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Pilot projects to place a FamilyContact Facilitator in two sheriff courts were developed and terms of referenceagreed with sheriffs. Unfortunately, the procurement exercise did not attract atender which met the specifications. It was therefore not possible to let the contractand proceed with the pilot.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-7911 on 17 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

We intend to allocate the majorityof resources in the Drugs Misuse budget within the Justice portfolio for the period2008-09 to 2010-11 to health boards to fund drug treatment and rehabilitation services,with a small amount being retained to fund centrally determined projects. A decisionon the breakdown of funding will be made following parliamentary approval of thebudget, and monies for 2008-9 will be released to health boards at the beginningof the 2008-09 financial year.

We have appointedIPSOS Mori to conduct an independent evaluation of the free school meal trial forprimary 1 to 3 pupils. We will take into account the findings of the evaluationincluding the change in uptake of free school meals by primary 1 to 3 pupils andany other changes in attitudes and behaviours in relation to free school meals andhealthy eating that are evident within the trial period. We expect to receive thereport on the evaluation next summer. These findings will be set within the contextof the wider research literature and evidence base on school meals and healthy eatingby children and families.

The CrownOffice and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is the sole public prosecution authorityin Scotland. It is for the Procurator Fiscalto decide, in the public interest, on the appropriate summary court where prosecution in court is merited. As ismade clear in the COPFS Prosecution Code, the general rule is that cases shouldbe taken in the lowest competent court unless there is some good reason for prosecutingin a higher court.

A copy of the code is available on the COPFS websiteat:

www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/2001/05/prosecutioncode.

The draft budget containsprovision for the continued operation of the existing drug courts in Fife and Glasgow. The position of these is due to be reviewedin spring 2009 against the progress made with the summary justice reforms. Meantimethere are no plans for further drug courts and no budget provision has thereforebeen made, which would allow for extended coverage.

The Safer Communitiesbudget includes funding for community safety, for tackling antisocial behaviour,and for tackling drug misuse.

Up to and includingthe current year, the bulk of funding for community safety and for tackling antisocialbehaviour has been transferred in year to fund local authorities’ activities inthese fields. From 2008-09, this element of the budget has been incorporated intothe overall local government finance settlement.

The total packagefor funding for local government for 2008-11 will be £34.7 billion, representingan increase of 12.6% across the period.

Local GovernmentFunding for 2008-11

	Funding Granted
2008-09	£11,137.3 million	4.6% increase on 2007-08
2009-10	£11,600.4 million	4.2% increase on 2008-09
2010-11	£11,992.6 million	3.4% increase on 2009-10

 

The Safer Communitiesbudget in future years includes £2.8 million per year, to support nationally determinedprojects on community safety and antisocial behaviour.

The element of theSafer Communities budget which relates to tackling drug misuse consists of £29.5million/£32 million/£32.8 million for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11. This representsa 14% increase against the comparable baseline. As at present, it is intended thatthe majority of resources within this budget will be released to health boards tofund drug treatment and rehabilitation services, with a small amount being retainedto fund centrally determined projects.

JP courts will beestablished in Grampian Highland and Islands when the existingdistrict courts come under the management of the Scottish Court Service. We expect this to happen in June 2008.

Business will be transferredfrom sheriff courts to JP and district courts during the first half of 2008, inline with the Crown Office’s revised marking guidance and the new power that thedistrict and JP courts will have to disqualify people from driving in cases otherthan “totting-up” cases. As in other areas of Scotland, there will be on-going communication between the Justices’ Training Committeeof Grampian Highland and Islands, the Crown Office and the Judicial StudiesCommittee to ensure that justices of the peace and legal advisers are properly equippedto deal with any new types of cases that are transferred to the JP or district courts.

During the last threemonths almost all JPs throughout Scotland, including thosein Grampian Highland and Islands, have undertaken a three day course of residentialtraining organised by the Judicial Studies Committee.

Since 10 December 2007, planning and reporting on the training of JPs in Grampian Highlands and Islands has been the responsibility of the Justices’ Training Committee for thatsheriffdom. This committee is made up of justices of the peace, a sheriff and alegal assessor. The committee is currently considering the training needs of differentparts of the sheriffdom, and is discussing with the Scottish Government the possibilityof holding a further residential event for JPs before June 2008, when courts inGrampian, Highlands and Islands come under the management of the Scottish Court Service.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-6924 on 5 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.