Chamber and committees

Following extensive consultation with the Association of Directors of Social Work, revised guidance for the operation of Community Service schemes, which reflects the need for work placements to commence within seven working days of imposition of the order, was issued at the end of February. This is being followed up with a series of staff training events across Scotland. Local authorities will be required to implement the new guidance with effect from the start of June.

The Scottish Government has discussed with the Scottish Police Services Authority''s Forensic Service the implications for Scotland of the closure of the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners. It will have no impact on the ability of forensic practitioners to give expert evidence in court.

The delivery of forensic science services is a matter for the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA). The SPSA announced on 3 April 2009 that it is developing a national model for the delivery of forensic science services. The SPSA will consult the police service and the wider criminal justice system on these proposals. They expect to begin this process later this spring with a view to completing this engagement within six months. The Scottish Government will carefully consider any proposals put forward by the SPSA following the development of its national model on the future delivery of forensic science.

The Forensic Science Regulator for England and Wales has published and is consulting on draft quality standards for forensic services. The Scottish Government is considering, along with key stakeholders, whether this standard is appropriate for use in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-19206 on 15 January 2009 and S3W-20556 on 23 February 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20113 on 28 January 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.

Additional funding of £1 million is included in the 2009-10 Community Justice Authority allocations to increase the immediacy and speed of delivery of community service work placements. This is not, however, dependent upon the completion of revision of national objectives and standards in the criminal justice system.

The Scottish Government promotes closer working and engagement between safer neighbourhood and community police teams and young people. We encourage police involvement with the CashBack for Communities programme, which offers diversionary activities for young people. We also support, through the Violence Reduction Unit, the training and IT facilities for campus police officers based in schools. Each police force also has a youth engagement strategy that sets out how it works with young people locally.

The 30+ scheme, which enables police forces to retain officers who are seeking to retire with maximum pension benefits, is currently in place. The scheme is now being reviewed and when it is completed we will consider with stakeholders what is most appropriate for Scotland. In parallel with this we are examining other ways of improving the retention of valuable policing skills in the workforce.

All children''s panel members are provided with high-quality pre-service and  in-service training, which covers all aspects of the children''s hearings system and their role within it. This is supplemented by a comprehensive training resource manual provided to all panel members. Good communication skills are essential for panel members and they are provided with advice on speech and language “ stressing the importance of effective communication in hearings and discussing possible barriers to this.

The training manual recognises that children at hearings, or adults who come with them, might have problems with communication and suggests ways to deal with such situations. Measures include obtaining as much information as possible beforehand about any communication difficulties and considering the use of speech and language therapists, or interpreters, at hearings where appropriate. Such issues are also dealt with in on-going training of panel members. Effective communication skills represent one of the core elements of the key competences required of panel members when sitting on children''s hearings.

This information is not held centrally.