Chamber and committees

The 248 repeat offenders had a charge proved on 751 separate occasions in the period back to 1 April 1997. These 751 occasions accounted for 1,893 individual offences for which a charge was proved.

The 248 repeat offenders had a charge proved for crimes/offences (in the period back to 1 April 1997) on the following number of occasions:

(a) 125 people - two occasions;

(b) 60 people - three occasions;

(c) 20 people - four occasions;

(d) 43 people - five to ten occasions, and

(e) No one had a charge proved for crimes on more than 10 occasions.

The following table shows the number of charges of Assault to Injury, where the initial decision taken by the Procurator Fiscal was to deal with the offending behaviour by means of a direct measure from 1 October 2008 to 31 January 2009.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) database does not contain information to identify local authority areas and the individual jurisdictions do not always match the local authority areas. As a result, the information has been split into the COPFS Areas.

The figures include only those direct measures which were affected by Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007.

Table 1: Charges - Assault to Injury ^{1, 2}

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	Total Charges Reported	Total as Direct Measures
Argyll and Clyde	430	12
Ayrshire	441	7
Central	183	4
Dumfries and Galloway	200	13
Fife	297	21
Glasgow	678	24
Grampian	495	28
Highland and Islands	163	13
Lanarkshire	410	13
Lothian and Borders	1,243	68
Tayside	238	4

Notes:

1. The information in these tables has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The following table shows the number of charges under section 52(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 (wilfully or recklessly destroy or damage property), where the initial decision taken by the Procurator Fiscal was to deal with the offending behaviour by means of a direct measure from September 2008 to February 2009.

The figures include only those direct measures which were affected by Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007.

Table 1: Charges - Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 52(1) - Direct Measures Issued ^{1, 2}

COPFS	September 2008	October 2008	November 2008	December 2008	January 2009	February 2009
Charges as Direct Measures	275	218	212	149	185	216
Total Charges Reported	1,381	1,414	1,227	1,298	1,610	1,219

Notes:

1. The information in these tables has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s (COPFS) case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors considers that the home report has tempted potential buyers back to the housing market, that buyers are making the most of having home reports available to them and that this is keeping interest in the housing market alive, with many sellers seeing home reports as a good marketing tool.

The Institution''s research shows the 10 largest surveyors'' firms that provide nearly all the surveys in Scotland agree that the slow property market and dip in house prices are due to lack of mortgage finance, risk of redundancy and low confidence in the market, and not due to the introduction of the home report. Although some selling agents consider that the home report has slowed down the rate of properties coming to the market, others believe it is stimulating the market.

This information has been taken from the Scottish Government''s Court Proceedings database and does not include young people who have been referred to the reporter. In 2006-07, the latest year for which information is available, there were 641 individuals under 18 with a charge proved for a crime or offence in the Lothian Region. Of these, 393 had committed no previous crimes/offences in the period back to 1 April 1997 and 248 had committed at least one previous crime/offence over the same period.

We are currently gathering information on the uptake of Small Business Bonus Scheme. Initial indications are that uptake of the scheme amongst eligible businesses has been strong.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government provided £3,401,218 to NHS Lothian in 2009-10 for the provision of alcohol brief interventions and alcohol-specific treatment and support services. However, the total costs of alcohol-related illness in Lothian are likely to exceed this amount.

Nationally, it is estimated that the wider economic and social costs of alcohol misuse to Scotland in 2006-07 was £2.25 billion of which £405 million was to NHS Scotland.

Information obtained from Lothian and Borders Police indicates that between January and December 2008 the force undertook 255 intelligence-led test purchase visits to off“sales premises. Of those premises tested there were 39 first failures and four second failures.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0226-01.htm