning are available at:http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/dat.htm.

The Scottish Executive doesnot make forecasts of this type. However, it has undertaken to carry outnational prevalence work on a regular basis to inform policy and practice andto monitor trends over time.The first nationalprevalence study was undertaken in 2000 and the results can be accessed at http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/local/Prevalence.pdf The study for 2003 is currently under way and will produce estimates of numbersof problem drug users at both national and local level. The study is due toreport in August 2004.

An examination of the costs,benefits and implications of changing working practices is still on-going andno final decisions have been taken. This is part of the Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service’s commitment to review what it does, search forbetter ways of doing it, challenge assumptions and compare itself with others.

Staff in the Scottish Executive EU Office (SEEUO) have a wide range of meetings and contactswith representatives of EU institutions and bodies. These contacts arenumerous, take place at many different levels, are not all recorded and can bein the context of confidential negotiations.

Staff in the Scottish Executive EU Office (SEEUO) have a wide range of meetings and contactswith staff of the UK Permanent Representation to the European Union (UKRep).These contacts are numerous, take place at many different levels, are not allrecorded and can be in the context of confidential negotiations.

Staff in the Scottish Executive EU Office have a wide range of meetings and contacts withrepresentatives of EU institutions and bodies. These contacts are numerous,take place at many different levels, are not all recorded, and can be in thecontext of confidential negotiations. Some will directly involve UKRep staff;others will not.