Chamber and committees

The appointment of officersin Scottish police forces is the sole responsibility of chief constables or, atthe most senior levels, the police authority. Further advancement is determinedon merit under internal procedures which take account of qualifications andexperience. As an equal opportunities employer, the Scottish Police Service iscommitted to the principles of equality and diversity in relation to employment.Under the Scottish police service people strategy each force will be takingforward the gender equality action plan which is intended to ensure that allpolice employment policies are fairly designed and implemented. Specificmeasures taken by forces include:

adopting part-time working policies and flexibleworking arrangements;

encouraging female officers to pursue specialistposts;

organising leadership developmentprogrammes for women officers at the Scottish Police College; and

establishing networking and monitoring facilities.

A national conference for senior women in policing will beheld in Edinburgh later this year.

The information requested isshown in the following table. All new recruits are appointed to the rank ofpolice constable. The two officers newly seconded to the SDEA were also policeconstables.

Total Number of female officers recruited in 2002-03.

Force	Total Number of Female Recruits
Central	14
Dumfries and Galloway	3
Fife	20
Grampian	16
Lothian and Borders	33
Northern	12
Strathclyde	147
Tayside	12
SDEA	2
Total	257

Notes:

1. The source for figures for police forces is the annual statistical returns from forces for 2002-03. The figures for the SDEA were provided directly by that organisation.

2. Figures for forces include officers seconded to central service, including for example the Scottish Police College and the SDEA. As a result, officersin the SDEA appear twice in the table but the information provided in the annualstatistical returns does not identify these separately by force.

The information requested isshown in the following table:

Percentage of female officersas at 31 March 2003

	Chief Officer	Superintendent	Inspector	Sergeant	Constable
Central	33%	0	7%	7%	20%
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	6%	6%	24%
Fife	0	0	7%	4%	22%
Grampian	0	5%	5%	14%	22%
Lothian and Borders	0	3%	6%	9%	21%
Northern	0	0	2%	8%	22%
Strathclyde	12%	6%	7%	10%	22%
Tayside	0	14%	6%	7%	24%
SDEA (see note 2)	0	0	0	10%	14%

Notes:

1. The sourcefor figures for police forces is the annual statistical returns from forces for2002-03. The figures for the SDEA were provided directly by that organisation.

2. Figuresfor forces include officers seconded to central service, including for examplethe Scottish Police College and the SDEA. As a result, officersin the SDEA appear twice in the table but the information provided in the annualstatistical returns does not identify these separately by force.

3. Chiefofficer includes chief constable, deputy chief constable and assistant chiefconstable; superintendent includes chief superintendent; and inspector includeschief inspector.

The number of senior civil serviceheads of division who have changed post each year since May 1999 is:

Year	Count
May 1999 – March 2000	6
April 2000 – March 2001	17
April 2001 – March 2002	10
April 2002 – March 2003	12

Between January 2002 andJune 2003, 25 senior civil servants were required to cover supply and demandarising from retirals, leavers, promotions and the creation of new senior civilservice posts.

The Scottish Executive has never set a target of a classroom computer for every teacher.Information on the number of teachers with a classroom computer is notcollected centrally.

The Scottish Executive has never set a target of each school class having exclusive access tofour modern computers. Information is collected in the School Census each yearthat allows the calculation of pupil:modern computer ratios in schools. The latestinformation, from the 2002 School Census (available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00272-00.asp)shows pupil:modern computer ratios of 3:1 in special schools, 5:1 in secondaryschools and 9:1 in primary schools. Decisions about the actual deployment of the computers are taken locally in the light of teaching practice andaccommodation requirements.

The appointment of officers in Scottish Police Forces is the responsibility of chief constables or, at themost senior levels, the police authority. Further advancement is determined onmerit under internal procedures which take account of qualifications andexperience. However, as an equal opportunities employer, the Scottish PoliceService is committed to the principles of equality and diversity in relation toemployment. Under the Scottish Police Service People Strategy, each force willbe taking forward the Gender Equality Action Plan prepared by the Women’s Development Forum, which was formed last year by the Scottish police forces andcommon services to raise the profile of women in the police service.

The Scottish ministers haveno statutory power to form or participate in the forming of companies inconnection with the discharge of their functions under the National HealthService (Scotland) Act 1978. It follows from this that they cannot, inthe absence of such a power, confer such a power on a health board set up undersection 2 of the 1978 Act.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:

As at December 2003, 28,672central heating systems had been installed. Under the current eligibilitycriteria, it is estimated that approximately 41,300 homes will be eligible to havefree central heating systems installed by the completion of the Programme.