Chamber and committees

(i) The statistics routinely collected and published annually by the Scottish Government on reconviction rates for drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) are available online at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/03/9783. Data for 2013-14 is not currently available but is expected to be published in April 2016.

The Scottish Government recognises that DTTOs have a higher reconviction rate than other court disposals. DTTOs are aimed at individuals with entrenched drug problems and chaotic lifestyles which means that achieving significant reductions in re-offending is challenging. This notwithstanding, since 2002-03 the overall conviction rate for DTTOs within one year of completing the order has fallen by nearly 18%, from 75 to 62 per 100.

(ii) This information is not held centrally.

Information on specific costs of drug treatment and testing orders is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government provides funding to the Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) to support delivery of drug treatment and testing orders. Since 2007-08, the funding allocation has been:

It should be noted however that these are notional allocation budgets and are not the costs of delivering drug treatment and testing orders. It is for each CJA to allocate funding on the basis of local needs and demands and they were provided with the additional flexibility to do so from 2013-14 onwards.

This information is not held centrally. I refer the member to the answer to S4W-28915 on 7 January 2016 for information on the data that the Scottish Government does collect in relation to drug treatment and testing orders. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government published the research paper Assessing the Scale and Impact of Illicit Drug Markets in Scotland in 2009. This paper provided estimates of the size and value of the illicit drugs market as well as estimates of the economic and social cost of illicit drug use in Scotland for the year 2006.

The research paper estimated the total economic and social cost of illicit drug use in Scotland to be just under £3.5 billion in 2006 (using Treasury GDP deflators to present the figures in 2014-15 prices this would equate to £4.2 billion). Costs associated with problem drug use accounted for 96% of the total cost and this equated to just under £61,000 (for 2014-15 prices this would equate to £73,000) per problem drug user. Recreational drug use accounted for 4% of the total estimated cost equating to £134 (for 2014-15 prices this would equate to £160) per user.

The paper estimated that the costs to the criminal justice system per year for problem drug users not in treatment, was £12,713 (estimated at £15,200 for 2014-15 prices), reducing to £6,524 (estimated at £7,800 for 2014-15 prices) after one year in treatment, then £1,536 (estimated at £1,800 for 2014-15 prices) after being in treatment for more than one year. The estimated costs to the health service per year for individuals not in treatment was £3,005 (estimated at £3,600 for 2014-15 prices), reducing to £1,536 (estimated at £1,800 for 2014-15 prices) after one year in treatment then £1,173 (estimated at £1,400 for 2014-15 prices) after being in treatment for more than one year.

This is the most recent information the Scottish Government has on this topic.

Police Scotland’s internal crime recording audits are already published through the Audit and Risk Committee of the Scottish Police Authority (first link below). The latest available report, covering the third and fourth quarter of 2014-15 was presented to the committee on 20 October 2015 and is available at the second link below. Updated audits will be presented to the committee every six months.

http://www.spa.police.uk/meetings-events/audit-and-risk-committee/

http://www.spa.police.uk/assets/126884/174772/308396/item53

Following the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) review of incident and crime recording in 2013, further guidance providing clarity as to the interpretation of serious assault was provided in the 2014-15 Scottish Crime Recording Standard.

The subsequent HMICS review in 2014 noted that the recommendation remained open and that the different ways in which assault is presented within the official statistics on police recorded crime (be it a serious assault or a common assault) necessitated further investigation of the definitions used in this area. In that context the 2014 review recommended that the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland engage the Scottish Government and other stakeholders in exploring whether the crime groupings used for statistical purposes remain relevant, taking account of the changing nature of crime and the public’s perception of crime.

The Scottish Crime Recording Board (SCRB), which has been set up to support the production of accurate and objective statistics on crime in Scotland, is currently taking forward work to review the grouping of crime/violent crime and the definition of assault. The SCRB will keep users of the statistics informed as this develops. Further information on the board, its role and actions, is available at the link below.

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRecordedCrime/SCRB

The Scottish Government's most recent estimates of the social and economic cost of crime at the Scotland level were published in the evidence paper that underpinned The Strategy for Justice in Scotland. The links below provide the evidence paper and The Strategy for Justice in Scotland, both published in 2012.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2012/09/8279

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2012/09/5924

To date, 40 inspections and 11 follow-up inspections have taken place. Of those, 21 inspections were unannounced – 52.5% – and all of the follow-up inspections were unannounced. Following a review of the inspection methodology in 2013, all inspections are now unannounced.

There has been one escalation made by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to the Scottish Government under the Older People in Acute Hospitals inspections programme. That escalation took place in 2015-16. The four levels of escalation refer to the methodology adopted by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate and not to Older People in Acute Hospitals inspections.

The funding given to health boards for the provision of enhanced services is allocated in a way which enables decisions to be made about the varying care needs of local communities. Local Enhanced Services funding totalled £30.5 million in 2014-15. The flexibility of budgeting for enhanced services is managed by the boards.