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The latest projections of the prison population, which were prepared in April 2002, are given in the following table. The projections are almost identical to those prepared in September 2001 and published in Appendix F of the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review (March 2002). These latest projections were published in an Scottish Prison Service News Release on 1 May 2002.The underlying trend for the majority of categories of sentenced receptions follows that displayed for the past 10 to 18 years. The average daily prison population continues to rise and has recently reached an all-time high on 30 April of 6,610. The trend analysis suggests an increase in some short-term prisoner population categories and an upturn in the remand population. There has also been a marginal increase in the long-term prisoner population. These trends have been extrapolated into the projections provided.The current projections do not include the impact of Scottish Executive policy as it is difficult to factor in the possible results of extending non-custodial alternatives. Whilst these are expected to reduce the numbers given custodial sentences, they will mainly provide alternatives to short-term prison sentences and therefore have a much greater impact upon reception numbers than on the average daily prison population.Prison population projections prepared in April 2002 and September 2001

	April 2002	September 2001	Difference
2001-02	6,200	6,200	0
2002-03	6,300	6,400	-100
2003-04	6,500	6,500	0
2004-05	6,700	6,700	0
2005-06	6,800	6,900	-100
2006-07	7,000	7,000	0
2007-08	7,200	7,200	0
2008-09	7,300	7,400	-100
2009-10	7,500	7,500	0
2010-11	7,700	7,700	0

Information on core Scottish Executive staff as at 1 March 2002, by grade and recorded home address, is provided in the table. The accuracy of addresses recorded centrally for employees is dependent on the individual employee informing their personnel officer should they change address.Numbers

	Home address
Grade	Aberdeen	Dundee	Edinburgh	Glasgow	East Dunbartonshire
SCS	0	1	89	6	2
C	1	0	298	43	4
B	18	15	838	160	3
A	1	13	650	66	0

Percentages of each grade

	Home address
Grade	Aberdeen	Dundee	Edinburgh	Glasgow	East Dunbartonshire
SCS	0	1	57	4	1
C	0	0	52	8	1
B	1	1	41	8	0
A	0	1	40	4	0

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:As at 7 May 2002, none.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority classifies applications according to the location of the incident that gave rise to the claim. The following table shows the number of applications concerning incidents in Scotland received under the 1996 scheme since it began, and the number of cases resolved in the same years.

Year	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Applications	9,091	9,773	9,050	10,813	9,458	8,523
Cases Resolved	1,708	7,283	9,872	9,848	9,020	9,228

The Criminal injuries Compensation Authority classifies application according to the location of the incident that gave rise to the claim. The following table shows applications outstanding under the 1990 non-statutory scheme that concern incidents that occurred in Scotland.

Year	Cases Outstanding
1990	2
1991	4
1992	11
1993	11
1994	28
1995	44
1996	23
1997	0
1998	1
1999	5
2000	10
2001	11
2002	2
Total	152

(a) Of the 152 cases outstanding, 123 are applications that were received on or before 31 March 1996 when the 1990 scheme closed to new applications. The 29 applications received since 1998 relate to cases that had been finalised previously but which are the subject of applications to re-open them because of subsequent deterioration in the medical condition caused by the criminal injury.Almost all of the cases outstanding are due to be finalised by oral hearing or related procedures. There are a further 13 cases outstanding from earlier non-statutory schemes.(b) The following table shows the annual rate at which non-statutory scheme cases were resolved by oral hearings and related procedures since 1996-97.

	Resolutions
Year	Total GB	Scotland
1996-97	11,829	1,301
1997-98	9,718	1,282
1998-99	8,305	1,236
1999-2000	6,352	971
2000-01	2,812	251
2001-02	1,889	210

The total number of non-statutory scheme cases resolved in these years was larger as it included those which were resolved without referral to an oral hearing. However, no separate statistics are available for such cases that involved incidents in Scotland. Few of the cases now outstanding will be resolved without a hearing.

The number of adjournments of hearings of non-statutory scheme cases concerning incidents in Scotland between 1 January and 28 April 2002 was 36, of which six cases have since been finalised. In relation to 1996 scheme cases concerning incidents in Scotland between 1 January and 31 March 2002, 136 cases were adjourned before the hearing and four adjourned at the hearing.

The information requested is not held centrally. It is not always possible to establish precisely when an offence took place.

The available information shows that 66 persons under the age of 17 were proceeded against on more than three occasions in 2000. The equivalent figures for 1998 and 1999 were 152 and 117 respectively. These figures exclude proceedings where the main offence was a motoring or other minor offence.

The information available centrally relates to offenders convicted with an aggravated sentence recorded in respect of their having committed an offence while on bail, or who had a charge proved under the Bail (Scotland) Act 1980 for re-offending while on bail. The number of such convictions recorded for offenders aged under 21 was 4,035 in 1998, 3,567 in 1999 and 2,973 in 2000. The completeness and quality of the data on bail aggravated sentences will be reviewed as part of on-going research into the bail reoffending provisions introduced by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1995.

Training and development standards are constantly monitored within the fingerprint service and reviewed in light of emergent changes and practices. A strategic reassessment of how training is delivered was carried out in 2000 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland) (ACPOS) Presidential Review Group, Change Management Review Team. Arising from their recommendations, which have now been implemented, all national training is now procured through national fingerprint courses at the National Training Centre for Scientific Support to Crime Investigation, Durham.The competency of all experts within the Scottish Fingerprint Service is assessed annually by the independent, external organisation, Collaborative Testing Services Inc.Under ACPOS direction, a training forum has been established to consider the development of common practices, procedures and standards relating to fingerprint training issues across Scotland. Issues such as continuous professional development, court presentation training and the re-assessment of training delivery are being currently examined.