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The number of people convicted in Scottish courts for the crime of rape in the four years 2003-04 to 2006-07 was 39, 46, 41 and 27 respectively.

From 2008, staff in the Senior Civil Service and in the core Directorates and those Agencies which make up the Scottish Government Main bargaining unit received an extra holiday to celebrate St Andrew''s Day. As St Andrew''s Day fell on a Sunday, the holiday was observed on Monday 1 December. However, where there were compelling business reasons for areas remaining open on that day, staff were able to take the holiday on a different date.

The Scottish Government has no corporate plans to celebrate Christmas. Christmas Day is a public holiday and Boxing Day a privilege holiday. In addition, and in keeping with previous years, the following has been or is in the process of being arranged:

Christmas Trees in the main buildings;

An official Scottish Government Christmas Card;

Canteens in the main buildings offering a Christmas lunch menu, and

A four hour flexi credit for staff.

In line with the principles of the Civil Service Management Code, the Civil Service Code of Conduct and the Financial Reporting Manual all Senior Civil Servants in the core Scottish Government are required to record financial interests on the e-HR self-referral IT facility where there is the potential for a conflict of interest to arise as a result of their official position.

Staff who come into official contact with matters concerning an organisation in which they have an interest (financial or otherwise) are expected to declare that interest immediately to their line manager. The line manager, in consultation with the Director General where appropriate, is required.

It is the responsibility of local authorities and independent schools to apply to Disclosure Scotland for enhanced disclosures for staff working in school kitchens and canteens. The reasons for this are set out below.

The meaning of a child care position is set out in schedule 2 of the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003, as amended by Scottish Statutory Instrument 2008 No 260. A child care position is one where the normal duties include work in a school, except the work of Parent Councils and activity primarily intended for persons aged 18 or over. This means that staff working in school kitchens and canteens are in a child care position.

Although there is no requirement to have an enhanced disclosure for child care positions it is however an offence for any person who is disqualified from working with children to apply for, offer to do, accept or do any work in a child care position.  It is also an offence for employers to offer work in a child care position to anyone disqualified from working with children. Therefore, it is the responsibility of organisations to request enhanced disclosures for those applying for child care positions as a check that the individual is not on the Disqualified from Working with Children List.

The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

All gifts received by ministers from January 2008 “ March 2008 have already been published and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/FOI/Disclosures/2008/10/Gifts2008/Gifts12008.

In accordance with paragraph 9.26 of the Scottish Ministerial Code (18 June 2008) gifts received by ministers will be published on a quarterly basis.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18548 on 11 December 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The information requested is as follows:

Number of Dwellings

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Scotland	2,378,603	2,398,470	2,417,759	2,442,284	2,462,571

Source: CTAXBASE (Council tax taxbase) returns made by councils each September. Includes both dwellings that are chargeable for council tax purposes and dwellings that are exempt from council tax.

It is not possible to list official engagements of each minister as planned or scheduled ministerial events are subject to constant change, often at short notice.