Chamber and committees

Improvements in the management of cases and enhancements to our systems that are being made following the Pryce-Dyer Management Review are designed to ensure that the targets can be met without any cases failing to be dealt with within the statutory time limits.

Target 10(a) was set at 90% in recognition of the fact that the more complex cases may not be able to be investigated properly within 12 weeks. No formal target has been set but it is intended that the remaining 10% of cases should be completed as soon after the 12 weeks period as possible and that the complainer will be informed of progress.

The independent inspectorate to be established by the end of 2003 will give approval or otherwise of the quality of investigation and decision-making in cases involving complaints against the police.

Other than compliance with any statutory time limits, there will be no maximum period for action on the remaining 25% of crime reports referred to in target 2 of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Section of Building a Better Scotland. These will be the more complex cases where the length of time taken could vary widely. Any such cases will be kept under review on a regular basis to ensure that action is taken as soon as quickly as possible.

The public survey has yet to be devised. A measure of public confidence and the methodology to be used have yet to be decided.

Providing better support to victims of crime is the first objective of the Scottish Strategy for Victims. The Executive is therefore working closely with Victim Support Scotland and the criminal justice agencies to improve referral arrangements and to raise awareness of the support available through initiatives such as the publication of the victims' leaflet and the introduction of the victims' website. This is intended to ensure that victims who want to, know where to turn for support.

The panel will operate as an advisory group providing independent advice to Scottish ministers, with a secretariat from the Justice Department. We do not intend to give it a statutory basis.

The number of people assisted by legal aid is published in the Annual Reports of the Scottish Legal Aid Board. In addition, the Executive provided financial support to the In Court Advice and Mediation Projects in Edinburgh Sheriff Court, which provided help to unrepresented litigants. A research report on the operation of the projects and the number of people assisted was published in 2002 entitled Supporting Court Users: The In-Court Advice and Mediation Projects in Edinburgh Sheriff Court: Research Phase 2.

The target refers to the capacity for community disposals because it remains a matter for the discretion of the courts to decide whether to impose a community sentence on conviction. Funding from the Executive, therefore, provides capacity for a target number of probation, community service, supervised attendance orders, drug treatment and testing orders and restriction of liberty orders over a 12-month period. The capacity is not defined on a user basis but rather by type of order although the national priorities agreed for criminal justice social work put an emphasis on provision for these groups. The actual number of community sentences imposed by the courts in past years is then set out in the series of Statistical Bulletins: Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics. The bulletins for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 provide a breakdown of the use by courts of community disposals by gender and age in those years. They also provide information on the number of probation orders made where the court has imposed an additional specific condition of drug treatment or education. It is anticipated that the bulletin for 2001-02 will be published in December this year.

The work of the accreditation panel referred to in target 9 will focus on the accreditation of community programmes for offenders. The Risk Management Authority will operate under a wider remit. However, in developing National Standards for risk assessment and minimisation, it will have regard to existing relevant schemes and functions such as the accreditation panel.