Chamber and committees

Training on the range of issues which arise in the prosecution of cases involving domestic abuse forms part of the core induction which is undertaken by all new prosecutors. This training, which includes input from Scottish Women’s Aid, is designed to equip prosecutors with a sound knowledge of the particular legal issues which arise frequently in these prosecutions as well as an awareness and understanding of the wider issues about victims experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland.

We are also currently working with Scottish Women’s Aid to develop advanced training for all staff within the prosecution service who work with victims and witnesses experiencing domestic abuse. This will build on the core training course to ensure that staff develop a high degree of proficiency in the preparation and prosecution of such cases

Offence aggravator codes for domestic abuse were incorporated into the Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS) data standards in 2002. In future it will therefore be possible separately to identify convictions where such an aggravator has been recorded against the offences involved, though the availability of complete data will depend upon the rollout of ISCJIS to cover all courts and on consistent recording practices being followed by the police, procurator fiscals and the courts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-12408, answered on 6 December 2004. 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.

The Lomond and Argyll Division of NHS Argyll and Clyde spans the geographical area comprising Arygll and Bute, the Argyll and Clyde NHS Board section of West Dunbartonshire and a small part of Stirling. The following table shows the number of people from these combined areas that were admitted to psychiatric inpatient services.

Information on the use of community mental health services is not held centrally.

Patientsº from a Defined Part of NHS Argyll and Clyde (as Above) Admitted to Mental Illness Specialties¹, by Hospital

Location	Calendar Year of Admission
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003*
NHS Argyll and Clyde
Christie Ward, Vale of Leven Hospital²	156	166	186	153	148
Other wards, Vale²	51	47	37	30	8
Argyll and Bute Hospital, Lochgilphead	481	445	454	457	432
Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock	3	2	2	3	4
Dykebar Hospital, Paisley	3	3	2	-	1
Ravenscraig Hospital, Greenock	-	-	-	-	1
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley	-	-	-	-	2
Larkfield Unit, IRH	-	-	1	2	-
NHS Greater Glasgow³
Gartnavel Royal Hospital	16	7	12	5	-
Leverndale Hospital	13	5	4	-	-
Woodilee Hospital	2	-	-	-	-
Royal Hospital for Sick Children	1	1	-	-	1
Parkhead Hospital	-	2	1	-	-
Stobhill Hospital	-	1	-	1	-
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock	1	-	-	-	2
Ailsa Hospital, Ayr	1	-	-	-	3
NHS Dumfries and Galloway
Ladyfield Hospital, Dumfries	2	1	-	-	-
NHS Fife
Stratheden Hospital, Cupar	-	2	-	2	-
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline	-	-	-	1	-
NHS Forth Valley³
Falkirk Royal Infirmary	1	-	-	-	-
Stirling Mental Health Unit	1	1	-	-	-
NHS Grampian³
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen	-	-	1	-	-
NHS Highland
Craig Dunain Hospital, Inverness	2	-	-	-	-
New Craigs, Inverness	-	-	2	1	1
NHS Tayside
Murray Royal Hospital, Perth	1	-	1	-	1
Sunnyside Royal Hospital, Montrose	1	-	-	-	-
Blairgowrie Community Hospital	-	-	-	-	1
Carseview Centre, Dundee	-	-	-	1	-

*Provisional.

Source: ISD Scotland SMR04 linked data set.

Notes:

ºPatients who have more than one admission to a specific hospital in a year are counted once in that year. Patients admitted to more than one hospital are counted once under each hospital they are admitted to. Patients with admissions in more than one year are counted once under each year of admission.

1. Defined as admissions to mental illness specialties (general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry and psychiatry of old age). Admissions to learning disability specialties are excluded.

2. The Christie Ward admits patients to general psychiatry at the Vale of Leven Hospital. Other psychiatry admissions to the Vale of Leven Hospital are to other wards.

3. Information on inpatient admissions to psychiatric specialties in hospitals in Scotland are incomplete for the following areas: Forth Valley, Lanarkshire and Lothian for years 2001 to 2003; Greater Glasgow and Grampian for the years 2002 to 2003.

This is a matter for NHS Argyll and Clyde and the relevant information is available from the NHS board.

The cost per capita of delivering mental health services to residents of (a) NHS Argyll and Clyde is £165, and (b) NHS Greater Glasgow is £150. Information is not held centrally for (c) the Lomond division of NHS Argyll and Clyde.

Apart from specific funding allocations, mental health services will be funded from an NHS board’s overall allocation.

The Executive issues an overall allocation to NHS boards within whichboards are expected to operate. Overall allocations are not made in relation tospecific service provision such as mental health services. It is a matter for NHSboards to distribute their allocations to these services.

The following table lists the specific mental health funding allocations made to NHS Argyll and Clyde since 1999.

Financial Year	£ Specific Allocation	Source
1999-2000	79,000	Mental Health Development Fund
2000-01	410,000	Mental Health Development Fund
2001-02	560,000	Mental Health and Wellbeing Development Fund
2002-03	NIL	N/A
2003-04	74,340*	Improve Mental Health Services
2004-05	300,000	Mental Health Doing Well Programme
2004-05	354,000*	Improve Mental Health Services
2003-06	450,000#	Centre for Change and Innovation’s Doing Well by People with Depression programme

Notes:

*Funds paid “through” NHS boards for joint action with local authorities.

#Total allocated throughout life of project (2003-06).

It is for Argyll and Clyde NHS Board to decide what their Clinical Strategy should consist of.

Executive policy is clear that any proposals for significant service change or closure must be subject to formal public consultation and ministerial approval.

The Executive considers that best practice is where service users and their carers are routinely involved in the assessment of their needs and with the development of an appropriate care plan and also where the range of interventions includes partner agencies and covers preventative measures, community and hospital based care.

Domestic abuse could be prosecuted under a variety of charges, such as assault. However, in the convictions data held centrally, such cases cannot be separately identified from other offenders convicted of these offences. The latest available statistics on incidents of domestic abuse were published in November 2003 in a statistical bulletin Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2002 (Bib. number 30075).  Table 13 in this bulletin provides figures for each police force area on the number of identified perpetrators of crimes or offences of domestic abuse cleared up by the police who were referred to the Procurator Fiscal.