Chamber and committees

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

I have asked Michael Cameron, Acting Chief Executive of the Scottish Housing Regulator to respond.

His response is as follows:

The Scottish Housing Regulator collects the amount of rent payable and the amount of Housing Benefit receivable for all Scottish Registered Social Landlords in its Annual Performance and Statistics Return (APSR). For the financial year 2009-10 Glasgow Housing Association reported gross rent receivable of £196.6 million and Housing Benefit receivable of £133.6 million. These figures are published at http://www.esystems.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk/register/reg_pub_dsp.search.

Disclosure Scotland operates to a public performance target of issuing 90% of all types of disclosure applications within 14 calendar days. This is measured from the date the fully and correctly completed application is received by Disclosure Scotland to the date of dispatch and excludes any time an application spends in exception. Examples of exception time include where an enquiry has been sent to a police force and the application is put on hold until the force responds, and where the application is put on hold while further information is requested from the applicant.

In August 2010, 93% of the fully and correctly completed applications were processed within the 14 day target with an average processing time of 5.8 days.

The Scottish Government funds the national fire safety campaign Don''t Give Fire a Home. The website www.dontgivefireahome.com hosts information, advice and interactive materials to educate people about fire risks and to help them prevent fire in the home. The section electricity and fire safety covers areas from mains wiring and sockets to electrical appliances and lighting. In addition, targeted advertising campaigns promote the risks created by electrical appliances. Fire and rescue authorities including Strathclyde, which covers Glasgow, also run local community fire safety initiatives. Free home fire safety visits are offered by Scottish fire and rescue services to assess homes for fire hazards and offer advice.

David Glancy, Procurator Fiscal has been seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and has been based in Afghanistan as part of a UK team since October 2008 to provide assistance and training to the prosecution authorities.

Two members of legal staff of the Crown Office International Co-operation Unit are members of the European Judicial Network a network of prosecutors who provide guidance and assistance on national law to each other.

A member of legal staff from the Crown Office International Co-operation Unit is currently based within Eurojust in the Hague. Eurojust is the EU''s judicial co-operation unit staffed by lawyers and judges from all Member States of the EU.

The Crown Office is designated as the central authority in Scotland for the receipt and issue of request for international mutual legal assistance to and from designated authorities in other countries. The Lord Advocate may nominate a Court in Scotland to recover evidence from witnesses and may direct a prosecutor to make application to a Court to crave the issue of a search warrant.

The Crown Agent is designated as a central authority for the receipt and execution of European Arrest Warrants issued by judicial authorities within the European Union. The Crown Agent may only issue an European Arrest Warrant to the police for execution if satisfied the warrant meets the statutory criteria in the Extradition Act 2003. The decision whether the person should be surrendered to the requesting state is a matter for the Sheriff at Edinburgh. The Crown Agent may also issue European Arrest Warrants to other designated central authorities in the EU Member States to seek surrender of fugitives from justice in Scotland.

There are no bilateral treaties between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan providing for mutual legal assistance or extradition. A request for extradition received from Afghanistan would be received by the Scottish Ministers who, if satisfied the request meets the statutory criteria would certify the request. Crown Office would then crave a warrant to arrest from the sheriff at Edinburgh. No such request has been received or issued.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

Progress has been made on recommendations with which the government agrees, including proposals for the codification by the Court of Session of court rules for McKenzie Friends and the Government''s consideration of a stage two amendment to the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill enabling lay representation in court.

Other proposals which may be implemented without primary legislation are also under active consideration, including the Court of Session Rules Council''s consideration of recommendations on both multi-party actions and protective cost orders in public interest litigation, and the government''s consideration of the requirements for a review of the cost and funding of litigation.

The large group of recommendations for structural changes to the judicial hierarchy and for the different handling of cases in the proposed new structures are closely intertwined and currently subject to a costing exercise being undertaken jointly by the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Government; the costs of recommended reform will be jointly considered by the government and the judicial working group established by the Lord President before the government publish a formal response to the recommendations, later in 2010.

The government intends to issue proposals for public consultation in 2011.

The Scottish Government does not hold individualised data on any crimes or offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, and as such does not hold information on the victims of crimes, such as the age of the victim or the relationship with the perpetrator.