Chamber and committees

It is the statutory duty of local authorities to give effect to the decisions made by the children’s hearings. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 allows local authorities to be held to account where they have not complied with that duty. The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration through its network of children’s reporters, will record data on the reasons for non-implementation of children’s hearings decision(s). Where it appears that a localauthority is not complying with its legal duty, the panel may give authority tothe reporter to apply to the sheriff court for a court order.

The Review of the Children’s Hearings system, which is led by the Scottish Executive, is intended to improve the delivery of services and outcomes for vulnerable children and young people in Scotland.

Phase one of the review has sought views on the principles and objectives of the children’s hearings system. Phase two will be looking at how the system can be improved to ensure that children who are offending, at risk or in need of care and protection – whether referred or not – get the services they need.

As a non-departmental public body the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration was subject to a formal Policy and Financial Management Review in 2002 (ISBN 0-7559-0596-2). A further review is planned for 2006-07.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The average annual cost per prisoner place is recorded in SPS's Annual Report and Accounts for each financial year, copies of which are in the Parliaments Reference Centre (Bib. references, 34446, 4045, 7929, 18239, 22587, 28640).

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The available information is in Statistical Bulletin No CrJ/2004/6: Prison Statistics Scotland, 2003 published in August 2004 (ISBN 0 7559 3785 6), tables 1, 2, 12A and 12B and in previous editions of the bulletin.

In September 2004, the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill and Edinburgh Tram (LineTwo) Bill Committees commissioned ArupScotland to conduct independent reviewsof the updated Preliminary Financial Cases for both Edinburgh Tram Bills.

As part of these reviews, ArupScotland reviewed a number of documents, including the financial models developed by Grant Thornton that are referred to in the updated Preliminary Financial Cases.

The updated Preliminary Financial Case and the ArupScotland review for both Bills are available on the respective committees’ webpages and Parliament partnerlibraries.

It is understood that the financial models developed by Grant Thornton will be available on the Transport Initiatives Edinburgh website in the course of the week commencing 22 November 2004.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) is a GB-wide scheme which is administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP). Scottish ministers and the Home Secretary have joint responsibility for the scheme but decisions on individual applications rest exclusively with the CICA and ministers cannot intervene in such decisions. Scottish adjudicators are appointed to the appealspanel by the Scottish ministers after consultation with the Home Secretary. Thepower to amend the scheme rests with the Home Secretary, who is obliged toconsult the Scottish ministers before he exercises that function. By way of a service level agreement in place with the Home Office, the Scottish Executive bears a proportion of the costs in respect of Scottish cases, based on the totalexpenditure on Scottish cases over the previous three years expressed as apercentage of the total GB expenditure for the same period. Over the past fewyears this has fluctuated between 11-13%. In 2003-04 the Executive’scontribution was £25.8 million, consisting of £22.8 million compensation and £3million administration.

The Scottish Executive has no formal role or powers in respect of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The Health and Safety Commission(HSC) and Executive are non-departmental public bodies. The HSC is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions and is ultimately accountable to the Minister of State for Work, the Rt Hon Jane Kennedy MP. There is a concordat between the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Executive which is intended to provide the framework to guide the working relationship between them. A copy can be obtained from the HSE.

The Home Office have continued to keep the Scottish Executive fully informed about proposals for the introduction of identity cards. During the development of the policy and the drafting of the legislation, Executive officials have had a number of discussions with the Home Office to ensure that the proposed legislation could not, without the express approval of the Scottish Parliament, make it a requirement to use an ID card in order to access devolvedservices.

Scottish ministers’ position remains that the ID card will not be required to allow access to devolved public services and the draft bill reflects that position.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

An estimate of the cost of the proposed new prisons was published in the Financial Review of the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Bib. number 20290).

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The total annual cost of imprisonment is recorded in SPS's Annual Report and Accounts for each financial year, copies of which are in the Parliaments Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 34446, 4045, 7929, 18239, 22587, 28640).

The Scottish Executive does not intend to refer decisions on the number of fire control rooms in Scotland to the UK Government. It will be for Scottish ministers in consultation with Scottish stakeholders to decide on the most appropriate arrangements for Scotland. We are currently considering the responses to our consultation exercise on the consultants’ report on the future of fire controlrooms in Scotland and will make an announcement in due course.