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The Executive commissioned Access Audits in 1996 on the office buildings it is responsible for. Following consideration of the audits a rolling programme of work was agreed in order to ensure that the buildings comply by January 2004, in line with the timing set out in Part III of the act.

The Scottish Executive, its agencies and associated departments and the former Scottish Office has employed a small number of individuals under WORKSTEP and its predecessor, the Supported Employment Programme, over the past five years. However, we are unable to provide either figures or percentages to preserve confidentiality. In addition, we have provided a total of 16 short-term supported work placements over the same period. The Executive's Diversity Strategy has set demanding targets for the recruitment and progression of under-represented groups, including staff with disabilities. Good progress is being made towards the achievement of these targets. Currently there are 125 members of staff in the Executive's core departments who have self-declared a disability and 207 in total.

The results of the Civil Service Commissioners last audits of the Scottish Administration's recruitment practices are summarised in the table.

Breaches	Recommendations	Observations
Scottish Executive1 - March 1999
None	The audit resulted in a number of recommendations were made concerning updating of recruitment guidance; publication of recruitment data, and tightening of procedures in relation to late applications, filing of campaign statistics, training of board chairs, setting and application of sift criteria, and recording of comments on interview assessment sheets. All have been adopted.	None
Scottish Prison Service - September 2001
None	Recommendations were made concerning the retention of adverts and job descriptions on recruitment files. All have been adopted.	None
Scottish Courts Service - July 1999
None	Recommendations were made concerning recording details of sift participants; setting review dates for casual contracts; clarification of rules regarding applicants with convictions; establishing regular independent audits; issuing of published data to the commissioners; establishing a process for re-instatement/re-employment applications; including a disability section in the recruitment manual; improving board reports, and separation of medical details from application forms. All have been adopted.	SCS were commended on their recruitment manual, procedure for handling New Deal applicants and running of practice interview boards.
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service - June 2000
None	It was recommended that a more detailed checklist be introduced for checking of records. This recommendation was adopted.	Observations were made that COPFS consider conducting periodic spot checks of recruitment at regional offices and consider offering refresher courses to staff on selection panels.
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency - September 2001
One breach was notified in relation to the lack of an independent audit check of recruitment systems. This has now been rectified with the introduction of a reciprocal arrangement with Fisheries Research Services.	Recommendations were made concerning issuing published data to the Commissioners; recording and monitoring of exceptions; strengthening procedures to ensure records are properly kept; ensuring sifting criteria are established at the outset and consistently applied; recording details of sifts; improving assessment methods; ensuring separation of health and equal opportunities data from application forms, and compilation of statistics. All recommendations have been adopted.	SFPA were commended on the extent of their published data.
Fisheries Research Service - March 2001
One breach was noted in relation to the lack of an independent audit check of recruitment systems. This has now been rectified with the introduction of a reciprocal arrangement with Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency.	Recommendations were made concerning improvements to the publication of recruitment data; monitoring of exceptions, and completion of sift and assessment sheets. All recommendations were adopted.	Observations were made commending the clarity of documentation and the state of campaign records and suggesting the provision of guidance to assessors on the scoring of candidates.
Historic Scotland - August 2001
None	Recommendations were made concerning improvement of the system of internal checks; submission of published data to commissioners, monitoring of Job Centre's compliance with the Recruitment Code; placement of advertisements on campaign files; establishment of sift criteria at outset and consistent application throughout; recording of sift details; improvement of assessment procedures; consistency of board reports; placement of statistics on files, and review of guidance to reflect the Recruitment Code. All were adopted.	None
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency - July 2000
None	Recommendations were made concerning procedures for internal checks of recruitment; publication of recruitment data; recording of trained interviewers; strengthening of procedures concerning the use of job centres, and improving procedures relating to record keeping and procedural notes. All were adopted.	None

Notes:1. At the time of this audit the Scottish Executive administered recruitment for Scottish Executive core departments, General Register Office for Scotland, National Archives of Scotland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland and the Scottish Public Pensions Agency.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28019.

Currently there are 49 (29.7%) women in the senior civil service in the Scottish Executive core departments.There are a small number of senior civil servants from a minority ethnic background or who have a disability. However, we are unable to provide either figures or percentages to preserve confidentiality.The Executive's Diversity Strategy, Positive about You, was launched in November 2000. It sets demanding targets for the recruitment and progression of our under-represented groups, against which good progress continues to be made.

35,700.

Information on the number of police officers engaged on anti-drugs work in each police force in the last five years is provided in the following table. It should be noted that for 2000-01 and 2001-02 the figures include the 100 additional police officers, funded by the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency (SDEA), who have been deployed to tackle drug misuse at a local level.

	Number of Officers
Force	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Central	7	12	15	20	18
Dumfries and Galloway	13	11	10	14	15
Fife	16	16	22	32	31
Grampian	9	12	10	27	26
Lothian and Borders	20	20	13	37	60
Northern	18	8	16	20	16
Strathclyde	28	27	28	96	106
Tayside	19	3	7	24	24
Total

Source: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary: Annual Statistical Returns.

The information requested is not held centrally. The latest School Census, carried out in September 2001, showed that the pupil:computer ratio was 11:1 in primary schools and 5:1 in secondary schools. The targets for 2002 are 7.5:1 in primary schools and 5:1 in secondary schools. The deployment of these computers within schools is a matter for local decision.

Details of audits and follow-up audits of recruitment systems in the Scottish Administration since May 1999 are given in the table.

Subject of Audit	Date of Audit	Date of Follow-Up Audit
Scottish Executive1	March 1999	April 2001
Scottish Prison Service	September 2001	February 2002
Scottish Courts Service	July 1999	January 2000
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	June 2000	-
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency	September 2001	January 2002
Fisheries Research Service	March 2001	-
Historic Scotland	August 2001	April 2002
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency	July 2000	December 2000

Note:1. The Scottish Executive administers recruitment for Scottish Executive core departments, General Register Office for Scotland, National Archives of Scotland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland, and Scottish Public Pensions Agency. All of these areas of the Scottish Administration were included in this audit. Future audits of the Scottish Executive will include HM Inspectorate of Education and Communities Scotland, both of which have been established since the last audit took place.

The information requested is not collected by the Scottish Executive.