Chamber and committees

The report into the refurbishment of Peebles Sheriff Court will be available to interested parties once a conclusion on this matter has been reached.

Yes, the cost of repair and refurbishment of Peebles Sheriff Court is estimated to be in the order of £1 million.

The £20 million of Inclusion Programme funding through the proposed National Priorities Action Fund is ring-fenced within the Social Justice strand of the fund in both 2002-03 and 2003-04. The £7.8 million for in-service training in special educational needs (SEN) for staff is also ring-fenced as Specific Grant in both 2002-03 and 2003-04. In addition, £5 million central government grant has been allocated through the SEN Innovation Grants Programme over 2002-03 and 2003-04, for the specific purpose of funding voluntary and non-statutory organisations across Scotland to carry out projects in the field of special educational needs.A further £8.8 million central government grant is allocated to the seven grant-aided special schools for 2002-03, for the specific purpose of supporting these schools, and is provided under the Special Schools (Scotland) Grant Regulations 1990.

The Secure Accommodation Advisory Group has provided a report on the availability and use of secure accommodation. I am considering the report's findings and will make an announcement on this shortly. However, in order to assist in the better strategic management of the secure estate, local authorities were asked in September 2001 to provide an estimate of their need for secure places. Borders Council indicated that their need for secure accommodation was steady annually, at one place and this need was being met.

We have no plans to do so.

Police officers inform the procurator fiscal, in the report which they submit, of any dates on which they will not be available. Procurators Fiscal take that information into account in accepting suggested trial diets. Lothian and Borders Police are, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service piloting arrangements for police rostering, leave and availability to be checked immediately before trials are fixed. Early indications are that significant reductions in adjournments are being achieved as a result. Grampian Police are also, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service, piloting a similar process but one based on direct computer access in court. Such measures are designed to ensure that, so far as possible, trial dates are fixed when police officers will be available.

It is, by statute, one of the duties of a police officer to attend any court of law for the purpose of giving evidence. Procurators Fiscal have been instructed in the following terms: "Procurators Fiscal should take steps to ensure that no more witnesses are cited than are necessary to prove a particular case. Procurators Fiscal are therefore urged to examine carefully the question of who should be cited to attend in a particular case, with the aim of ensuring that unnecessary witnesses are not cited. Police witnesses speaking only to a non-reply to caution and charge or to forms raised by the police in terms of the detention provisions of section 14 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 are unlikely to be necessary witnesses. In summary cases Procurators Fiscal should therefore rely where appropriate on the presumption offered by section 280(A) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and should take steps to ensure that such witnesses are not normally cited (or, where they have been cited, countermand them once the position becomes clear). Where there is ample other evidence consideration should also be given to the need to cite both police witnesses speaking to an incriminating reply by an accused. For the avoidance of doubt two police witnesses will of course be required to speak to 'special knowledge' replies".

The information requested is not held centrally.

The adjournment of a trial on the date of the trial usually involves the payment of expenses to witnesses who have been inconvenienced. The adjournment of a trial at any time means that staff time in preparing for the trial (including administrative staff time in citing witnesses, arranging for productions to be in court and paper handling) has been wasted. The extent of that wasted expense depends on how long before the trial date it is known that there is to be an adjournment.

Responsibility for business support services in Scotland rests largely with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) networks. Access to business advisers for small businesses in Scotland, including sub-postmasters, is already available. It is accessible in the Scottish Enterprise area through the Small Business Gateway and in the HIE area by contacting the Local Enterprise Company (LEC) direct. Dedicated training for subpostmasters on business planning and diversification has been offered in a number of Scottish Enterprise LEC areas, and more is planned in the HIE area.