Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive greatly values the work of organisations supporting families in transition, and is giving a total of £718,395 in the current year to a range of bodies offering mediation and counselling. This is an increase of 40% on the previous year.

The Scottish Executive made available £199.1 million of Grant Aided Expenditure in 1998-99 and £211 million in 1999-2000 for children's services within social work. The allocation of a proportion of these resources to the operation of children's panels is a matter for local authorities. Further information on Grant Aided Expenditure for children's services is given in the following publications:

Grant Aided Expenditure 1998-99 (Bib. number 8140)

Grant Aided Expenditure 1999-00 (Bib. number 3274)

The duty to train panel members lies with local authorities. Scottish Ministers have discretion to assist and in March this year, announced the conclusions of a review of their support for the training of panel members. In the current year £428,000 is allocated to support panel member training in order to achieve the competences set out in the document Children's Panel Training: Design, Content And Evaluation, published in 1999.

Direct funding of children's panels is the responsibility of local authorities. However, The Scottish Executive contributes funding to support the operation of the hearings system.

In 1999-2000, £211 million was provided for children's services under GAE. Local authority returns identify that they spent £1.269 million on the Children's Hearings system. £215.6 million has been provided for 2000-01.

In addition, the Scottish Executive is committed to providing £18.440 million to support the Children's Hearings System in 2000-01. A breakdown of these costs is shown below:

Purpose	£ million
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration	14.151
Youth Crime Review	3.500
Recruitment/Awareness	0.274
Training	0.515
Total	18.440

It is expected that the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme report on hepatitis C, including prevention, will be published in the summer, when the Executive will give its conclusions urgent consideration.

The running of the District Courts is a matter for the local authorities. Every local authority has a Justices Committee for the purpose of arranging adequate training. The Central Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace also has an interest in the training of justices. The Scottish Executive has no plans at present to appoint a national trainer.

Community Service Orders, which are an alternative to a custodial sentence, are available in the Stipendiary Magistrates Court in Glasgow. They remain available in the district courts of the former Tayside Region where they were introduced on a pilot basis some 20 years ago.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to extend the availability of Community Service Orders to district courts.

Local authorities have a duty to secure an adequate and efficient education for all children, including those with significant health difficulties. Provision will vary according to the assessed needs of the individual child.

The Strategic Plan for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for 2000 to 2003 is at an advanced stage of drafting and was considered by the Law Officers, Crown Office Senior Management and Regional Procurators Fiscal at a meeting on 22 March. The strategic aim of the department will continue to be to play a pivotal role in the achievement of the purpose of the criminal justice system of maintaining the security and confidence of the people of Scotland by providing just and effective means by which crimes may be investigated and offenders brought to justice. This aim is supported by particular objectives relating to the several aspects of the work of the department and by very detailed objectives and targets applying to all of the activities of the department. These include training and performance management, in which connection it should be noted that the department achieved Investors in People status in 1998 and is committed to the retention of that status. A new generation computer system is being put in place and the department is playing a leading role in the integration of Scottish criminal justice system information technology. Particular attention is being paid to issues relating to children in the criminal justice system, to victims, to drug offences and to the incorporation of ECHR.

Around half of all education authorities have reported difficulties in maintaining supply cover in a range of subjects. However, no authority specified the deficit in numerical terms.