Chamber and committees

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17128 on 31 October 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

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

The procurement process for HM Prison Bishopbriggs is underway and short-listed bidders are preparing their tender proposals. The SPS expect to award a contract for the design and construction of the prison next summer. The prison opening date will be set following receipt of these proposals.

The information is given in the following table. People who were tried in the High Court are shown separately.

People with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts whose Main Crime was a Crime of Indecency, by Approximate Local Authority Area¹, 2002-03 to 2006-07

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	21	28	26	49	60
Aberdeenshire	7	8	13	19	19
Angus	16	12	8	8	18
Argyll and Bute	11	5	9	1	5
Clackmannanshire	5	4	3	7	3
Dumfries and Galloway	3	12	7	9	24
Dundee City	11	13	14	33	29
East Ayrshire	6	16	13	21	23
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	3	6	4	4	1
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	1
Edinburgh, City of	48	56	46	71	67
Eilean Siar	-	1	4	3	5
Falkirk	10	12	12	10	15
Fife	27	32	18	28	22
Glasgow City	140	159	275	315	324
Highland	21	44	41	32	25
Inverclyde	1	5	4	5	1
Midlothian	-	-	1	-	-
Moray	-	6	13	9	15
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	9	12	22	14	8
Orkney Islands	2	2	4	2	-
Perth and Kinross	11	14	8	9	12
Renfrewshire	13	13	18	6	7
Scottish Borders	10	10	18	19	13
Shetland Islands	1	1	6	3	5
South Ayrshire	18	10	11	8	10
South Lanarkshire	23	23	33	30	20
Stirling	2	6	10	9	9
West Dunbartonshire	8	7	13	4	10
West Lothian	11	8	11	14	13
High Court	124	141	144	110	77
Scotland	562	666	809	852	841

Notes:

1. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. There are four local authorities, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, which do not contain a sheriff court.

2. Crimes of indecency comprises rape and attempted rape, indecent assault, lewd and indecent behaviour and other crimes of indecency. Other crimes of indecency comprise the following crime categories: incest, unnatural crimes and procuration and other sexual offences. The latter category includes prostitution.

The Scottish Government participated in Lord Philip''s review, as part of the commitment given in the First Minister''s 30 January 2008 statement to Parliament, to look at the case for an integrated Tribunal Service for Scotland in order to meet the public service reform objective of [bringing] together organisations with similar skills, expertise and processes.

Tribunal reform has been prioritised by inclusion in the Programme for Government (3 September 2008), which said, we will identify ways to streamline and improve the operation of tribunals in Scotland, in light of the review being led by Lord Philip.

Independent research has been commissioned into tribunal training provision and judicial training needs, as referred to in the report, and the results will be published before the end of January 2009.

The immediate next steps are for three of the five options presented by Lord Philip, including the government''s preferred option of an integrated Tribunal Service for Scotland, to be evaluated in further detail, within the context of recommendations from Lord Gill''s forthcoming review of the civil courts, Lord Philip''s own further report into administrative justice and changes arising in Scotland from UK Government''s implementation of Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

However, neither the status quo nor the option of UK-wide integrated service will be further considered. Lord Philip reports that the status quo does not provide good value to the taxpayer and is characterised by a duplication of effort. It is not fit for a modern purpose and is described correctly as an incoherent, inconsistent system arising from unplanned growth and comprising a confusing mix of devolved and reserved responsibilities.

Lord Philip has also effectively dismissed the case for a UK-wide integrated service, when he argues that integration of devolved Scottish tribunals within the UK system does not make sense, requiring aspects of the legal system in Scotland to be administered in England, concluding that this option would be inconsistent with the principle of devolution.

Policy responsibilities for Tribunals in Scotland are split between the UK and Scottish Governments but we agree with Lord Philip when he asserts that users are unlikely to be concerned with whether a tribunal is reserved or devolved, or by whom it is administered and concludes that there is a strong argument from the legal perspective for a new Scottish Tribunals Service to support both [reserved] GB tribunals within Scotland and [devolved] Scottish tribunals.

Exploratory discussions have already been held with the UK Government on the proper and effective administration of tribunals in Scotland, and these discussions will continue against the background of the national conversation on choosing Scotland''s future.

We are working with the police, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, UK Human Trafficking Centre and the UK Government to oversee the implementation of the joint UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking. The Plan, which was developed following public consultation, was updated on 2 July 2008. It outlines the work being undertaken to combat all aspects of human trafficking, including the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution. Copies of the action plan are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46662).

We are aware of the announcement by the Home Secretary and understand that Home Office are consulting on their proposals. When the details of their final proposals become clearer we will consider any implications that they may have for Scotland.

We are in regular contact with the UK Government on these issues. Our priority is to ensure that our legislation is appropriate to Scottish circumstances.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-16471 on 1 October 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-16471 on 1 October 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-16471 on 1 October 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.