Chamber and committees

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

The following table illustrates the number of occasions children aged under 16 were admitted to SPS in each of the last 24 months.

Month	2007	2008	2009
January	1	0	0
February	1	1	0
March	1	4
April	4	5
May	1	3
June	0	2
July	1	3
August	3	0
September	3	0
October	0	2
November	1	0
December	0	0

 

Yes. Several reports from the Scottish Law Commission are currently under review, including a report on Personal Injury Actions: Limitation and Prescribed Claims. This report covers the operation of sections 17(2)(b), 18(2)(b) and 19A of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, in accordance with one of the references made to the Commission by the previous administration.

The discussion papers and reports of the commission are available on its website, http://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20267 on 11 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.

There are approximately 24,000 individuals entitled to some form of diplomatic privilege and immunity in the UK.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated. I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47566).

If a member of any diplomatic mission is alleged to have committed a road traffic or vehicle offence, the relevant police force should notify the Diplomatic Protection Group of the Metropolitan Police, who will then report it to the Protocol Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The FCO would then take the appropriate action.

For a minor offence, this is usually a formal letter to the relevant mission, bringing the alleged offence to their attention and reminding them of their duty to obey the laws of the UK.

For more serious offences, consideration will be given to making a formal request for immunity to be waived.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20265 on 11 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.

The UK Health Protection Agency maintains an overview of emerging research on the health effects of mobile phones. They advise that no new evidence has emerged to alter their current advice. In keeping with that advice, the UK Chief Medical Officers strongly advise that where children and young people do use mobile phones, they should be encouraged to use them for essential purposes only and to keep all calls short. The Scottish Government considers that this approach maintains an appropriate balance between individual responsibility and regulatory control.

The Lord Advocate has issued guidance to police forces in respect of offences alleged to have been committed by children which are appropriate for joint reporting by the police to the Procurator Fiscal and the Reporter to the Children''s Hearing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20253 on 5 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.

Preventing Offending by Young People: A Framework for Action (Bib. number 46408), which I published in June 2008, sets out a shared vision of what national and local agencies should do to prevent, divert, manage and change offending behaviour by young people. In the framework we have made a commitment to develop an evidence base around what works in early and effective intervention.

Over the coming months we will undertake research which will look at the wide range of preventative responses available and their effectiveness, with a view to identifying and disseminating good practice.

There are four categories of case which must be jointly reported to the Reporter to the Children''s Hearing and the Procurator Fiscal for discussion and therefore considered for prosecution.

Where a child is under the age of 16 years, and, after discussion with the reporter, the decision is taken for the Procurator Fiscal to deal with the child, Crown Counsel''s instructions must be obtained before proceedings are commenced. Where a child is in custody and the Procurator Fiscal considers that immediate solemn proceedings are justified, the child can be placed on petition and the matter reported to Crown Counsel within three days for instructions. Prosecution of a child under 16 can only proceed in certain categories of cases and on the general or specific instructions of the Lord Advocate. The categories are as follows:

1. Offences which require by law to be prosecuted on indictment or which are so serious as normally to give rise to solemn proceedings on the instructions of the Lord Advocate in the public interest.

2. Offences alleged to have been committed by children aged 15 years or over which in the event of conviction oblige or permit a court to order disqualification from driving.

3. Offences alleged to have been committed by persons of over 16 years, who are under the supervision of a Children''s Hearing and this are children as defined in section 93(2)(b)(ii) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

4. Breaches of antisocial behaviour orders allegedly committed by children aged 12 to 15 years (although there is a presumption that the Reporter will deal with these cases).

The categories are further defined as follows:

Category 1

Offences which require by law to be prosecuted on indictment fall under two

heads:

1. common law offences which are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary namely treason, murder and rape, and

2. statutory offences for which the statute only makes provision for prosecution on indictment or for a penalty on conviction on indictment - for example, contraventions of the Firearms Act 1968, Section 16, 17(1) and (2), and 18(1), the Road Traffic Act 1988, Section 1, and the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Section 5(1).

Offences of culpable homicide, attempted murder, assault to the danger of life, sodomy, assault and robbery involving the use of firearms, attempted rape, incest and related offences (contrary to the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 Sections 1-3) are offences which are normally indicted in the High Court of Justiciary.

Other offences which may fall into this category as being those normally prosecuted on indictment are assault to severe injury or permanent disfigurement, assault with intent to rape, serious assault and robbery (in particular involving the use of weapons other than firearms), assault with intent to rob involving the use of firearms, fire-raising and malicious mischief causing or likely to cause great damage to property or danger to life, all Misuse of Drugs Act offences involving possession of Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply and supply of any controlled drugs.

It should be emphasised that only offences which are normally prosecuted on indictment are to be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

Category 2

This category applies exclusively to children aged 15 years or over. Children will be prosecuted for this type of offence only if the Procurator Fiscal considers that it would be in the public interest to obtain a disqualification which would still be in force when the child became 16 and that in the event of conviction it was likely that the court would impose such a disqualification. Minor Road Traffic Act offences carrying a liability to discretionary disqualification should not normally be reported.

Category 3

There is no restriction on the forum for the prosecution of children of or over 16 years of age who can be proceeded against in the district court.

Category 4

There is a presumption that the reporter will deal with these cases, following discussion with the Procurator Fiscal. Therefore, cases where 12 to 15-year-olds have been charged with a separate offence (section 9(3) of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004) should not be reported to the Procurator Fiscal unless the separate offence falls to be reported under another part of these Directions. However, children will only be prosecuted where the offending behaviour accompanying the breach is serious.

When reporting to procurators fiscal cases against adults in which it is alleged that a child also committed the offence (not being an offence specified in categories 1 to 3) along with the adult, the report should state that a copy of the report has been sent to the reporter for action in respect of the child. The police should not include the child offender as a subject in the police report to the Procurator Fiscal.

This guidance is published on the COPFS website, at:

http://www.crownoffice.gov.uk/Publications/2004/10/LdAdvGuidOffChild.