Chamber and committees

Fair for All and Patient Focus and Public Involvement, published in December of last year, reported on steps taken to develop the commitments in the Involving People section of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. They also indicated that NHS boards are expected to take a pro-active and positive approach to delivering health services that respect the individual beliefs and cultural backgrounds of all the people of Scotland. They make it clear that there is no place for discrimination whether on religious belief or any other issue in the way the NHS deals with patients, acts as an employer, or communicates with the public. Staff in the UK Health Departments are in regular contact about matters of mutual interest. Best practice from Northern Ireland experience was used in developing this guidance.

There are no plans to introduce anti-sectarian courses into the curriculum in Scottish schools.Guidance to education authorities and schools and the framework of national qualifications provide relevant opportunities for raising awareness of matters such as sectarianism, through education for citizenship within the subject areas of personal and social development, religious and moral education, and under social subjects within Environmental Studies. The Scottish Executive also funds the Scottish School Ethos Network, which shares good practice in promoting positive ethos in schools, and the Anti-Bullying Network which provides advice and consultancy to schools and shares good practice.

A cross party working group has been established to consider possible legislation to tackle religious hatred. As part of its work the group is considering issues relating to the recording and monitoring of crime motivated by sectarianism.

A total of 343 justices of the peace have been appointed since 1 April 1999, of which 212 are male and 131 female. This total includes 117 justices appointed ex officio by local authorities, 80 of whom are male and 37 female. Information on social class is not collected centrally.

The Executive supports the work of the Scottish Social Services Council in promoting social work as a career and promoting social work training. As part of the action plan launched on 18 April, the Executive will establish an awareness and recruitment campaign which will include encouraging people to apply for social work training courses.

The estimated income from council tax is £1,553 million for 2000-01; £1,649 million for 2001-02, and £1,744 million for 2002-03.For business rates, estimated income is £1,576 million for 2000-01 and £1,665 million for 2001-02. We have not yet had councils' formal estimates for the current year.

The information is set out on the following table. The job figures refer to planned employment by companies at the time the decision to invest was made, and do not include investment from other parts of the UK.

	1998-99		1999-2000		2000-01
	New Jobs	Safeguarded Jobs	New Jobs	Safeguarded Jobs	New Jobs	Safeguarded Jobs
EU Countries	909	732	1,851	593	2,437	164
Third Countries	0	0	0	0	0	0

The available information is given in the following table. Data for the year 2001 are not yet available.Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts where the Main Offence was a Litter Offence¹, 1999-2000

	1999	2000
Companies:
Fine	-	1
Total	-	1
Average Fine (£)	-	7,500
Persons:
Fine	28	12
Admonished	3	1
Total	31	13
Average Fine (£)	56	116

Notes:1. Includes general litter offences and offences under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978.

The figures for the numbers of men and women gaining social work awards in the years 1997-98 to 2000-01 are:

	2000-01	1999-2000	1998-99	1997-98
Female	328	305	273	280
Male	75	100	103	87
Total	403	405	376	367

The information requested is not held centrally.