Chamber and committees

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

The information on the number of prisoners who participated in vocational training over the last three years broken by prison and type of training is not routinely collected. Details of SQA vocational qualifications achieved by each prison are provided in the answer to question S3W-30603 on 25 January 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

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

The information requested is not routinely collected by SPS. SPS captures the number of SQA communication, numeracy and IT units achieved by prisoners, however, this figure does not equate to individual prisoners as one prisoner may achieve more than one unit.

Prison	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen
Communication	15	20	17
Numeracy	35	40	25
ICT	112	144	102
Addiewell
Communications			20
Barlinnie
Communication	35	197	229
Numeracy	47	109	116
ICT	309	304	398
Cornton Vale
Communication	12	29	27
Numeracy	18	36	45
ICT	64	37	92
Dumfries
Communication	7	51	74
Numeracy	19	34	67
ICT	21	54	110
Edinburgh
Communication	40	49	37
Numeracy	48	66	114
ICT	253	210	217
Glenochil
Communication	30	29	38
Numeracy	88	96	90
ICT	288	271	159
Greenock
Communication	28	52	68
Numeracy	75	54	103
ICT	83	43	111
Inverness
Communication	50	49	42
Numeracy	58	36	64
ICT	101	139	88
Kilmarnock
Communication	X	33	13
Numeracy	X	58	21
ICT	X	21	32
Open Estate
Communication	15	3	2
Numeracy	1
ICT	77	96	117
Perth
Communication	76	73	154
Numeracy	110	208	228
ICT	323	304	500
Peterhead
Communication	37	40	16
Numeracy	80	99	115
ICT	37	114	60
Polmont
Communication	124	111	113
Numeracy	20	141	105
ICT	185	191	156
Shotts
Communication	12	51	13
Numeracy	27	31	16
ICT	85	114	107
Totals	3,045	3,837	4,221

 

The Scottish Alcohol Needs Assessment report (published by the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams) mapped the number of publically funded alcohol treatment provision falling within Tiers 2, 3 and 4 modalities of care as defined by models of Care for Alcohol Misusers (The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, 2006). It identified 97 services in Scotland in 2006-07 as providing specialist alcohol interventions of which 10 were residential agencies and the remainder (87) were community-based. The majority (59.4%) provided services for both drug and alcohol misusers and 37.5% provided exclusively alcohol services.

The provision of services is for each local area to consider, taking account of local needs, circumstances and resources. It is for individual NHS boards, local authorities and alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) to ensure that appropriate health care services are provided to meet the needs of their resident populations.

The Scottish Government provides funding via NHS health boards, for treatment and support services. Decisions on spend “ including for residential rehabilitation services are made at a local level by alcohol and drug partnerships taking into account local assessment of need and priorities as set out in our framework for Action Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol and the framework for local partnerships on alcohol and drugs. As such, decisions on residential rehabilitation will be made locally.

The Scottish Government allocated £36 million via NHS health boards for tackling alcohol misuse in 2009-10 and £28 million for tackling drug misuse.

Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians, in consultation with their patient, who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of each patient. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual concerned.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30562 on 21 January 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30562 on 21 January 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Scottish Government provides funding via NHS health boards, for treatment and support services. Decisions on spend “ including for residential rehabilitation services are made at a local level by alcohol and drug partnerships taking into account local assessment of need and priorities as set out in our Framework for Action Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol and the framework for local partnerships on alcohol and drugs. As such, decisions on residential rehabilitation will be made locally.

Decisions on treatment should not be driven by the under capacity of a private residential facility but instead, by the needs of the client. Someone waiting for their first appointment for drug treatment does not necessarily mean they are requiring residential rehabilitation.

Residential rehabilitation is one of a number of treatments. Decisions on the most appropriate treatment for individual patients are taken by clinicians, in consultation with their patient, who determine the most appropriate form of treatment, taking account of the needs and circumstances of the individual. Their aim is to ensure that the treatment package will provide the most effective support for the individual concerned.

The use of restorative practices with youth offenders is already well established. To ensure best practice and to increase the opportunities for the further use of restorative practices for young offenders, Preventing Offending by Young People “ a Framework for Action includes a commitment to continue to work to demonstrate the potential benefits that can be achieved by adopting restorative approaches where appropriate. Consequently, the National Development (Champion) Group for Youth Restorative Justice has been set up by the Scottish Government and the Criminal Justice Social Work Development Centre for Scotland to identify potential areas for development and to share areas of best practice with practitioners across Scotland.

Restorative practice measures are also used by five local authority areas as part of their Diversion from Prosecution Services for adult offenders. These services are used to resolve less serious offences that procurators fiscal have diverted from formal court proceedings.

Ministers are currently considering the conclusion of a joint research project by Victim Support Scotland and Sacro, which includes a proposal to pilot a new method of providing restorative practices for adults within the criminal justice system.

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

The Scottish Prison Service is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of all the purposeful activities undertaken by prisoners in each of the public sector prisons. The review will identify the capacity to enhance the opportunities available to prisoners including access to work based training.

The proposed new Community Payback Order will provide for a condition of unpaid work or other activity to be made. This condition will replace the existing unpaid work provisions currently available under a community service order, an unpaid work condition imposed under a probation order, and an unpaid work component of the supervised attendance order used in cases of fine default.

The main changes will be in relation to the immediacy and speed with which offenders commence and complete their orders. These changes are aimed at making unpaid work provisions more robust and providing faster and more effective payback to communities.

The legislation will include a provision that the time for completion of an unpaid work requirement is reduced from the current 12 months to six months. Further to this, operational guidance will require that offenders commence their work placements within a maximum of seven working days of the order being made instead of the previous maximum of 21 days.

In addition to help ensure that the work done reflects local needs, the bill also proposes a formal requirement on local authorities to consult communities and local interest groups on the type of work they wish to see undertaken in their area.

Between 28 April 2002 and 31 October 2009, Disclosure Scotland has issued 4,285,762 disclosure certificates. There have been 1,824 disputes about the content of certificates during that period, and 1,054 disputes have been upheld. In all cases where a dispute is upheld, a new certificate is issued.

The following table sets out on a yearly basis: the number of certificates issued, the number and type of disputes and whether or not they were upheld.

Year	Certificates Issued	Identity Disputes	Identity Upheld	Accuracy Disputes	Accuracy Upheld	Irrelevancy Disputes	Irrelevancy Upheld	Disputes Total	Disputes Upheld
2002#	87,456	9	9	27	21	23	10	59	40
2003	286,566	22	16	74	56	68	19	164	91
2004	450,423	39	33	60	30	74	49	173	112
2005	469,735	31	22	77	52	99	46	207	120
2006	609,933	44	32	139	101	129	60	312	193
2007	750,938	33	23	143	90	117	41	293	154
2008	824,324	49	37	145	96	98	37	292	170
2009*	806,387	62	48	147	86	115	40	324	174
Total	4,285,762	289	220	812	532	723	302	1,824	1,054

Notes:

^#From 28 April 2002.

*To 31 October 2009.