Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is continuing to work with Inspiring Scotland and is evaluating the research conducted by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) to see where funding would be best placed to support the play sector and children and young people. I expect to make an announcement on this in the near future.

Deployment of police armed response units is an operational matter for which responsibility lies with the chief constable of the relevant police force. Responsibility for legislation on police use of firearms is reserved to the UK Parliament.

The Firearms Act 1968 is reserved to the UK Parliament, and Scottish ministers do not have the power to make statutory instruments or guidance under sections 53 to 55.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-22948 on 7 May 2009. 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.

A debate in the Parliament on the draft Order (under affirmative procedure) setting out the proposed priorities is currently expected to take place around October 2009.

In November 2008, the British Bankers'' Association and the Building Societies Association estimated that there may be between £250 million and £350 million of unclaimed funds in banks and up to £130 million in building societies. On this basis, the initial Scottish share would be around £40 million. Further accounts will become dormant in future years. Actual funding levels will depend on the banks taking part in the scheme and on the effectiveness of industry-led initiatives to reunite customers with their accounts.

Scottish ministers are currently considering their priorities for dormant bank and building society accounts funds as the basis for an Order, providing the purposes for which and the kind of persons to which the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland may distribute those funds.

It is anticipated that the Big Lottery Fund, identified in the UK Act as the fund distributor, will open the fund for business during 2010. This is dependent on the appointment and operation of the Reclaim Fund at the UK level.

Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (˜the 1995 Act'') gives the police powers to take DNA if a person is arrested or detained for an imprisonable offence, and to retain the DNA sample and profile indefinitely if the person is convicted in court. Section 18A of the 1995 Act gives a power to retain DNA from people prosecuted for, but not convicted of, a relevant sexual or violent offence for a period of three years, following which a chief constable can apply to a sheriff for extensions of up to two years. This legislation currently applies to children who are prosecuted in court, but not those who are dealt with in the children''s hearings system.

DNA identifies individuals with a high degree of confidence and can be used to link individuals to, or eliminate them from, a criminal enquiry. The checking of profiles against crime scene samples can provide leads for unsolved crimes. The retention of DNA on conviction can also provide a means of identifying reoffending at a later date. Ultimately, these powers help to keep the public safe by providing an effective and efficient way of identifying individuals who commit crime.

Tables 1 and 2 provide details of children whose DNA profiles are held on the Scottish DNA Database and the powers under which the profiles are retained. Table 3 provides details of children whose DNA profiles are held on the National DNA Database after being arrested in England and Wales.

Table 1: Profiles Held Under Section 18 of the 1995 Act

Age Group	Number of Profiles Held Following Conviction	Number of Profiles Held in Pending Cases	All Profiles
17	914	3,004	3,918
16	179	2,106	2,285
15	35	826	861
14	18	363	381
13	7	143	150
12	2	74	76
11	1	19	20
10	0	15	15
9	0	3	3
8	0	0	0

Source: Scottish DNA Database, 20 May 2009.

Table 2: Profiles Held Under Section 18A of the 1995 Act

Age Group	Number of Profiles Held
17	0
16	8
15	2
14	1
13	0
12	0
11	0
10	0
9	0
8	0

Source: Scottish DNA Database, 20 May 2009.

Table 3: Profiles Held on the National DNA Database From Police Forces in England and Wales

Age Group	Number of Profiles Held
17	111,900
16	83,825
15	59,251
14	35,867
13	18,513
12	8,269
11	2,736
10	480

Source: National Policing Improvement Agency, 5 June 2009.

Work on the development of appropriate local indicators to support the early years framework, including play and physical activity, is on-going. We plan to publish the findings in the autumn.