Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally.

The statistical return, from which most of the figures in the annual statistical bulletin are taken, is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded, and cleared up, by the police in Scotland. One return is made for each council area in Scotland and these are aggregated to give a national total. Returns from the eight Scottish home forces are included in the annual bulletin.

On 1 April 2013, the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 brought together the existing eight police forces into a single Police Service of Scotland. While data will no longer be returned by eight police forces, 2013-14 data will still be collected for the single Police Service of Scotland. As a result, the geographical levels at which data are presented in future statistical bulletins will be reviewed.

Further details are provided in Section 7 of the statistical bulletin Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2012-13 which was published on 18 June 2013 and is available via the following web link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/06/9697

The number of criminal reports received by the Procurators Fiscal in each year are as follows:

The reports can be received against one or more individuals and often include multiple charges, which can be amalgamated for the purposes of prosecution in court.

The Scottish Government contacted the UK Government when the fund was announced to ask for details and check that Scottish based diaspora organisations will be included in the allocation of grants. We understand that part of the fund will be used to support diaspora organisations in the UK, including in Scotland.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a form of physical abuse of women and girls and a violation of their human rights under the guise of culture and/or religion.

To date there have been three reported incidents of FGM in Scotland, with no prosecutions or court convictions. The Scottish Government tackles FGM through a multi-agency approach which includes a variety of preventative and supportive interventions to encourage reporting involving voluntary and community groups. We also work proactively with key partners such as the police, health, social services and education to ensure that FGM continues to be a priority.

All cases reported to Police Scotland under the Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 are investigated and appropriate action taken with the records being kept for monitoring purposes.

Opening a clinic specialised in female genital mutilation (FGM) would be a matter for health boards to decide. Currently in Scotland, the NHS offers all available assistance to ensure positive health outcomes for women identified as being victims of FGM.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on the number of emergency service workers charged with driving offences while responding to an emergency call in each of the last three years.

Road traffic legislation including responsibility for providing exemptions to general requirements for emergency service vehicles is reserved. Section 87 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 provides that any provision imposing a speed limit on motor vehicles does not apply to any vehicle on an occasion when it is being used for Fire Brigade, Ambulance or Police purposes, if the observance of that provision would be likely to hinder the use of the vehicle for the purpose for which it is being used on that occasion. This is qualified by a need to demonstrate that compliance with the provision would hinder the purpose for which the vehicle was being used at the time rather than providing a blanket exemption. Similar provisions for exemption apply to a number of restrictions that might hinder the purpose for which an emergency service vehicle is being used on any occasion.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The training of police officers in emergency response driving is a matter for the chief constable and the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

The Scottish Government sets the strategic direction for the Scottish Police Authority through the strategic police priorities that Scottish Ministers determine. The Scottish Police Authority and the Police Service of Scotland are then responsible for setting out how these priorities will be delivered and how progress against them will be measured.

Scottish Ministers and officials regularly speak to, meet and correspond with individual retailers and business organisations about a range of topics including equal opportunities, as part of on-going engagement with sectors of the economy. In addition, the Scottish Government has funded the Scottish Transgender Alliance project since 2007. The Scottish Transgender Alliance assists transgender people, service providers, employers and equality organisations to improve gender identity and gender reassignment equality, rights and inclusion in Scotland.

At present, issues in relation to equal opportunities are reserved to the UK Government and enforcement of the Equality Act 2010 is a matter for the courts and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. An independent Scotland has the opportunity to improve on the UK regulatory model, streamlining and reinvigorating its functions to make them compatible with and reflective of our values and ambitions.