Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Information Commissioner has never instructed the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to disclose information in relation to any case referred to him.

One such request had been referred to the Scottish Information Commissioner by 31 March 2008.

Solicitors are not referred to the SCCRC. Once an application has been reviewed by the SCCRC it can be referred to the High Court.

When the court considers a case, the details of that case (including the names of any solicitors or other legal representatives involved) will be contained in any published opinion and will be a matter of public record.

Section 194J of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 makes it an offence for any member or employee of the SCCRC to disclose information obtained by the SCCRC in the exercise of any of its functions. The possibility of information provided by applicants, witnesses and/or victims subsequently being disclosed, other than in court, could undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system, including the work of the SCCRC. Witnesses and/or people under investigation should not be inhibited or deterred from co-operating in investigations by the possibility that information provided may be disclosed or that their identity is revealed to the public, outwith the protection of the court. Accordingly, such information is not normally made available.

The approach to be taken by the courts in cases in which there is an allegation of defective representation is defined in Anderson vs H.M. Advocate (1996 SCCR 114). The then Lord Justice General stated that the conduct of the defence by the accused''s legal representative can only provide a ground for appeal if it deprives the accused of a fair trial. He further stated that this can only have occurred where the conduct was such that the accused''s defence was not presented to the court.

This may be because the accused was deprived of the opportunity to present his defence; or because his legal representative acted contrary to his instructions as to the defence he wished to be put forward; or because of other conduct which, because his defence had not been put, had the effect of denying him a fair trial.

In considering applications for review based on defective representation, the SCCRC applies the above approach.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12400 on 8 May 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website; the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Under the provisions of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, the operational deployment of individual officers is subject to the direction of the chief constable.

However, there are circumstances when chief constables are legitimately influenced in their deployment by parties external to the police service. These circumstances arise when officers are deployed in more general terms under the force''s operational priorities. The tripartite system of governance for police forces dictates that these priorities are arrived at following consultation between the chief constable, the relevant police board and Scottish ministers.

Taser weapons are defined as firearms under section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968 (as amended).

The deployment of Taser weapons is an operational matter for Chief Constables.

Section 17(2) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 states that the performance by a constable of his functions under any enactment or under any rule of law shall be subject to the direction of the appropriate Chief Constable.

We are at present providing £2.238 million of funding under CashBack for Communities to the Scottish Football Association to roll out a range of free football activities across Scotland. These activities address playing and coach/volunteer development work. Further information is available on the CashBack website.

Regarding the agreement with YouthLink to administer the £3 million local grant scheme, decisions on funding applications will be taken in May and an announcement on successful candidates will be made following this.

Further announcements will be made over the course of the next two months.

The First Minister has appointed 14 Parliamentary Liaison Officers (PLOs), listed as follows, to play a role in contributing to the effective communication of the government''s policy within the Parliament to support Cabinet Secretaries. Parliamentary Liaison Officers are unpaid, not members of the government and are not, therefore, bound by Collective Responsibility.

Portfolio	Parliamentary Liaison Officer
Office of the First Minister	Aileen Campbell Keith Brown Alasdair Allan Chris Harvie
Deputy First Minister/Health and Wellbeing	Stuart McMillan Ian McKee
Education and Lifelong Learning	Christina McKelvie Bob Doris
Environment and Rural Affairs	Rob Gibson Jamie Hepburn
Justice	Nigel Don Angela Constance
Finance and Sustainable Growth	Joe Fitzpatrick Shirley Ann Somerville