Chamber and committees

In the period 2001-02 to 2005-06one person, in 2004-05, was proceeded against where the main offence involved wasunder the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The person involved was acquitted.

The Accountant in Bankruptcymaintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of corporateinsolvencies are compiled by financial year. The following table gives thenumber of compulsory liquidations and receiverships for the financial years 1999-2000to 2005-06. Figures for previous years are incomplete because administrators andreceivers were not required to send forms to the Accountant in Bankruptcy untilJuly 1999. These figures refer to limited companies only as partnerships andother unincorporated business associations, which are declared bankrupt in Scotland, areregistered as personal bankruptcies under Scottish law. Figures on these arenot available separately from other personal bankruptcies.

Financial Year	Number of Compulsory Liquidations in Scotland	Number of Receiverships in Scotland
1999-2000 Part Year	197	57
2000-01	375	104
2001-02	460	86
2002-03	535	124
2003-04	441	102
2004-05	470	73
2005-06	469	31

Source: Accountant inBankruptcy.

The Accountant in Bankruptcymaintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of bankruptcies are compiled by financialyear. The following table gives the number of bankruptcies for the financialyears 1995-96 to 2005-06. Statistics on how many debtors were student borrowersis not held on the register.

Financial Year	Number of Bankruptcies in Scotland
1995-96	2,379
1996-97	2,534
1997-98	2,701
1998-99	2,701
1999-2000	3,110
2000-01	3,185
2001-02	3,193
2002-03	3,228
2003-04	3,309
2004-05	3,521
2005-06	5,423

Source: Accountant inBankruptcy.

Data on numbers of arrests andcharges is not held centrally, nor is there a specific crime code for “incitementto racial hatred”. Such crimes will be included within crimes arising from racerelations legislation, which includes offences arising from the Race Relations Actof 1976, and those parts of the Public Order Act 1986 which refers to acts likelyto stir up racial hatred and the possession of inflammatory material. The availableinformation is shown in the following tables.

The statistics dealing with recordedcrime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceededagainst for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is thepossibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course ofjudicial proceedings. A crime may be recorded by the police in one year and courtproceedings concluded in a subsequent year. Crimes committed by children aged under16 are also generally dealt with through the children’s hearings system rather thanthe courts.

It is important to be aware of the differences between the output generated from these different sets of data.Firstly, not all recorded crimes will have been detected by the police, and therecan be occasions where the Procurator Fiscal decided not to proceed with a case.When reports are made to the Procurator Fiscal, there might be several charges underrace relations legislation against the same individual, which would become a singlecase. There could also be cases where a person is facing several different charges,which are grouped together, but the offence under race relations legislation isnot the main offence. Finally, the statistics on charges proved are only availableat the end of the case – it can take up to two years to go through the court systems.

Number of Crimes Arising fromRace Relations Legislation by Police Force, 2001-02 to 2005-06

Police Force	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	0	2	1	4	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	1	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	4	4	4	4
Lothian and Borders	0	4	0	6	3
Northern	0	2	5	2	0
Strathclyde	6	28	3	1	7
Tayside	0	0	0	1	0
All Scotland	6	41	13	18	14

 

Number of Persons with a ChargeProved in Scottish Courts where Main Offence Under Race Relations Legislation, 2000-01to 2004-05

Police Force	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Central	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	0	0	0	0
Lothian and Borders	0	0	0	0	0
Northern	0	0	0	0	0
Strathclyde	0	0	1	1	0
Tayside	0	1	0	0	0
All Scotland	0	1	1	1	0

 

The available information, whichrelates to prosecutions under section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act1967, is given in the following table. This section of the 1967 Act provides thatany person who “assaults, resists, obstructs, molests or hinders a constable…” shallbe guilty of an offence. Offences which specifically involve an assault on a policeofficer can not generally be identified separately from other section 41(1)(a) offencesin the data held centrally. Similarly, other assaults on police officers which mayresult in other charges such as serious assault or attempted murder can not be identifiedseparately in the available statistics. Summary statistics on the outcome of courtproceedings concluded in 2005-06 are planned for publication on 21 March.

Persons Proceeded Against inScottish courts for an Offence Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act1967¹, by Police Force Area, 2002-03 to 2004-05

Police Force Area	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Central	188	180	219
Dumfries and Galloway	93	97	83
Fife	174	178	167
Grampian	289	329	297
Lothian and Borders	476	451	391
Northern	175	227	195
Strathclyde	1,405	1,683	1,863
Tayside	364	370	385
Scotland	3,164	3,515	3,600

 

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:The figures are given in theScottish Executive Statistical Bulletins (Criminal Justice Series) - PrisonStatistics Scotland, 2005-06and are available on the Scottish Executive Statistics website at www.scotland.gov.uk/stats under“Crime and Justice”, and are also available in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 40246).

In the period 1996-97 to2005-06 there was one conviction, in 2003-04, where the main offence involvedwas allowing disorderly conduct onlicensed premises. Convictions forselling alcohol to people who are drunk can not be identified separately in theavailable statistics.

No parenting orders havebeen granted since they came into force on 4 April 2005by way of a three year national pilot. Parentingorders were always envisaged as a last resort where voluntary co-operation hadfailed.

Parenting orders areconcerned with the behaviour of the parent, not the child. An order will onlybe appropriate where the behaviour of the parent in relation to their child isseriously deficient and where a parent has been offered help and support on avoluntary basis and has refused to engage with that support.

Statisticson truancy are available from the annual Scottish Executive National StatisticsPublication on Attendance and Absence in Scottish Schools 2005-06:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/159603/0043419.pdf.

Statisticson exclusion are available from the annual Scottish Executive NationalStatistics Publication Exclusions from Schools, 2005-06:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/164454/0044803.pdf.

Recentmeasures to improve attendance management include consultation on draftguidance Engaged and Involved: attendance in Scottish schools (2006) whichhighlights the need to monitor and respond to patterns of absence including theuse of home link workers to liaise with families; and, Executive supportedfunding and pilots of automated call systems which deter truancy and improveparental involvement in attendance. Homelink workers can also be used to liaisewith families regarding matters that have led to exclusion and thereintegration of pupils who have been excluded.

The Scottish Schools(Parental Involvement) Act 2006, which aims to foster a partnership approachbetween schools and parents, will be fully operational by August 2007.

The budget for the developmentprogramme for the Schengen Information System is provided and managed by the HomeOffice on behalf of the UK. This programme is currently scheduled to be deliveredin 2010.

The programme to deliver theSchengen Information System for the UK is being managed by the HomeOffice in partnership with key stakeholders, including the Scottish Police Service.The Executive is keeping in close touch with developments.