Chamber and committees

We will continue to work with the designated Director for Patient Focus and Public Involvement in each NHS board to ensure appropriate progress with this priority activity.

I am not aware of any recent discussions with South Ayrshire on the subject of any projected financial deficit, however, I have been involved in discussions with COSLA on a range of issues including the wider financial circumstances facing local authorities.

We have no plans to ask police forces to change the current procedures for recording drug crimes.

The Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) collects a range of data. This includes information relating to their performance and linked to their targets such as the sum of assets reported for restraint, the number of persons arrested, the quantity and street value of drugs seized in operations involving the agency and the number of intelligence logs submitted by them to the Scottish Intelligence Database. These figures are published by the SDEA in their annual reports which can be found on their website at http://www.sdea.police.uk/.

The agency also collects national statistics on confirmed drug related deaths and has recently been tasked with collating statistics on drug related sexual assaults on behalf of the Scottish police service.

It co-ordinates drug trends information obtained from Scottish forces which is used to inform law enforcement colleagues and partner agencies on illicit drug misuse through the SDEA’s quarterly drugs trends bulletin.

Like any organisation, it also keeps internal statistics relating to matters such as personnel and financial management.

The Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) is the subject of a collaborative agreement between the eight chief constables under Section 12 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967. The arrangements in place under that mean that constables seconded to the SDEA have all the same powers and privileges as constables in the eight Scottish police forces.

The Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, introduced on 30 September 2005, will put the SDEA on a statutory footing with statutory functions from April 2007.

The remit of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency is to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the police by co-ordinating intelligence and operational elements of drug enforcement and the investigation of serious and organised crime.

The Executive encourages local authorities, as far as possible, to look at all options for recovering debt before taking enforcement action. We continue to support those who get into debt through the provision of funding to local authorities for front line money advice; by increasing our funding for the debt arrangement scheme, and through a range of financial literacy projects.

A specific analysis addressing the use of sheriff officers to collect council tax has not been carried out and there are no current plans to do so.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation publish a best practice guide on council tax, which sets out good practice in the billing and collection of council tax. In addition to this, the Scottish Executive has commissioned research into council tax collection in Scotland, the results of which are due to be published in the first part of 2006.

This is a matter for East Lothian Council. The information requested is not held centrally.