- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have any policy in regard to the citing of police officers to give evidence at trials, and, if so, whether any such policy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
It is, by statute, one of the duties of a police officer to attend any court of law for the purpose of giving evidence. Procurators Fiscal have been instructed in the following terms: "Procurators Fiscal should take steps to ensure that no more witnesses are cited than are necessary to prove a particular case. Procurators Fiscal are therefore urged to examine carefully the question of who should be cited to attend in a particular case, with the aim of ensuring that unnecessary witnesses are not cited. Police witnesses speaking only to a non-reply to caution and charge or to forms raised by the police in terms of the detention provisions of section 14 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 are unlikely to be necessary witnesses. In summary cases Procurators Fiscal should therefore rely where appropriate on the presumption offered by section 280(A) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and should take steps to ensure that such witnesses are not normally cited (or, where they have been cited, countermand them once the position becomes clear). Where there is ample other evidence consideration should also be given to the need to cite both police witnesses speaking to an incriminating reply by an accused. For the avoidance of doubt two police witnesses will of course be required to speak to 'special knowledge' replies".
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service set criteria to indicate which cases should be sent to the district court and which are eligible for an alternative to prosecution and whether any such criteria will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
Procurators Fiscal are instructed that cases which may be competently taken in the district court should be taken there unless there is some good reason for prosecuting in the sheriff court or the Lord Advocate directs otherwise. The Lord Advocate has directed that: (a) proceedings should not be taken in the district court for a breach of a Sex Offenders Order, or any offence aggravated by a breach of a Sex Offender Order; (b) proceedings should not be taken in the district court where the prosecutor considers a Non-Harassment Order to be appropriate, and (c) proceeding should not be taken in the district court where the offence is racially aggravated or contrary to section 50A of the Criminal Law (Consolidated) (Scotland) Act 1995. The criteria for the use of alternatives to prosecution are set out in the Prosecution Code which has been published and made available on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service website.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reduce the number of summary criminal trials adjourned in advance of the trial date due to the unavailability of police officers.
Answer
Police officers inform the procurator fiscal, in the report which they submit, of any dates on which they will not be available. Procurators Fiscal take that information into account in accepting suggested trial diets. Lothian and Borders Police are, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service piloting arrangements for police rostering, leave and availability to be checked immediately before trials are fixed. Early indications are that significant reductions in adjournments are being achieved as a result. Grampian Police are also, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service, piloting a similar process but one based on direct computer access in court. Such measures are designed to ensure that, so far as possible, trial dates are fixed when police officers will be available.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service prioritise cases; whether there is any guidance to staff of these offices on how to prioritise cases, and whether any such guidance will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
The training received and written guidance held by procurators fiscal identifies particular classes of case as generally requiring priority. These include, for example, cases involving children, cases in which the accused is in custody and cases in which a time bar is approaching. The allocation of priorities as between the several cases which a given member of staff or a given office requires to deal with at a particular time is a matter for professional judgement in light of training and experience and depends on consideration of all of the circumstances of each case.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the types of costs the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service incur in the event of the adjournment of a trial (a) in advance and (b) on the date of the trial.
Answer
The adjournment of a trial on the date of the trial usually involves the payment of expenses to witnesses who have been inconvenienced. The adjournment of a trial at any time means that staff time in preparing for the trial (including administrative staff time in citing witnesses, arranging for productions to be in court and paper handling) has been wasted. The extent of that wasted expense depends on how long before the trial date it is known that there is to be an adjournment.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 5 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reason is for the decline in the number and proportion of cases reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service being sent to the district court since 1997-98.
Answer
The reduction in business in the district court is a consequence of the reduction in the overall number of cases reported to the procurator fiscal, the availability of fiscal fines and other alternatives to prosecution and the shift in the balance of business towards more serious crime.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 29 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to establish in full a scheme in Scotland similar to the Phoenix Fund which operates in England to encourage entrepreneurship in disadvantaged areas.
Answer
We have no plans to do so. The Enterprise Networks already target entrepreneurship in disadvantaged areas through a range of measures - including the holding of Personal Enterprise Shows in such areas. We have also introduced recently a specific Scottish Enterprise Network annual target for the number of business start-up assists from residents in disadvantaged areas.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has estimated the costs to it and local government of adjournments of a criminal trial on the date of the trial, including the costs associated with the abstraction from their duties of social workers, fire officers, NHS employees, police officers and civilians.
Answer
We have not attempted to quantify the costs in this manner, as appropriate data is not centrally available. However, we are aware of the disruption and inconvenience caused by adjournments to criminal trials and are keen to see them reduced. We did in fact commission research into the causes of adjournments in sheriff court summary criminal cases in 1999 and the research report was published on 19 July 2001. A summary of the main findings of the research can be found on the Scottish Executive website and the full report on the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit website.The reviews being carried out by Lord Bonomy and Sheriff Principal McInnes, of the High Court and summary justice respectively, are focusing on how the criminal justice process might be made more efficient and effective. Both reviews will be making recommendations to reduce the frequency of unnecessary adjournments.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 29 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22603 by Mr Jim Wallace on 14 February 2002, how many adjournments of a criminal trial on the date of trial were granted on the motion of the procurator fiscal or advocate depute in each of the last four years.
Answer
This information is not available.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-5174 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 May 2002, whether it will give a breakdown of each targeted resource for children and young people with special educational needs by local authority area in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04.
Answer
The breakdown of the proposed National Priorities Action Fund Inclusion Programme and special educational needs (SEN) Specific Grant for in-service training by local authority area, in both 2002-03 and 2003-04, is provided in the following table:
| Inclusion Funding | In-Service Training Funding |
| Education Authority | Each year in2002-03 and 2003-04 | Each year in 2002-3 and 2003-04 |
| Scotland | £20,000,000 | £6,743,551 |
| Aberdeen City | £789,565 | £243,860.00 |
| Aberdeenshire | £940,276 | £314,316.00 |
| Angus | £423,887 | £133,425.00 |
| Argyll and Bute | £325,925 | £120,118.00 |
| Clackmannanshire | £195,108 | £87,574.00 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | £553,058 | £204,150 |
| Dundee City | £558,378 | £175,170 |
| East Ayrshire | £481,870 | £171,107 |
| East Dunbartonshire | £423,835 | £150,958 |
| East Lothian | £347,795 | £94,421 |
| East Renfrewshire | £355,731 | £119,384 |
| Edinburgh, City of | £1,556,880 | £421,294 |
| Eilean Siar | £108,255 | £79,029 |
| Falkirk | £554,271 | £239,294.00 |
| Fife | £1,395,147 | £460,982.00 |
| Glasgow City | £2,376,008 | £810,632.00 |
| Highland | £830,808 | £263,421.00 |
| Inverclyde | £345,629 | £123,676.00 |
| Midlothian | £320,536 | £93,362.00 |
| Moray | £349,302 | £113,528.00 |
| North Ayrshire | £572,830 | £196,810.00 |
| North Lanarkshire | £1,351,617 | £466,277.00 |
| Orkney Islands | £79,021 | £85,618.00 |
| Perth and Kinross | £507,760 | £152,392.00 |
| Renfrewshire | £706,957 | £240,084.00 |
| Scottish Borders | £390,199 | £98,780.00 |
| Shetland Islands | £99,365 | £65,900.00 |
| South Ayrshire | £430,454 | £144,918.00 |
| South Lanarkshire | £1,246,360 | £420,269.00 |
| Stirling | £336,306 | £134,115.00 |
| West Dunbartonshire | £402,433 | £137,510.00 |
| West Lothian | £644,434 | £181,177.00 |
| Total | £20,000,000 | £6,743,551 |
Note:In addition to the in-service training funding above for teachers and other staff, a further £1,079,450 has been allocated for training for educational psychologists each year. This funding is allocated to local authorities on the basis of trainee placements sponsored.SEN Innovation Grant Programme funding cannot be broken down by local authority area because grants are awarded to voluntary and non-statutory organisations to carry out projects in the field of special educational needs. Some of these projects will be carried out across Scotland on a national basis, whilst others will be carried out in local areas.Funding is allocated directly to the seven grant-aided special schools, and not direct to local authorities, and these schools are open to pupils from across Scotland. £8.8 million has been allocated to these grant-aided special schools for 2002-03.
