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No. Appointment to the police service is a matter for the Chief Constable rather than the Scottish Executive.

We have no current plans to update Police Circulars 08/2003.

This information is not held centrally. Employment matters are in the first instance for the chief constable and the police board.

The Scottish Executive intends to engage with and mobilise the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefit of our economy and society. We aim to encourage the diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn work, do business and invest.

We will encourage Canadians, through marketing and promotional activities, to find out about living and working in Scotland by going to www.scotlandistheplace.com and contacting the Relocation Advisory Service if they have specific enquiries. We also use case studies of Canadians who are already in Scotland- for study or work purposes- to help us showcase what Scotland has to offer.

The Scottish Executive intends to engage with and mobilise the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefit of our economy and society. We aim to encourage the diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn work, do business and invest.

Scottish Development International (SDI) is already highly active in the North American market, with a presence which covers all the Canadian provinces and which supports both the trade and inward investment agendas in a way that is knowledge driven and highly integrated. The Executive will work closely with SDI, where appropriate, to further Scottish interests including encouraging inward investment.

The Scottish Executive intends to engage with, and mobilise, the diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefit of our economy and society. We aim to encourage the diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn work, do business and invest.

During the First Minister’s recent visit to Canada, he hosted two events (one in Toronto and one in Guelph) for over 600 people including members of the diaspora. To coincide with the visit, a supplement containing features on contemporary Scotland was distributed in the Toronto Globe and Mail, which has a circulation of over 360,000.

The First Minister’s visit marked the beginning of a long-term engagement with the Canadian diaspora to showcase what 21st century Scotland has to offer and to encourage some of these bright, talented people to come here to live and work.

VisitScotland promotes Scotland as a great country to visit both within the UK and overseas. VisitScotland’s marketing strategy shows clear benefits to the Scottish economy with figures for the first half of 2005 showing an increase of 57% in the number of visitors from overseas compared to the comparative period for last year. Each £1 spent by VisitScotland on its pan-European marketing campaign last year resulted in £23 of additional tourism revenues spent in Scotland. The Scottish Executive remains committed to working in partnership with the tourism industry as it strives to achieve the ambition of increasing tourism revenues by 50% over the next decade.

The Scottish Executive supports Bikesafe as an initiative which seeks to improve the safety of motorcyclists by encouraging them to improve their skills.

An Evaluation of Bikesafe Scotland, published by the Executive in 2003, found that participants found the Assessed Ride Programme useful. It also found that the scheme has a beneficial impact in terms of improving participants’ control of their bikes and encouraging them to ride with increased hazard perception. However, there was evidence to suggest that some participants may be riding faster on rural roads after taking part in Bikesafe.

Copies of the research report are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 29049).

Guidance was issued on 17 September 2004 which provided general advice for managers together with more detailed information on how the provisions of the act will impact on the police service in relation to recruitment, career development and training, and pensions.

The guidance was prepared in consultation with the police staff associations.

We have on-going dialogue with Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland where the cost of meeting new legislative burdens is concerned, such as capital works to make buildings more accessible etc. However employment matters (including those obligations covered by the Disability Discrimination Act) are for the Chief Constable and the Police Board in the first instance.