Chamber and committees

At Scotland level, the number of premises licence applications refused under section 23 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 during the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 is in the following table.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 came fully into force in September 2009 and 2010-11 was the first full year of operation under these new licensing arrangements. Figures from these new arrangements cannot be compared to earlier years' figures due to changes in the way licences are now being administered (for instance, single licences for premises which were previously subject to multiple licences, and registered clubs coming under the responsibility of licensing boards rather than sheriff courts).

Figures for years 2010-11 to 2014-15 at local authority level can be obtained from http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubLiquor but numbers by SIMD decile are not collected centrally. On 7 October 2016, the figures at Scotland and local authority level for 2015-16 will be published on the Scottish Government website.

Number and proportion of premise licence applications refused under section 23

of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, 2010-11 to 2014-15

The number of premises liquor licence applications received, by local authority area, in each of the years 2010-11 to 2014-15, can be found at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubLiquor.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 came fully into force in September 2009 and 2010-11 was the first full year of operation under these new licensing arrangements. Figures from these new arrangements cannot be compared to earlier years' figures due to changes in the way licences are now being administered (for instance, single licences for premises which were previously subject to multiple licences, and registered clubs coming under the responsibility of licensing boards rather than sheriff courts).

On 7 October 2016, the figures at Scotland and local authority level for 2015-16 will be published on the Scottish Government website.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. The management of the interim Vulnerable Persons Database is a matter for Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) to discuss a range of matters. The SCTS is also represented on the Equally Safe Justice Expert Group and the Violence Against Women and Girls Joint Strategic Board which oversee and drive forward progress with Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. Minutes of these meetings are not published.

Glasgow and Edinburgh Sheriff Courts currently operate specialist domestic abuse courts. Elsewhere across Scotland, a range of cluster courts to deal with domestic abuse cases are held, including at Falkirk, Dunfermline, Livingston and Ayr. Where cluster courts are not in operation, cases known to be domestic abuse related are fast-tracked through court by the allocation of earlier trial diets.

Under the terms of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, responsibility for court programming, including for domestic abuse related cases, is a matter for the senior judiciary.

The Scottish Government will bring forward a Bill in year one of this Parliamentary session which will include a new domestic abuse offence. In discussion and engagement with relevant Scottish stakeholders, a number of views have been offered including on whether the new offence should only be focused on psychological abuse and coercive control (as the offence in the Serious Crime Act 2015 is), or whether the new offence should be wider, encompassing the whole range of abusive behaviour which can occur in a relationship. We will carefully consider these views before introducing the legislation as we are determined to develop that offence in line with the expectations and views of stakeholders.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with the Commissioner and his officials. The Commissioner submitted a detailed response to the consultation on the proposal for a Children and Young People Bill, introduced to Parliament in February 2013. Regarding the sharing of children's confidential information, the Commissioner met with officials responsible for Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 during its development and discussed his views on the provisions in Part 4, and in particular the information sharing duties within sections 26 and 27 of the Act. The Deputy First Minister has recently spoken with the Commissioner about the information sharing duties in the Act as part of his engagement following the Supreme Court judgment on the Named Person judicial review. The Scottish Government remains open to advice from the Commissioner's Office around children's understanding of confidentiality. Currently I am not aware of any official discussions around this matter.

The Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to increase abuse recovery services nationally for children and their families.

We have commissioned NHS Education Scotland to lead the development of a comprehensive Skills and Knowledge Framework and National Training Plan for those working with those of all ages who are affected by trauma and abuse in Scotland.

In 2016 we are investing over £3.4million through our Children’s Services Fund to deliver specialist services for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse

The Equally Safe strategy, published in March 2016, aims to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls including children experiencing domestic abuse.

Through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund the Scottish Government funds a number of third sector organisations who deliver prevention services, and provide support for children and young people who have suffered from different forms of abuse

We have invested £19.8 million over the last seven years to increase the number of psychologists working in specialist CAMHS and to improve mental health services across the whole of Scotland, we’re investing an additional £150 million for mental health over five years.

In addition, Scotland is one of the few countries in the world that has dedicated funding for support services for adult survivors of child abuse. Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested £9million to third and voluntary sector organisations which offer a wide range of local services across Scotland that support survivors of child abuse, with a further £1.5million invested in survivor support services for people who experienced abuse whilst in care. The Scottish Government’s Survivor Scotland Innovation and Development fund in 2015-16 provides a further £1million to support services for all survivors.

There were eight Ministerial visits to (a) Orkney and five Ministerial visits to (b) Shetland from 2007-08.

We know that people with Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions report for support in high volume, in Scotland one in four GP contacts are related to MSK conditions; MSK is the 2nd biggest health issue for patients in receipt of incapacity benefit; MSK AHP services deal with 400,000+ referrals per annum; and orthopaedic services receive over 200,000 referrals per annum of whom approximately 55,000 have a planned surgical procedure.

We are working closely with Arthritis Research UK around the prevalence and impact of MSK conditions and also, in recognition of the significant impact of MSK conditions, we have a national programme of work that is looking specifically at quality improvements in a number of areas, self referral to enhanced self care and rehabilitation services (now available across all NHS Boards in Scotland); improving access to the right professional and the right advice first time through nationally agreed end to end integrated pathways (involving physiotherapists, podiatrists and surgeons); working towards a target of 90% of MSK patients being seen within 4 weeks (currently being met for 52% of patients); and improving early intervention to avoid chronicity; reduce the need for specialist orthopaedic referrals where conservative treatment is more likely to benefit the patient than surgical intervention; and facilitating people to continue normal activities and stay in or return to work where appropriate.

Awareness raising continues to take place both locally and nationally. NHS Inform is being used as a single point of contact for patient information with the MSK App now having been downloaded over 56,000 times and the NHS Inform MSK pages having reached 1 million views in June 2016.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.