Chamber and committees

The Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 offers an additional, and important, form of protection for individuals at risk of abuse. We issued press releases at the passing of the bill and the coming into force of the act, so as to give widespread publicity to the new measure. However, our main aim has been to ensure that those giving advice to the public should be aware of the Act and be able to give balanced advice on the circumstances in which it may be of help. To that end we have liaised with bodies such as Scottish Women's Aid and Citizens' Advice Scotland to ensure that they are able to give accurate advice, and have asked local multi-agency partnerships on domestic abuse to disseminate information locally. The legal professions were also alerted to the new act.We have commissioned research into the use of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001. We do not yet have figures for court actions initiated under the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001, nor where a power of arrest has been attached. However, the research is due to report later this year and we will provide the findings to the Parliament at this time.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27839.

The Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) has provided information on the running and general maintenance costs for each court. This information is set out in the following table. It excludes capital expenditure and staff-related costs. Information on 2002-03 is not yet available.

Court	1999-2000			2000-01			2001-02
	Running Costs	Maint-enance	Total	Running Costs	Maint-enance	Total	RunningCosts	Maint-enance	Total
Lochmaddy	£50,100	£4,800	£54,900	£53,500	£6,300	£59,800	£48,300	£1,300	£49,600
Tain	£60,000	£36,800	£96,800	£59,300	£54,300	£113,600	£61,000	£8,700	£69,700
Dingwall	£66,900	£3,600	£70,500	£72,800	£2,500	£75,300	£63,400	£35,100	£98,500
Portree	£45,500	£16,000	£61,500	£44,800	£6,200	£51,000	£46,100	£1,000	£47,100
Peebles	£50,700	£1,500	£52,200	£53,100	£3,400	£56,500	£53,100	£1,800*	£54,900

*In addition, SCS spent £35,500 in respect of stabilisation work at Peebles.

The Executive has not been made aware of any such problems.

To be eligible for the central heating programme in the private sector all applicants or their partner must be aged 60 or over. Applications to date show that a very large number are in their 70s. All applicants would naturally like central heating as quickly as possible. The programme generally delivers central heating on a first come first served basis to avoid having to determine the relative needs of thousands of applicants, but exceptional cases will be considered on an individual basis.

I have been advised by the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service that the council offices at Rosetta Road do not at present have sufficient available ancillary accommodation suitable for the sheriff, procurator fiscal, solicitors, witnesses and to hold prisoners in custody for it to be used as a sheriff courthouse.

I have been advised by the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service that it is not possible to provide a separate figure for refurbishment since some of the general maintenance expenditure on the court can include an element of refurbishment. The total spent on the maintenance and refurbishment of Jedburgh Sheriff Court in each of the last five years is set out in the following table. The expenditure in 2001-02 included a general redecoration of the court and provision of a new fire detection system.

Jedburgh Sheriff CourtMaintenance and Refurbishment Expenditure	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
	£3,800	£28,700	£18,739	£14,600	£161,985

Population projections for areas smaller than council areas are not available. The latest, 2000 based, population projections up to the year 2016 for council areas within Scotland is published by the Registrar General in Table 1 of the booklet Population Projections, Scotland (2000 based). A copy of the booklet is available in the Parliament's Information Centre. This publication predicts a consistently decreasing population size for the Borders after 2003.Information on population trends was considered by the Scottish Court Service when examining the case for renovating Peebles Courthouse, but it was concluded did not materially affect the viability of Peebles Sheriff Courthouse.

I have been advised by the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service that no new sheriff courthouses have been built since May 1999, but a number have been extensively refurbished.

Ministers have no powers to direct that private solicitors undertake legal aid work; this is a commercial decision by solicitors. I understand that a legal aid practitioner in Peebles, which undertook 15 cases in 2000-01, has decided not to undertake new civil legal aid cases. There are, however, two firms of solicitors who provide civil legal aid in Galashiels and a further two firms in Selkirk.The provision of legal advice and representation in rural areas is a priority area for pilot work as part of the Review of Legal Information and Advice Provision in Scotland.