Chamber and committees

The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 contains provisions for a new community sentence - the community payback order, and a presumption against short prison sentences. These provisions, along with two other related technical sections, will be commenced on 1 February 2011. The necessary orders will be laid before the Parliament in coming weeks.

The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (the Act) was passed by the Parliament on 30 June 2010 and received Royal Assent on 6 August 2010.

Some provisions within the Act are already commenced or about to be commenced. These are as noted in the following table.

Provisions Already Commenced or About to be Commenced “ Criminal Justice and Licensing Act 2010

Provision within the Act	Date into Force
Section 178(3)(e)	16 August 2010
Sections 38 and 97	6 October 2010
Section 108(1) and (4)	12 October 2010
Sections 43, 44 and 63	Will be brought into force on 1 December 2010

As the largest piece of criminal justice legislation in many years, work is underway in considering when best to commence the remaining provisions within the Act to ensure effective implementation. Decisions as to when to commence other provisions within the Act will be taken shortly.

In 2010-11, Transport Scotland is continuing to prioritise trunk road cycling and walking efforts on completion of the trunk road sections and crossings for the National Cycle Network (NCN) in accordance with the Trunk Road Cycling Initiative (which now forms part of the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland). Five sections of the A828/A82 Oban to Fort William Route 78 of the NCN are currently planned for 2010-11.

Following the publication of the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland and the commitment to achieving a 10% modal share for bicycles, Scottish Government investment in cycling increased from £11.5 million in 2009-10 to £17.3 million in 2010-11, an increase of over 50%. For the forthcoming spending review, Ministers are considering how to make best use of the available capital budget and their conclusions will be reported to Parliament on 17 or 18 November.

Transport Scotland''s trunk road capital budget was £256.8 million in 2009-10 of which £1.35 million was spent on standalone cycling and walking improvements along or near trunk roads. In addition cycling and walking provision was a feature of capital road improvements and maintenance including 20km of cycleways within the A977 Clackmannanshire Bridge, A830 Arisaig to Loch nan Uamh, A9 Helmsdale and A68 Dalkeith Northern Bypass. The actual spend on this element cannot be separated out because of the fixed price lump sum nature of trunk road contracts.

Cycling and walking facilities feature in the proposals for A90 Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and A90 Balmedie-Tipperty. Elsewhere Transport Scotland is concentrating standalone trunk road cycling and walking efforts between 2010 and 2015 in completion of the National Cycle Network (NCN) between Oban and Fort William and between Fort William and Inverness. The NCN is already complete in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire.

Information on the number of homicides recorded in Scotland in 2008-09 broken down by (a) sex of the offender, (b) age of the offender, (c) police force area and (d) main method of killing is given in Tables 2, 4 and 6 of the statistical bulletin Homicide in Scotland, 2008-09, published by the Scottish Government in February 2010, and available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/02/19113939/12.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29870 on 11 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I will inform Parliament once a decision has been taken on the date on which the relevant provisions will come into force.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-35316 on 5 August 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.