Chamber and committees

The following table shows (for charges reported in each financial year) the number of charges which resulted in a prosecution. A number of charges are still subject of on-going court proceedings and these are included in the following table.

Charges: Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005^1,2

Charges Subject of Court Proceedings	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	Total
	232	437	463	524	1,656

Notes:

1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The following table shows the number of charges under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 that were reported to Procurator Fiscals since the financial year 2005-06.

Charges: Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005^1,2

Total Charges Reported	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	Grand Total
COPFS	273	527	591	630	2,021

Notes:

1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Currently Cornton Vale has training for employment facilities in the following areas:

Garden Maintenance;

Bike Repair;

Industrial Cleaning;

Hairdressing;

Craft Production;

Laundry;

Cooking, and

Education Facility.

In line with SPS Employment Policy Cornton Vale is continually looking at the potential to improve their training for employment facilities. Consideration is currently being given to extending the scope of industrial cleaning opportunities to include window cleaning and also to making improvements to delivery of lifeskills.

The following table shows the number of charges under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 that were reported to the Procurator Fiscal in Dundee and Procurators Fiscal in the Tayside Area since the financial year 2005-06.

Charges: Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005^1,2

Total Charges Reported	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	Grand Total
Dundee	5	15	9	15	44
Tayside Area	12	22	21	31	86

Notes:

1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons with a charge proved under the Emergency Workers Act 2005¹ in Dundee City and Tayside², 2005-06 - 2007-08³:

Area/Section	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Dundee City	-	2	15
Section 2(1)	-	2	5
Section 5(1)	-	-	10
Tayside	1	6	19
Section 1(1)	1	2	-
Section 2(1)	-	4	7
Section 5(1)	-	-	12

Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Service

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Based on an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

3. The reference year is the date that the person''s case was disposed of.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons proceeded against under The Emergency Workers Act 2005¹ in Dundee City and Tayside², 2005-06 - 2007-08³

Area/Section	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Dundee City	-	3	16
Section 2(1)	-	2	6
Section 5(1)	-	1	10
Tayside	1	7	21
Section 1(1)	1	2	1
Section 2(1)	-	4	8
Section 5(1)	-	1	12

Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Service.

Notes:

1. Where Main Offence.

2. Based on an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

3. The reference year is the date that the person''s case was disposed of.

The Scottish Executive is committed to its duty as a public authority to take positive action to eliminate gender discrimination and to promote equality under the Equality Act 2006. This should ensure that we treat men and women with equivalent respect according to need. In some cases this will mean that services need to be designed to meet the specific needs of women.

I undertook during my appearance at the Equal Opportunities Committee on 23 June 2009 to ensure that our work with COSLA and other agencies in taking forward the framework of Protecting Scotland''s Communities, Fair Fast and Flexible Justice included the application of the Gender Equality Duty.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the judiciary. The Scottish Executive recognises the need to develop further our understanding of the complex needs of women offenders and to ensure that the criminal justice system is equipped to respond to those underlying needs as well as to their offending behaviour.

I undertook during my appearance at the Equal Opportunities Committee on  23 June 2009 to ensure that the Gender Equality Duty was applied to the work being taken forward with COSLA and other agencies within the framework of Protecting Scotland''s Communities, Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice to design disposals and services which meet the specific needs of offenders.

I undertook during my appearance at the Equal Opportunities Committee on 23 June 2009 to ensure that our work with COSLA and other agencies in taking forward the framework of Protecting Scotland''s Communities, Fair Fast and Flexible Justice included the application of the Gender Equality Duty.

I want to ensure that criminal justice services are designed to meet the specific needs of all offenders.

The Scottish Government is working with COSLA and other agencies within the framework of Protecting Scotland''s Communities, Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice to design criminal justice services which meet the specific needs of all offenders. I undertook, during my appearance at the Equal Opportunities meeting on 23 June 2009, to ensure that the Gender Equality Duty was applied to this work, which means that issues around delivery of appropriate services and continuity of support for female prisoners after release into the community is undertaken in a coherent and joined-up way.

The community justice authorities are also working locally to strengthen the links between local authorities and other public and voluntary services to improve continuity of support for female prisoners in addressing their offending behaviour following release. One example of this is the mentoring project service being piloted for women offenders in the south west Scotland community justice authority for women subject to community penalties or on release from prison.