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The policy for handling correspondence addressed to Scottish ministers on reserved matters is as follows:

Issues where Scottish Government ministers would not have a view and which are appropriate for response by a UK Government will receive an acknowledgement.

Issues where Scottish ministers would want to give a view, but not necessarily in opposition to the UK Government will receive a substantive reply.

Issues where Scottish ministers would want to give a view and express a view different to that of UK Government will receive a substantive reply incorporating those views.

In all cases copies of the correspondence will be forwarded to the relevant UK Department for consideration and further response to points of policy where appropriate.

Discussions take place with UK ministers on a range of matters on a regular basis.

No specific discussions took place with UK ministers regarding the decision to respond directly to ministerial correspondence on reserved matters.

Communications officers already deal with issues relating to reserved matters, and have done so since 1999. Responses are decided on a case-by-case basis and this will continue. No additional cost is anticipated.

The Scotland Act 1998 (as amended) sets out the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and provides for many of the functions of the Scottish ministers. Nothing in the 1998 Act prevents the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish ministers from forming or expressing a view on a reserved matter. This is unsurprising given the relevance of reserved issues to many matters which are, in Scotland, devolved. Moreover, the memorandum of understanding between the UK Government and the devolved administrations, in place since devolution, expressly recognises that devolved legislatures are entitled to debate non-devolved matters.

There is no requirement to amend job descriptions as tasks within the new guidance for handling ministerial correspondence on reserved matters fall under existing staff remits.

Statistical information is not held on the number of occasions that letters received by Scottish ministers on reserved matters have been referred to UK ministers in each year since 1999.

Figures on the number of police officers employed by each force on 30 September 2008 are expected to be published by the Scottish Government on 2 December 2008.

For financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08, figures on the number of police officers employed by each force are available in the Quarterly Strength Return, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 40257 and 43307). This is updated on a quarterly basis to reflect returns for 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December each year.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual will be amended to reflect the target of paying the bills of small businesses around Scotland within 10 days.

The latest statistics on firearm offences in Scotland are available in the annual publication Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2007-08 which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46851). This publication includes statistics on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in which a firearm was alleged to have been used or where a firearm was stolen.

Statistics relating to total use of each weapons category are not available separately as only the main weapon used is recorded for each offence.

Number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in which a firearm was alleged to have been used, by main firearm used, Scotland 2007-08.

Main Firearm Used	Number of Offences
Shotgun	41
Rifle	18
Pistol/revolver	93
Air weapon	567
Imitation firearm	109
Unidentified	104
Other	193
Total	1,125

 

Revenue and capital budgets for individual forces are not held centrally. Information on revenue and capital expenditure is shown in the following tables.

Police Revenue Expenditure

Actual Expenditure

Force	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central	45,873	48,343	52,025
Dumfries and Galloway	27,965	29,128	29,824
Fife	58,203	59,734	64,828
Grampian	90,120	95,035	99,373
Lothian and Borders	178,833	185,396	191,075
Northern	50,277	53,966	56,916
Strathclyde	476,424	496,307	504,443
Tayside	76,393	79,211	81,187

Source: Police Grant claims from individual forces for 2005-06 to 2007-08.

Expenditure at 2005-06 Prices

Force	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central	45,873	47,075	49,156
Dumfries and Galloway	27,965	28,364	28,179
Fife	58,203	58,167	61,253
Grampian	90,120	92,542	93,893
Lothian and Borders	178,833	180,533	180,537
Northern	50,277	52,551	53,777
Strathclyde	476,424	483,289	476,623
Tayside	76,393	77,133	76,710

 

Police Capital

Expenditure

Force	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Central	1,846	1,732	1,918	1,528
Dumfries and Galloway	981	946	867	918
Fife	1,966	2,721	2,432	2,273
Grampian	3,210	3,834	6,922	5,353
Lothian and Borders	6,258	5,715	10,918	16,179
Northern	3,865	2,273	2,136	2,834
Strathclyde	18,823	17,956	12,901	20,270
Tayside	2,614	2,717	2,200	2,414

Source: CR financial returns for 2005-06 and 2006-07. CRQ4 2007-08 for provisional figures and CRQ1 for 2008-09 forecasts.

Expenditure “ (2005-06 prices)

Force	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Central	1,846	1,687	1,812	1,444
Dumfries and Galloway	981	921	819	867
Fife	1,966	2,650	2,298	2,148
Grampian	3,210	3,733	6,540	5,058
Lothian and Borders	6,258	5,565	10,316	15,287
Northern	3,865	2,213	2,018	2,678
Strathclyde	18,823	17,485	12,190	19,152
Tayside	2,614	2,646	2,079	2,281