Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executiveprovides support for a network of local alcohol and drug action teams made upof key partners and agencies which identify, prioritise and co-ordinateactivities at a local level to reduce alcohol related harm, including addressingexcessive drinking and its effects.

In addition to national activitiesincluding communications work, the Scottish Executive has provided anadditional £669,000 to support local activities across Grampian in 2005-06 and2006-07. This has enabled the three local Alcohol and Drug Action Teams,covering Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City to educate people on the consequences of excessivedrinking and ensure that service development is in line with local need.

NHS boards and local alcoholand drug action teams are best placed to ensure that activities and servicesbeing taken forward at a local level are supporting delivery of our overallpriorities for reducing alcohol related harm.

To support this, the Scottish Executive has provided nearly £10 million of additional funding to NHSBoards in 2005-06 and 2006-07. This funding has been allocated across Scotland ona transparent basis, according to local need whilst ensuring a reasonableminimum level of funding is provided to all areas.

The Scottish Executiverecognises alcohol test purchasing is an effective means of enforcing liquorlicensing law and we are keen to extend the scheme to other areas as soon aspracticable. However, the welfare of the children and young people taking partin the test purchasing of alcohol remains a prime concern. Before extending thescheme elsewhere, therefore, it is important for the lessons learned in the Fife pilot tobe reflected in national operating procedures for adoption by all ScottishPolice Forces which will ensure test purchasing is carried out safely, fairlyand effectively.

The Scottish Executive alreadypublishes statistics on liquor licensing with regards to the presentlegislation, these are being reassessed as to how the new act might best be monitoredfollowing its full implementation in 2009.

As part of the implementationof the new licensing legislation consideration is being given to how its effectsmight best be monitored following the act’s full implementation in 2009.

The information requested isnot available centrally, as the relevant information supplied to the Scottish Executiveby local authorities in their Local Financial Returns only specifies their spendingon school boards.

However, in 2004-05 £565,300and in 2005-06, £736,450 was spent on the promotion of parental involvement by the Scottish Executive. This included consultation and information on the Parental InvolvementBill; the Making the Difference series of leaflets, the preparation of a CD Romof good practice and the Parentzone website.

The proposals for the AberdeenCrossrail scheme are still at feasibility stage. The decision on implementationand delivery of this scheme will be dependant firstly on successful completion ofSTAG2 and then subject to the outcome of the Strategic Projects Review and futureSpending Reviews.

The Network Rail fund is forperformance enhancements to the existing network and not intended for new majorprojects.

The Home Secretary announcedon 26 April 2006 that 1,023 prisoners who should have been consideredfor deportation at the end of their sentence were instead released into the community.The announcement did not indicate whether these were UK figures orfigures only for England and Wales. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has sought clarificationfrom the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) regarding how many of theseindividuals, if any at all, were released from Scottish prisons.

The number of “foreign nationals”held in Scotland’s prisons, is on a pro rata basis, significantly smallerthan those held in prisons in England and Wales. In Scotland the figure is just over 1% of the prison population.In the past 12 months, 188 individuals identified as “foreign nationals” have beenreleased from a custodial sentence. Of those, 26 were released into the custodyof IND. Of the remainder, only 15 were serving sentences of more than one year.

Where criminal proceedings areinitiated against a foreign national, the prosecutor will serve a notice that theindividual shall be considered for deportation by the court provided they are atleast 17 years of age and the offence is punishable by imprisonment. On convictionthis notice will be brought to the attention of the court before sentence is passed.The decision of the court is then communicated to the IND by the Scottish CourtService. Following this notification should the IND wish to consider an individualfor deportation at the end of their sentence, they will inform the SPS of this.The SPS will then contact the IND when the individual nears the end of their sentence.As of 4 May, there are 90 individuals identified as “foreign nationals” in SPS custody.The SPS has sent a list of these individuals to the immigration service.

Last week, ACPO indicated thatone individual who has been identified bythe Home Office amongst the list of the 79 most serious cases was believed to be residentin Scotland. As the FirstMinister made clear last week, Scottish police forces stood ready to assist theHome Office with any requests they made to track down individuals in this category.At the request of the Home Office, Scottishpolice forces worked with the IND to identify the whereabouts of this individual. Followinga joint operation by Grampian Police and the IND, this individual is now in custody.

The SPS has reviewed its processesto ensure that they are as robust as possible and will shortly meet with the IND and Scottish CourtService to take any steps necessary in light of the recent announcements made bythe Home Secretary.

I have asked Dr. PaulStollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), toanswer. His response is as follows:

The work on the ScottishEnergy Rating Tool is currently in progress. Development work has not yetreached a stage where an independent assessment would prove to be useful.Consequently no assessment has been carried out.

I have asked Dr. PaulStollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), toanswer. His response is as follows:

The SBSA has to dateconsidered using SAP 2005, rdSAP and the Scottish Energy Rating Tool for existingprivately-owned dwellings. Final decisions have still to be taken on which of the latter two methodologies (or both) will eventually be adopted.