- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations it has had with staff unions in the Crown Office with regard to its targets for the Crown Office in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
No formal consultation took place but management and unions are in regular dialogue about the programme of reform and modernisation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to which achievements of these targets will contribute.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it expects to reduce fear of crime or seriousness of worry about crime and by what date, as referred to in target 3 in the justice section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
No specific target figure or date has been set. Currently, the best tool we have to measure the fear of crime is the Scottish Crime Survey. The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey shows that the proportion identifying crime as a serious or extremely serious problem; the proportion feeling unsafe walking alone after dark and the proportion worried about specific types of crimes have fallen steadily in the period between the 1993 and 2000 surveys. The next Scottish Crime Survey will take place in 2004 and all three indicators are expected to move in the same direction. However, a reduction of two out of the three will be taken as an overall reduction. Full Technical Notes setting out in more detail the definition for each target and how it will be measured will appear on the Scottish Executive website only at the end of this month.The additional investment we are making to tackle serious crime such as violence and drugs and the measures we have introduced and the targets we have set to reduce these and other crimes will undoubtedly have a positive impact on how safe our communities feel.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its present target for issue of indictments will continue to apply, in line with target 6 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
The requirement to issue 100% of indictments within the statutory time limits will remain. Target 6 aims to help speed up the progress of cases through the criminal justice system by securing the earlier indictment of cases.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to provide safeguards relating to quality of investigations of deaths that require further investigation to be completed within 12 weeks, as referred to in target 9 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
All such cases are reported to Crown Office and considered by an experienced member of legal staff there and, where appropriate, by Crown Counsel. Where necessary the procurator fiscal will be instructed to carry out further enquiries and re-report. Any inadequacy in reporting will be drawn to the attention of the relevant procurator fiscal or area procurator fiscal.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whom it envisages will be surveyed in the customer satisfaction survey for the Victim Information and Advice Service, as referred to in target 8 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
The survey will be sent to all victims with whom the Victim Information and Advice Service have had contact after their case is closed.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any target for serving indictments in the remaining 20% of sheriff and jury cases that involve bail, as referred to in target 6 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
The remaining 20% of sheriff and jury cases that involve bail will be the more complex cases, where the time required to serve indictments is likely to vary substantially. No formal target has been set, except that an indictment must be served within the statutory time limit.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will retain its existing target for routine death inquiries in addition to its new target for death inquiries requiring further investigation, as referred to in target 9 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
No. The new target differs from the former targets in that there is now a target to conclude investigations in complex, rather than just in routine cases, as previously. Although we are not retaining a formal published target for routine cases, we expect procurators fiscal to conclude these investigations within six weeks and we will continue to monitor that. As part of the Crown Office's commitment to improve the quality of service it provides, there is a new requirement to inform the next of kin of the outcome.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will measure its target to reduce the number of drug misusers who inject, as referred to in the justice section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
The key performance indicator which will be used to measure progress on achieving the target will be the proportion of new problem drug users seen by drug services and reported to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database, who reported injecting "in the previous month". The data is available annually.Account will also be taken of injecting data obtained through national prevalence work, which we have undertaken to repeat every three years. The first national prevalence survey reported in 2001 and contained data for the year 2000.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition is of a death inquiry requiring further investigation, as referred to in target 9 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
A death enquiry requiring further investigation is defined as: a suspicious or violent death or any death in which the circumstances are such as to give rise to serious public concern; any death involving a vehicle, including aircraft, ship or train; any death by burning or scalding or involving fire or explosion; deaths in legal custody, accidental deaths in the course of employment; deaths by poisoning including drugs deaths, gas and solvents; suicidal deaths; deaths by drowning; the death of a foster child; any death of a newborn child including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, suffocation and overlaying; any death apparently caused by fault or neglect on the part of another; any death under administration of or attributed to anaesthetic; deaths during abortion or attempted abortion; deaths involving medical mishap; deaths caused by withdrawal of life support sustaining treatment; deaths where a complaint is received that medical treatment or absence of medical treatment may have contributed to death, andany death brought to the notice of the procurator fiscal where further investigation is deemed necessary in the public interest.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition is of a routine death inquiry, as referred to in target 9 in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer
A routine death inquiry is one which does not require to be reported to Crown Office for Crown Counsel's instructions.
