Chamber and committees

The Proposal for a European Council Decision on the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record for mutual legal assistance requests requires each member state to designate a single central authority for initial contact. It will be possible, however, to designate more than one central authority for on-going contact, for the exchange of information in connection with such requests and for sending information back to the state of nationality at the time of conviction in individual cases. The question of which authority should be designated for the exchange of Scottish criminal records is under consideration.

The web-based element of the Relocation Advisory Service opened on 12 October 2004. The Service became fully operational at the end of that month. Between 12 October 2004 and 30 March 2005, a total of 4,524 enquiries have been received. These can be broken down as follows:

By Month

Enquiries received prior to service opening	21
October 2004	324
November	477
December	737
January 2005	1,018
February	727
March	1,220
Total	4,524

 

By Country

The data on incoming enquiries has only been analysed to 31 January 2005, therefore the following figures relate to enquiries between 12 October 2004 and 31 January 2005.

Unspecified	376
Algeria	1
Argentina	1
Australia	17
The Bahamas	2
Bangladesh	4
Belarus	1
Belgium	5
Botswana	2
Brazil	2
Brunei	1
Bulgaria	4
Cameroon	1
Canada	45
Chile	1
China	3
Cyprus	2
Czech Republic	6
England	87
Eritrea	1
France	5
The Gambia	1
Germany	15
Ghana	3
Greece	11
Guyana	1
Hong Kong	4
Hungary	2
Iceland	3
India	767
Indonesia	1
Iran	2
Italy	6
Japan	3
Jordan	2
Kenya	1
Kuwait	1
Malaysia	4
Malta	3
Mauritius	4
Mexico	11
Morocco	3
Nepal	1
Netherlands	9
New Zealand	3
Nigeria	87
Northern Ireland	3
Oman	1
Pakistan	22
Panama	1
Peru	1
Philippines	7
Poland	227
Portugal	6
Qatar	1
Republic of Ireland	4
Romania	7
Russia	7
Saudi Arabia	2
Scotland	260
Serbia and Montenegro	1
Singapore	9
Slovakia	1
South Africa	25
Spain	17
Sri Lanka	2
Sweden	3
Taiwan	5
Trinidad and Tobago	3
Tunisia	1
Turkey	4
Uganda	5
Ukraine	13
United Arab Emirates	4
United Kingdom	175
United States	236
Venezuela	1
Wales	4
Zambia	2
Zimbabwe	2
Total	2,577

 

The information requested is given in the Futureskills Scotland publication, Skills in Scotland 2004, which was published in January 2005. Copies of this publication are available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 35294).

The information requested is given in the Futureskills Scotland publication, Skills in Scotland 2004, which was published in January 2005. Copies of this publication are available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 35294).

Disaggregated data on the costs of English language classes for immigrants, as distinct from other provision, are not available because of the way that local authorities and further education (FE) colleges are funded.

However, the Scottish Executive did make an extra £5.4 million available between 2001-04 to help support the work that FE colleges were doing with asylum seekers and refugees. This included funding for English language classes.

 

Statistics on alcohol consumption can be found in the information section of the Alcohol Information Scotland website, managed by the National Alcohol Information Resource (NAIR): www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org.

Since 1995, government sensible drinking guidelines have been based on daily benchmarks. Current daily benchmarks are 3-4 units for men and 2-3 units for women.

The General Household Survey reports data for Scotland on those exceeding daily benchmarks. In 2003, for those aged 16 and over, 44% of men and 27% of women reported exceeding daily benchmarks on at least one day in the previous week. 26% of men and 10% of women reported drinking more than double their daily benchmark on at least one day in the previous week. Data is available for Scotland from 1998 to 2003 and is reported in Table 1.

Up until 1995 sensible drinking guidelines were based on weekly consumption, with up to 21 units for men and up to 14 units for women being considered low risk weekly consumption limits.

Data are available from the Scottish Health Survey and the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) on those reporting exceeding recommended weekly limits.

The 1998 Scottish Health Survey reported for those aged 16-74, 32% of males and 14% of females exceeded 21/14 units respectively in the previous week. Among men, 18% drank over 21 and up to 35 units, 8% drank over 35 and up to 50 units and 7% drank over 50 units in the previous week. Among women, 8% drank over 14 and up to 21 units, 4% drank over 21 and up to 35 units, and 2% drank over 35 units in the previous week. Table 2 includes this information.

The Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) reported in 2003, for those aged 16-74, 25% of men and 8% of women exceeding 21/14 units in the previous week. Table 3 includes data from 1996-2003.

Table 1.

Year	Men1		Women 2
	Percentage who drank more than 4 units on at least one day last week	Percentage who drank more than 8 units on at least one day last week	Percentage who drank more than 3 units on at least one day last week	Percentage who drank more than 6 units on at least one day last week
1998	40	24	28	12
2000	45	29	29	12
2001	48	30	26	13
2002	44	26	26	12
2003	44	26	27	10

Table 2.

Adults’ estimated usual weekly alcohol consumption level, by age and sex: Scotland 1998
Aged 16-74
Alcohol consumption level (units per week)	%
Men
Have never drunk alcohol	3
Ex-drinker	4
Under 1	6
1 up to 10	30
Over 10, up to 21	25
Over 21, up to 35	18
Over 35, up to 50	8
Over 50	7
Sub-total: drinks over 21 units a week	32
Mean units	19.1
Women
Have never drunk alcohol	8
Ex-drinker	5
Under 1	15
1 up to 7	41
Over 7, up to 14	18
Over 14, up to 21	8
Over 21, up to 35	4
Over 35	2
Sub-total: drinks over 14 units a week	14
Mean units	6.5
Bases (weighted):
Men	4363
Women	4527
Bases (unweighted):
Men	3896
Women	5061
Source: Scottish Health Survey 1998

Table 3.

Percentage exceeding recommended weekly limits for alcohol‚ by sex: Scotland 1996-2003

%	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
All	16	15	15	17	–	18	17	16
Men	25	24	21	26	–	27	26	25
Women	7	6	10	8	–	9	9	8
Base all respondents:	1810	1795	1794	880	–	1757	1742	1720

Source: HEPS

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-14882, answered on 21 March 2005. 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/webapp/wa.search.

Information on all admissions to general acute and psychiatric hospitals during 1997-98 to 2001-02 is shown in table 1a, table 1b and table 1c.

Complete data on psychiatric admissions is unavailable for 2002-03 and 2003-04. Table 2a, table 2b and table 2c shows the information requested from 1997-98 to 2003-04 for admissions to general acute hospitals only.

Copies of the tables have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 35844).

The arrangements regarding attendance at the summit by security representatives from foreign states are a matter for the UK Government. Arrangements for permission for foreign security personnel to carry firearms are a reserved matter for which the Home Secretary is responsible. Representatives of the Scottish police service are liaising closely with the UK Government on security arrangements for the summit.

Scottish police use firearms only in certain circumstances and in accordance with the Code of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons. The guidance covers operational matters such as the selection and training of personnel, the authorisation procedures to be put in place for those carrying firearms and the form of briefings to be given by senior officers in relations to operations where firearms are to be deployed. Decisions on the number of officers authorised to use firearms are for chief constables.

The Friends of Scotland project has been renamed "Global Friends of Scotland" and maintains regular contacts, both formal and informal, with the GlobalScot team in Scottish Enterprise.

Both Global Friends and GlobalScot continue in their efforts to enable members of these networks to contribute to Scotland's global success wherever they are based around the world. The projects maintain close links with the Fresh Talent initiative and where appropriate make members aware of employment opportunities in Scotland.