Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Unemployed Voluntary Action Fund for the purpose of administering the Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme on its behalf. The Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme is for projects designed to reduce racial disadvantage and promote racial equality. The Executive is currently conducting a strategic review of its funding for the black and ethnic minority voluntary sector.

The Scottish Executive does not provide specific funding to local authorities for this purpose. In accordance with the principle of mainstreaming equality, local authorities are expected to fund the promotion of racial equality from their main budgets. Some Race Equality Councils are funded by their local authority.

The total number of conditional offers of fixed penalty ("fiscal fines") issued by each Procurator Fiscal's office during the years to which the question refers was as follows:

	Apr 97-Mar 98	Apr 98-Mar 99	Apr 99-Mar 2000
Aberdeen	1,136	1,527	1,470
Airdrie	1,781	1,858	1,464
Alloa	458	425	255
Arbroath	266	383	202
Ayr	934	1,247	1,058
Banff	127	315	250
Campbeltown	102	142	136
Capar	180	213	166
Dingwall	207	276	212
Dornoch	26	47	37
Dumbarton	804	809	832
Dumfries	566	1,034	689
Dundee	1,389	1,036	1,523
Dunfermline	623	555	557
Dunoon	154	209	196
Duns	22	6	10
Edinburgh	1,562	1,397	1,310
Elgin	455	553	468
Falkirk	867	965	699
Forfar	338	195	221
Fort William	118	150	215
Glasgow	12,802	13,640	11,244
Greenock	1,126	1,019	823
Haddington	77	119	89
Hamilton	2,491	2,848	3,070
Inverness	837	883	819
Jedburgh	168	293	204
Kilmarnock	1,116	1,861	1,973
Kirkcaldy	336	538	399
Kirkcudbright	153	79	73
Kirkwall	88	68	71
Lanark	580	526	358
Lerwick	59	90	131
Linlithgow	532	696	585
Lochmaddy	22	40	50
Oban	107	142	136
Paisley	1,395	1,349	1,120
Peebles	5	19	51
Perth	719	728	579
Peterhead	281	251	112
Portree	75	80	68
Rothesay	45	57	23
Selkirk	181	207	185
Stirling	452	410	413
Stonehaven	106	130	102
Stornoway	74	160	167
Stranraer	19	170	111
Tain	135	293	226
Wick	105	212	177
TOTALS	36,201	40,250	35,329

Information regarding the number of fiscal fines issued by each office which were fully paid in each of these years is not available.

The available information is given in the table. Data for 1999-2000 are not yet available.

Value of fiscal fines received by district courts in 1997-98 and 1998-99¹ £000

1997-982	1998-993
525.1	639.6

Notes:

1. Data are not available centrally on value of fines received by year of issue.

2. Data are not available for East Renfrewshire, Fife (part), Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire (part) and West Dunbartonshire.

3. Data are not available for Eilean Siar, Fife (part), Midlothian, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.

The available information is given in the table. Data for 1999-2000 are not yet available.

Number of fiscal fines fully paid into the district court in 1997-98 and 1998-99¹

1997-982	1998-993
12,653	14,768

Notes:

1. Data are not available centrally on fines fully paid by year of issue.

2. Data are not available for East Renfrewshire, Eilean Siar, Fife (part), Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.

3. Data are not available for Eilean Siar, Fife (part), Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire.

District Courts are responsible for collecting and enforcing fixed penalties, including fiscal fines. To enforce these fines, the court may use all the methods of enforcement available for court imposed fines, except imprisonment. In practice, this means that the court can allow the defaulter to pay by instalments, deduct from income support, seek to recover the amount by civil diligence or remit the fine.

I refer Mr Matheson to the answer I gave to question S1W-8336.

I refer Mr Matheson to the answer I gave to question S1W-8336.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, last year the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to investigate the use which landlords were making of the provisions for evictions on the grounds of anti-social behaviour contained in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The Institute's research found that in the period 1 April 1999 to 1 December 1999, 15 anti-social behaviour orders had been applied for and nine granted as follows:

• City of Dundee (3);
• City of Edinburgh (3);
• Fife (1);
• Perth & Kinross (2).

I am arranging for a copy of the Institute's research report to be placed in the Parliament's Information Centre.

The total number of conditional offers of fixed penalty ("fiscal fines") issued by Procurators Fiscal in each of the years to which the question refers was as follows:

a) 1997-98 - 36,201;

b) 1998-99 - 40,250; and

c) 1999-2000 - 35,329