Chamber and committees

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:New financing agreements:Change of Shareholders in Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited between SPS, Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited (KPSL), Kilmarnock Prison (Holdings) Limited (KPHL), Premier Custodial Investments Limited (PCIL) and Premier Custodial Group Limited (PCGL) dated 27 June 2000.Senior Debt Arrangements between SPS, KPSL, Premier Custodial Finance Limited (PCFL) and the Bank of Scotland (BofS), Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Limited, WestDeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, Credit Lyonnais and Barclays Bank plc (the Banks) dated 27 June 2000.Subordinated Debt Arrangements between SPS, The Governor and Company of the BofS, PCFL, KPSL and PCIL dated 27 June 2000.Side Letter regarding the Senior Facility Agreement dated 9 August 2000.Side Letter regarding the Subordinated Facility Agreement dated 9 August 2000.Subordinated Debt Accession Agreement between Serco Investments Limited (SIL), Wackenhut Corrections (UK) Limited (WCUK), the Banks, BofS and PCFL dated 30 June 2000.Debenture between PCFL and BofS dated 30 June 2000.Amended financing agreements:Senior Facility Agreement between PCFL and the Banks as amended and restated on 30 June 2000.Subordinated Facility Agreement between PCFL, SIL, WCUK, BofS and the Banks as amended and restated on 30 June 2000.On-Loan Agreement between PCFL, PCIL, BofS and the Banks as amended and restated on 30 June 2000.Intercreditor Agreement between PCFL, the Banks, BofS, SIL, Serco Limited (SL), WCUK, Serco Group plc (SG) and Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) as amended and restated on 3 July 2000.Shareholders' Agreement between WCC, WCUK, SL, SG, SIL, PCGL, PCIL, KPSL and KPHL dated 30 June 2000.Shareholders' Undertaking between the Banks, WCC, WCUK, SG, SIL, PCIL, PCGL, PCFL, KPSL, KPHL and BofS dated 30 June 2000.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The education contracts have provided SPS with the opportunity to improve both the quality and scope of the education services provided to prisoners. A number of standards are built in with measurable outputs and these are monitored closely. The contracts were not designed to focus only on costs. The education targets and service demand have increased year on year and total costs have therefore increased.

In the last year (April 2001 to March 2002) prosecutors received 1,315 cases from the police which either included charges of racially aggravated harassment behaviour or separate statutory racial aggravations. Proceedings which included either a statutory charge or aggravation were taken by procurators fiscal in 95% of these cases. There is no comprehensive information available regarding convictions. Continuing improvements in our office IT systems will enable us for the first time to track all cases which included separate statutory racial aggravations. Statistics from previous years have been included in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Annual Reports but were of a more limited nature.

An estimate of the cost of the work could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The expenditure involved was borne by the Scottish Executive.

Some information on convictions by class of drug is available from statistics collected from Scottish police forces by the Home Office. The coverage of this data is known to be incomplete and so estimates derived from this source for areas below Scotland level are not currently considered to be sufficiently reliable.Information on the main drug type involved in convictions for drug offences has been included in the Scottish Executive Justice Department's court proceedings database since early in 2001. However, this information is only available for those convictions where the codes used for the charges involved were recorded under the relevant Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS) data standards. It is anticipated that nearly all charges involved in court disposals will become ISCJIS compliant over the next couple of years. At that point, sufficiently complete statistical information will have built up to provide more reliable data on numbers of drug offence convictions by class of drug for areas below Scotland level.

Expenditure on temporary procurator fiscal deputes by Procurator Fiscal office for the most recent years available was:

	1999-2000 (£)	2000-01 (£)	2001-02 (£)
Aberdeen	860	13,665	26,650
Airdrie	41,253	36,881	18,964
Arbroath	-	-	705
Ayr	1,850	4,050	7,050
Campbeltown	1,800	450	4,200
Cupar	-	705	-
Dumbarton	4,450	17,055	14,659
Dundee	8,039	12,670	10,676
Dunfermline	6,607	2,291	881
Duns	-	150	-
Edinburgh	42,433	105,993	52,069
Falkirk	16,582	-	18,454
Forfar	-	-	353
Fort William	-	1,234	-
Glasgow	178,506	150,754	236,571
Greenock	-	3,968	1,800
Hamilton	25,604	40,669	89,749
Jedburgh	-	-	2,100
Kirkcudbright	3,904	2,100	3,000
Kirkcaldy	21,802	10,046	5,640
Kilmarnock	2,795	9,595	881
Kirkwall	1,500	1,500	1,500
Lerwick	1,694	1,800	1,571
Linlithgow	47,012	12,806	22,312
Lanark	585	1,586	2,001
Oban	-	750	1,350
Paisley	10,240	12,289	35,139
Peebles	-	150	-
Perth	16,257	39,248	21,212
Selkirk	-	2,231	6,880
Stranraer	1,670	150	-
Stirling	4,574	1,058	7,705
Stornoway	375	1,500	2,250
Wick	1,603	-	-

Since summer 2002 the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has recruited over 40 new Procurator Fiscal Deputes. These permanent staff will lead to a reduction in the use of ad hoc and temporary fiscals.

As an Executive Agency, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is accountable to Scottish ministers for all operational and contractual matters involving the agency and for it's performance. The accountability framework specifying the responsibilities of the Chief Executive and the SPS board is contained in the SPS Framework Document. The performance of senior managers in the SPS is managed within the Senior Civil Service Performance Appraisal System which applies to the Senior Civil Service across the United Kingdom.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Projections for the number of prisoner places in future years with no access to night sanitation facilities will fluctuate over time dependant on plans and progress against the building of new accommodation and associated temporary closures for upgrade. Current projections show that the number of such places for the year 2005-06 would be about 850.

These discussions have been extremely helpful and have informed the amendments which are being tabled to section 61 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

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

Aberdeen	6
Barlinnie	29
Castle Huntly	1
Cornton Vale	6
Dumfries	3
Edinburgh	10
Glenochil	6
Greenock	9
Inverness	2
Low Moss	6
Noranside	1
Perth	4
Peterhead	2
Polmont	5
Shotts	13