Chamber and committees

There has, however, been an increase in the number of children''s hearings held in the City of Edinburgh local authority area, from 3,167 in 2006-07 to 3,364 in 2007-08.

This figure refers to the number of hearings held, rather than the number of referrals or children, and will include review hearings for children who may have been referred in this or previous years.

A further likely contributory factor to the increase in hearings across Scotland in 2007-08 is the improvement in pre-referral screening processes, leading to more appropriate referrals to the Reporter.

The number of hearings in the other local authority areas which make up the Lothians, have reduced.

(a) Table 1 shows the number of long-term unemployed people claiming unemployment related benefits in each local authority area in Lothians parliamentary region and also the long-term unemployed as a proportion of the resident working-age population and as a proportion of total unemployment in each local authority.

Long-term unemployed are defined as those claiming unemployment related benefits for over 12 months. The latest data available are for November 2008.

Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Local Authorities in the Lothians Parliamentary Region, November 2008

Source: Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Long-term unemployed defined as those claiming for over 12 months.

2. Data on number of long-term unemployed rounded to the nearest five.

3. *Only part of the local authority located in the Lothians Parliamentary Region but the data are for the full local authority area.

4. **The figure for ALL is a total of the local authorities in the table. It does not provide an estimate for the Lothians Parliamentary Region.

(b) Data on long-term unemployment by multi-member electoral ward is not held centrally.

Table 1 shows the number of unemployed people claiming unemployment related benefits in each local authority area in Lothians parliamentary region for each of the last 12 months for which data are available.

Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Local Authorities in the Lothians Parliamentary Region, December 2007 to November 2008

Source: Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

*Only part of the local authority located in the Lothians Parliamentary Region but the data are for the full local authority area.

**The figure for ALL is a total of the local authorities in the table. It does not provide an estimate for the Lothians Parliamentary Region.

The figures do not include direct measures which were not affected by Summary Justice Reform, such as Procurator Fiscal warnings and referrals to the Scottish Children''s Reporter Administration.

The following tables are broken down by the specific charge actually used. This is the principal indicator of the type and severity of the assault.

Charge: Assault - Direct Measures (2007-08)

Charge: Assault - Direct Measures (2008-09)

Charge: Assault to Injury - Direct Measures (2007-08)

Charge: Assault to Injury - Direct Measures (2008-09)

In addition, there were a total of six other charges involving assault where the Procurator Fiscal decided that it would be appropriate to offer a direct measure. These are detailed in the following table.

Charge: Other Charges Involving Assault

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.

3. The information relates to direct measures that were affected by Summary Justice Reform “ i.e. fiscal fines, compensation offers and combined offers of fiscal fines and compensation.

No direct measures have been taken in cases involving assault to severe injury, assault involving permanent impairment and assault involving danger of life.

The case involving Assault to Injury and Permanent Disfigurement was a case where, exceptionally (i.e. because of the high degree of provocation to the accused, a shopkeeper, including racial abuse, disorderly conduct and threats of violence), the Procurator Fiscal concluded that the appropriate course was to offer a direct measure (a conditional compensation offer of £350). Recent guidance issued to Procurators Fiscal in October 2008 makes it clear that there is a presumption in favour of, at least, sheriff summary proceedings where an assault results in any significant injury.

In October, NHS board chief executives were asked to provide details of the action they are taking to address issues such as this where the stroke audit identified the need for improvement. The replies will be assessed by the National Advisory Committee on Stroke.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Fraud¹ in Lothian''s Local Authority Areas² , 2002-03 to 2006-07

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. 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. Some local authority areas in Scotland, among them Midlothian, do not contain a sheriff court.

Action includes supporting schools and local authorities in a number of ways, including having established an expert steering group on substance misuse education in schools to produce advice, guidance and proposals aimed at helping schools and authorities to achieve the improvements sought through Curriculum for Excellence. The Scottish Government is developing new guidance, Included, Engaged and Involved: Part 2, which will focus on the prevention and management of exclusion from school.

Actions to tackle alcohol-related issues within schools in the Lothians parliamentary region is a matter for the particular individual local authorities concerned. Therefore, the information requested is not held centrally.

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

**Information for 2008-09 is as at 27 November 2008.

Source: Scottish Stroke Care Audit, National Report on Stroke Services in Scottish Hospitals “ Data relating to 2005 “ 2007 (Executive Summary), (2008).

Data for 2006 are not available, as the Scottish Stroke Care Audit agreed a data collection amnesty that year to allow hospitals with a data entry backlog to focus on collecting audit data for 2007.