Chamber and committees

As I made clear in my answer to question S2W-21897, we have urged Scottish stakeholders to respond to the Home Office consultation, and we also intend to give stakeholders the opportunity to express their views directly to Home Office and Scottish Executive officials.

We do not plan to make a submission to the UK Government as part of the current consultation on the review. The Home Secretary is required to consult Scottish ministers on any changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and our stance in response to this will be informed by the submissions of Scottish stakeholders to the consultation.

Under the terms of an agreement with the Home Office, the Scottish Executive pays a percentage of the total UK cost of both compensation payments made under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, and the administration costs of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and Appeals Panel. That percentage is based on a rolling average of Scottish claims on the scheme over the previous three years. Over the past few years this has fluctuated between 11-13%. In 2004-05 the Executive’s contribution was £20.6 million (11%).

I am writing to a range of stakeholders inviting them to respond to the UK Government’s consultation paper on the reform of Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, and to initiate discussions on developments in the way in which victim services in Scotland are delivered in the light of any changes to the Scheme.

The Scottish Executive will introducelegislation this session to establish a new independent body to handle such complaints.Our policy is that complaints from clients should be dealt with wherever possibleby the law firm or lawyer who provided the service in question. The new body, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, will act as a gateway to receive those complaintsabout lawyers which cannot be resolved at source. The new body will take over thehandling of complaints about inadequate professional service from the legal professionalbodies, the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and the Scottish Solicitors DisciplineTribunal.

The legal professional bodiesand their discipline tribunals will retain responsibility for professional discipline.The commission will accordingly refer complaints about the conduct of lawyers tothe professional bodies for investigation, but will have powers to oversee the wayin which conduct complaints are handled. The commission will be led by a board whichwill have a non-lawyer majority and a non-lawyer chair.

The arrangements we propose recognisethe strong message from the response to our consultation that there should be anindependent complaints handling body and that its powers should be vested in a boardrather than a single officeholder. The new system aims to build public confidencein the system for handling complaints against lawyers while the commission willalso have the role of promoting good practice in complaints handling by law firmsand practitioners. The commission will be funded by the legal profession througha general levy on legal practitioners and a levy on complaints. Vexatious or frivolouscomplaints will be sifted out and will not be the subject of a levy.

 

I wish to ensure continuity for people currently receiving a service through New Futures Fund (NFF) and to encourage more comprehensive and sustainable delivery of the NFF approach. From April 2006, Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) will take the lead in developing the local infrastructure of support services, building on the work of current NFF projects and other support services in their areas. This is consistent with our approach to getting people back into work and the related employment outcomes set out by the CPPs within their Regeneration Outcomes Agreements

I recognise the challenges associated with mainstreaming NFF and so propose to make available to a number of CPPs additional funding of up to £3.1 million in both 2006-07 and 2007-08. This is equivalent to the current costs of NFF.

My officials will shortly be meeting with CPPs to discuss this in more detail. At the same time, the Enterprise Networks, which are currently responsible for NFF, will advise existing projects of these plans.

There is a range of approaches to community planning across the country, and the Executive is not prescriptive about the structure or composition of partnerships that should be adopted either at a strategic local authority level, or locally at neighbourhood level: it is for each partnership to decide on its own arrangements, which may include MSPs alongside a range of other participants. Responsibility for ensuring that suitable arrangements are put in place rests with local authorities in their role as facilitators of the community planning process.

Community Planning Advice Note 2, on Partnership Models and Structures, sets out some key considerations that partnerships will wish to take into account. Community Planning Advice Notes are available online at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/localgov/cpan-00.asp

I also refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14673 on 1 March 2005. 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.

Local authorities, as facilitators of the community planning process, are required to report regularly to their communities on community planning in their area. Reports should be geared towards the local community and should be widely available.

Although such reports are not required to be submitted to the Executive or to the Scottish Parliament, reports must demonstrate clearly how the local authority has implemented its duties under section 15 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, including reporting on the means of consulting community bodies (and other public bodies) and a summary of the outcomes of such consultation.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19600 on 26 October 2005. 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.

Copies of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner’s annual report for 2004-05 (Bib. number 37809, document number SE/2005/203) and the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s annual report for 2004 (Bib. number 37808, document number SE/2005/100) have been laid before Parliament today in accordance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. With the agreement of the Prime Minister, the confidential annex to the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s report, which contains sensitive information, has been excluded from the published report. Copies of both have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Covert surveillance and interception of communications are two of the ways in which the police and other law enforcement agencies prevent and detect serious and organised crime in Scotland. Ministers authorise interception warrants in Scotland for the purpose of preventing and detecting serious crime. Both commissioners make it clear in their reports that they are satisfied that those authorising surveillance and interception, carry out these tasks diligently and strictly in accordance with the law.

There were a total of 304 responses to the Scottish Executive’s 2004 consultation Family Matters: Improving Family Law in Scotland. This report and the analysis of the consultation responses can be accessed through the link below http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Closed.

The Scottish Law Commission’s 1992 Report on Family Law was prepared following consultation on three discussion papers published in 1990. These were:

Family Law: Pre-consolidation Reforms

The Effects of Cohabitation in Private Law

Parental Responsibilities and Rights, Guardianship and the Administration of Children’s Property.

There were a total of 148 responses to these discussion papers.

In addition, the Scottish Law Commission’s 1989 Report on Reform of the Ground for Divorce was prepared following their 1988 discussion paper The Ground for Divorce: should the law be changed? The discussion paper elicited a total of 91 responses. The Law Commission’s reports and discussion papers can be accessed at http://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/html/introduction.html.

Professor Calder and his group have a clear remit to work with the NHS Greater Glasgow to identify the most appropriate site for a new children’s hospital alongside adult and maternity services. That includes agreeing the board’s appraisal process and reviewing and approving the board’s results. I am satisfied that the group is carrying out its work in line with the remit and I look forward to receiving its advise once it has had time to consider NHS Greater Glasgow’s proposals.