Chamber and committees

The Solicitor General shares with all ministers a desire to ensure that the Appeal Courts operate as effectively as possible. I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-28835 on 13 September 2002, that describes steps being taken to help speed up the appeals procedure. 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/webapp/search wa.Since then, ministers have agreed to a request by the Lord Justice General that an additional five temporary Judges should be appointed to help with the backlog of work generally. The number of permanent Judges stands at a record level of 32.

The information available is given in the following table. Offenders convicted for offences committed while subject to a bail order issued prior to 1 April 1996 will, if the main part of the sentence related to the offence under the Bail (Scotland) Act 1980 of re-offending while on bail, have been classified to the "Other crimes" grouping. Where the bail order was issued on or after 1 April 1996, the offender will have been classified to the main offence committed while on bail. Convictions data for 2001 are expected to be available in November.Persons with a Charge Proved with a Bail Aggravation¹, by Main Offence Grouping, 1991-2000

Year	All Crimes and Offences		Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence	Crimes of Indecency	Crimes of Dishonesty	Criminal Damage	Other Crimes	Miscell-aneous Offences	Motor Vehicle Offences
	Number
1991	10,752		421	125	5,127	352	2,739	1,551	437
1992	11,502		569	125	5,255	405	2,993	1,633	522
1993	12,010		551	140	5,115	379	3,395	1,846	584
1994	12,651		599	145	5,282	373	3,663	1,960	629
1995	12,511		631	192	4,765	384	3,992	1,835	712
1996	11,748		667	110	4,271	376	3,354	2,251	719
1997	9,989		521	93	3,920	318	1,559	2,914	664
1998	9,925		491	128	4,133	327	1,033	3,279	534
1999	9,292		534	62	4,261	239	893	2,678	625
2000	7,942		549	31	3,487	254	759	2,376	486
	Percentage of all persons with a charge proved
1991	6	14		8	15	6	28	3	1
1992	6	16		9	16	7	30	3	1
1993	7	15		9	16	8	30	4	1
1994	8	18		10	18	8	30	4	1
1995	8	18		15	17	8	31	4	1
1996	8	16		11	16	7	26	5	1
1997	7	12		8	15	6	13	6	1
1998	7	12		10	17	7	9	8	1
1999	7	13		7	18	6	8	8	1
2000	7	13		5	17	6	7	7	1

Note:1. Persons with a charge for bail reoffending under the Bail (Scotland) Act 1980 or a bail aggravation for reoffending on bail under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

The available information indicates that a total of five persons, including four whose cases have been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, are currently on interim liberation pending an appeal against their conviction for murder.

The information available is given in the following table.Persons Granted Bail Following the Lodging of Appeal Against Conviction for Selected Offences, 1998-2002^1,2,3

Main offence of conviction	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Murder	0	1	3	3	0
Culpable homicide	0	0	0	0	0
Rape	0	0	3	4	1
Attempted murder and serious assault	2	2	3	8	9

1. Provisional data, as at 10 September 2002.2. May exclude some cases where convictions were quashed on appeal and for whom details of their original conviction are no longer held on the current Scottish Criminal Records Office database.3. Includes cases referred by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to the Court of Appeal.

The numbers and percentages of local authority, new town and Scottish Homes/Scottish Special Housing Association dwellings sold each year under the statutory right to buy and rent to mortgage schemes in Scotland are shown in the following tables. Comparable data for England can be obtained from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).Right to Buy Sales 1980-81 to 2001-02

Period	Stock as at 31 March of Previous Year	Sales in Year	% of Stock Sold During the Year
1980-81	N/A	6,243	N/A
1981-82	1,042,396	11,704	1.12
1982-83	1,030,058	15,189	1.47
1983-84	1,007,564	17,973	1.78
1984-85	1,000,182	16,693	1.67
1985-86	988,337	14,068	1.42
1986-87	977,102	14,602	1.49
1987-88	962,861	22,791	2.37
1988-89	941,851	34,896	3.71
1989-90	909,393	38,820	4.27
1990-91	869,642	28,447	3.27
1991-92	837,876	22,968	2.74
1992-93	805,921	22,053	2.74
1993-94	775,849	20,384	2.63
1994-95	747,606	20,461	2.74
1995-96	715,689	15,485	2.16
1996-97	682,914	14,190	2.08
1997-98	650,935	15,468	2.38
1998-99	624,108	13,190	2.11
1999-2000	598,389	13,809	2.31
2000-01	576,342	13,525	2.35
2001-02	552,815	13,469	2.44

Source: Scottish Executive, Housing Statistics Branch.Note: Includes local authority, new town and Scottish Homes and Scottish Special Housing Association dwellings. The right to buy scheme was introduced in Scotland on a voluntary basis in 1979; some voluntary sales also took place after the introduction of the statutory scheme in 1980 and these are included in the above figures.Rent to Mortgage Sales 1993-94 to 2001-02

Period	Stock as at 31 March of previous year	Sales in year	% of Stock sold during the year
1993-94	775,849	138	0.018
1994-95	747,606	87	0.012
1995-96	715,689	85	0.012
1996-97	682,914	63	0.009
1997-98	650,935	28	0.004
1998-99	624,108	21	0.003
1999-2000	598,389	34	0.006
2000-01	576,342	16	0.003
2001-02	552,815	19	0.003

Source: Scottish Executive, Housing Statistics Branch.Note: Includes local authority, new town and Scottish Homes dwellings.The rent to mortgage scheme was introduced in Scotland on a voluntary basis in 1989; some voluntary sales may also have taken place after the introduction of the statutory scheme in 1993; if so they will be included in the above figures.

In general, criminal trials in Scotland must be held in the presence of the accused. There are, however, certain exceptions to the general rule.If during the course of his trial an accused person so misconducts himself that a proper trial cannot take place, the court may order that the trial proceed in his absence.In summary proceedings an accused may be tried in his absence where he fails to appear in court after being duly notified and he is charged with a statutory offence: for which a sentence of imprisonment cannot be imposed, or in relation to which there is provision authorising procedure in the absence of the accused.In addition, an examination of the facts, held to determine whether an accused person who is insane did the acts or made the omission alleged, may proceed in the absence of the accused where it appears to the court that it is not practical or appropriate for the accused to attend.In civil proceedings decree may be granted in the absence of a defender after service of a writ or summons. Details of trials in absentia in the criminal courts in Scotland are not collected centrally. The number of decrees granted in absence in civil proceedings in Scotland are published annually in the Civil Judicial Statistics.

The Scottish Executive does not collect data on the number of empty properties in each local authority area. Ministers recognised that empty homes were a serious issue and the Empty Homes Initiative, which was introduced in 1997 and extended until March 2002, encouraged local authorities to identify the extent of the problem in their local area and provided funding to help meet the identified need. It now falls to local authorities to take this issue forward as part of their Local Housing Strategy.

Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only accidents in which one or more people were injured: they do not cover damage only accidents. The returns do not provide information about the causes of the accidents.UK Government research, published in 2000, into the incidence of drugs in fatal road accident victims, found that illegal drugs were present in 18% of the sample group and that medicinal drugs were present in 6%. The presence of drugs is not, however, evidence of impairment nor of accident causation. The research report TRL495 is available on the TRL website at: http://www.trl.co.uk/1024/mainpage.asp?page=141.

The Scottish ministers are responsible under the terms of The Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2001 (the Rules), made under sections 20(4) and (4A) of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 (as amended), for the referral of relevant cases to the Parole Board. On the referral of a case, the Scottish ministers are required by the rules to send to the board a dossier containing any information in writing or documents which they consider to be relevant to the case, including, wherever practicable, the information and documents specified in the Schedule to the rules.Long-term prisoners, that is persons sentenced to a term of four years or more, may be released on licence after serving one-half of the sentence, if this is recommended by the Parole Board. The Parole Board makes its decisions on whether or not to recommend the early release on licence of such prisoners in private, under Part III of the rules. If the board recommends the early release of a long-term prisoner who has been sentenced to less than 10 years, the Scottish ministers are obliged, by law, to release the prisoner. In the case of a prisoner sentenced to 10 years or more, the Scottish ministers currently exercise discretion over whether or not to accept the board's recommendation. Under provisions contained in Part 4 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill it is proposed to remove that discretion so that Scottish ministers will be obliged to follow the board's recommendation in all cases.In the case of life prisoners, when the punishment part of the life sentence has expired, an oral hearing is arranged by the Parole Board, under part IV of the rules, to consider whether or not the prisoner requires to continue to be confined for the protection of the public. Hearings normally take place in the establishment in which the prisoner is detained. In the dossier of information that is sent to the board in such cases there is normally a document recording the Scottish ministers' views on whether or not the prisoner should continue to be confined; and at the oral hearing the Scottish ministers are represented, normally, by an official of the Justice Department and a representative of the Scottish Prison Service. The prisoner, who is entitled to be present at the hearing, may also be represented.Where, in the light of the information provided to it and the views expressed at the oral hearing, the Parole Board is satisfied that a life prisoner no longer requires to continue to be confined for the protection of the public, it will direct the prisoner's release on life licence. The Scottish ministers are obliged, by law, to release the prisoner on life licence.

The available information is shown in the following table. Cases involving child victims of abduction and serious assault cannot be separately identified within the data held centrally.Persons Accused of Cases Recorded¹ as Murder Involving a Child (Aged Under 16) Victim, by Sex of Accused, 1991-2000

Outcome of Proceeding	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Total accused	10	5	4	4	5	9	3	3	3	6
Charge proved	2	3	1	3	1	2	2	1	2	2
Imprisoned	2	3	-	1	1	2	2	1	2	2
Insanity, hospital order	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other2	8	2	3	1	4	7	1	2	1	4
Males accused	7	4	2	3	2	6	2	2	2	6
Charge proved	2	3	-	2	1	2	2	1	2	2
Imprisoned	2	3	-	1	1	2	2	1	2	2
Insanity, hospital order	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other2	5	1	2	1	1	4	-	1	-	4
Females accused	3	1	2	1	3	3	1	1	1	-
Charge proved	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Imprisoned	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Insanity, hospital order	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other2	3	1	1	-	3	3	1	1	1	-

Notes:1. Currently (as at 26 October 2001) recorded as homicide.2. Includes death of suspect, case pending, no proceedings, proceedings dropped and acquittals.