Chamber and committees

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is unable to provide this information for the last ten years as it is not easily accessible (it would require 10 years worth of case papers relating to criminal and non criminal cases to be examined manually) and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

COPFS can confirm that between 1 January 2013 and 3 September 2013, 41 organs were retained by pathologists after post mortem examinations instructed by the Procurator Fiscal. As at 3 September 2013, only two of these organs remained with pathologists for further investigation. All nearest relatives have been contacted regarding these retentions.

The information about the brain and body parts related to the NHS is not held centrally. Individual health boards may have the information related to their responsible area.

Under section 38 of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006, tissue samples (including blocks and slides) taken during a post mortem examination become part of the medical records and as such, nearest relatives will not routinely be asked about their preferences for disposal of tissue.

This is a matter for the Police Service of Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not collect this information centrally.

However, the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services has provided the following details.

The figures detail caseload from the following disciplines within Forensic Services – Biology, Chemistry – General Chemistry, Drugs, Fingerprints, Toxicology, Firearms, Documents and Handwriting and relate to cases received by the Forensic Services which at the end of the financial year were either being examined or were awaiting examination.

Data on the number of people stopped by the police is not held centrally.

Recorded crime data is based on an aggregated count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded, and cleared up, by the police in Scotland. It is not possible to provide figures by the calendar month in which the crimes and offences were recorded. Figures are therefore provided for the financial year periods 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The following tables are based on selected crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland, by legacy police force area in i) 2011-12 and ii) 2012-13.

i) Selected Crimes and offences recorded by the police, Scotland, 2011-12

1. This group includes offences where a vehicle was driven under the influence of drink/drugs. It is not possible to separate out those where alcohol was involved.

Source: Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Government

ii) Selected Crimes and offences recorded by the police, Scotland, 2012-13

1. This group includes offences where a vehicle was driven under the influence of drink/drugs. It is not possible to separate out those where alcohol was involved.

Source: Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Government

This is a matter for the Police Service of Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services has the ability to, and where appropriate does, provide services to other agencies. However their primary focus is to provide the Police Service of Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner with a forensic service.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) cannot comment in respect of post mortem examinations carried out at the instance of the NHS or other medical practitioners.

COPFS deals with the investigation of around 12000 deaths every year and instructs post mortem examinations in respect of some cases.

Consent does not need to be obtained in relation to the removal or retention of organs or tissue in respect of post mortems instructed by the Procurator Fiscal, families should be informed about the retention of organs unless they have indicated a wish not to be told, and should be given the opportunity to express their wishes in respect of next steps once retention is no longer required.

It is regrettable that in six such cases since 2007 (one in 2007, one in 2008, one in 2010, two in 2011 and one in 2012), the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s usual procedures were not followed.

The procedures and internal guidance have been reviewed to ensure that they are robust and to further minimise the scope for human error.

COPFS will continue to work closely with mortuaries to regularly reconcile the data held in this respect. This is done in order to ensure that the small number of families who require to be consulted regarding retention of an organ are made aware of the reason for that as soon as there is any organ retention and consulted on the steps they wish to be taken once such retention is no longer required.

The Star Chamber process has been introduced by Police Scotland. The Chief Constable leads this process which involves senior members of Police Scotland and its aim is to regularly review and assess where savings and efficiencies can be made. This process has no role in analysing the performance of divisional commands.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on police support staff by each local division, or hold breakdowns between police support staff employed by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland. This is matter for Police Scotland and the SPA.

The Scottish Government continues to collect the total number of police support staff working within the SPA and Police Scotland each quarter but do not hold numbers as at 31 July 2013. The latest total number of police support staff, as at 30 June 2013, is available in the HR Paper presented to the 21 August 2013 SPA board meeting, available at:

http://www.spa.police.uk/meetings-events/board-meetings/178259/

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

The Scottish Prison Service provides facilities for prisoner meetings of both Narcotics and Alcohol Anonymous when requested by both organisations and when it is practicable to do so.

The Scottish Prison Service does not routinely collect information on how many meetings are held or how many prisoners attend. We have, however, asked each establishment for information on when Narcotics and Alcohol Anonymous meetings are currently held on a regular basis and they have advised as follows: