Chamber and committees

The information is not available in the form requested. Information relating to the release of prisoners on licence is published in the annual report of the Parole Board for Scotland. The board's report for 2001 was laid before the Parliament on 30 May 2002 and copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

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.

Information is not readily available in the form requested. However, I understand that 120 appeals against conviction under solemn procedure from both the High Court and Sheriff Court covering a wide range of seriousness await a hearing before the Court of Criminal Appeal. As at 30 June 2002 the average waiting period for this category of appeal was 32 term weeks.The programming of business before the Court of Criminal Appeal is a matter for the Lord Justice General. He has recently introduced a number of measures to improve the management of appeals. These are set out in the Act of Adjournal (Criminal Appeals) 2002 (SSI 2002/387), made on 23 August 2002.Among the reforms is the introduction of a procedural hearing in appeals against conviction or conviction and sentence. This hearing will take place before a single judge who will consider the state of preparation of the appeal. Cases which are ready to proceed will then be allocated to an Appeal Court hearing. It is anticipated that these hearings will improve the rate at which cases proceed through the appeals procedure. Procedural hearings will be fixed for all new solemn appeals progressively over the next few months. The first diet of hearings will take place this September, with cases that are ready to proceed to a full hearing coming before the Appeal Court before the end of the year. There are no plans to increase the overall number of judges at the present time.

There has been no such practice.

The Executive does not give guidance or directions to the judiciary on judicial matters. In Scotland, judicial decisions on bail are governed by the relevant legislation and case law.

The judiciary is not required by law to give reasons for its decisions to grant or refuse to grant bail. In any event, applications for bail are not categorised by type of offence.The identity of the judge who considered an application for bail is retained within the records of the Scottish Court Service.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28831.

The latest figures are as follows:Average Duration of Appeals Against Conviction, by Main Offence, 2000

Main Offence	Number of Concluded Appeals	Average Duration of Appeal (Days)
Serious assault1	56	269
Rape	8	421
Culpable homicide	3	177
Murder	18	256
All crimes and offences	432	185

Source: SEJD criminal appeals database.Note:1. Includes serious assault and attempted murder.Data for appeals concluded in 2001 will be published on 26 September.The Lord Justice-General and Lord Justice-Clerk issued a consultation paper on 14 May 2002 setting out their proposals for reducing delays in criminal appeals. These proposals have now largely been enacted by way of an Act of Adjournal. We propose to take forward one aspect requiring primary legislation by an amendment to the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

Where an individual absconds on bail, Scottish forces will as a matter of course take steps to check whether that individual is in their area and, if so, to seek his/her apprehension. However, any resources expended as a consequence are a matter for individual forces and the information is not held centrally

The Scottish Court Service (SCS) notify the police in those cases where bail is granted to an accused person and a further condition, or conditions, is imposed in addition to the standard conditions irrespective of the type of offence. The police are informed by the SCS when an appellant is granted bail pending the determination of his appeal irrespective of the offence and of whether further conditions in addition to the standard conditions are imposed.Where the police require details of a particular bail application not covered by these arrangements, such information will be available from the police officer present in court where the accused appears from custody, or from the clerk of court when bail is granted or bail conditions are varied.On guidance or directions to the judiciary, I would refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28832 today.