Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-24504 on 13 April 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish ministers have set Registersof Scotland the following key targets for 2006-07:

Financial

1. To achieve a return of 15%on net capital employed over the three-year period ending 31 March 2007.

2. Limit the increase in thestandard production cost index to 1% for the three years ending 31 March 2007 comparedwith the three-year performance to 31 March 2006.

Speed of Registration

3. To achieve recording and registrationturnaround times in 2006-07:

averaging over the year as awhole no more than 20 working days for Sasine writs;

averaging over the year as awhole no more than 30 working days for Dealings with Whole, and

averaging over the year as awhole no more than 100 working days for domestic First Registrations.

4. to eliminate all pre-July2002 casework except where, for exceptional reasons, agreement has been reachedwith the agent or where court proceedings are pending.

Registration Accuracy

5. to achieve a registrationaccuracy rate of at least 98% for applications despatched during the previous 12months.

Customer Service

6. to continue to operate atCharter Mark standards by:

achieving a 98% rating for overallcustomer care in the annual customer satisfaction survey of solicitors, and

processing 98% of all customerenquiries in compliance with the agency’s published response standards.

The final evaluation of the Glasgow and Fife drugcourts will be published today and can be accessed at the following weblinks:

Report.http://sh45inta/Resource/Doc/100021/0024203.pdf.

ResearchFindings http://sh45inta/Resource/Doc/47121/0020290.pdf.

Thereport is broadly positive, finding that a sizable proportion of individualsmade subject to Drug Court Orders were able to achieve and sustain reductions indrug use and associated offending behaviour. The report also states that offenderswho completed their orders had fewer convictions in the two years after being madesubject to an order than in the two years immediately before, and that there wasand is widespread support for the drug courts both from those working within themand from other criminal justice professionals, such as sheriffs sitting in othercourts.

Onthe basis of the report, I have decided that both drug courts will now continue.They will operate a composite model that will embrace the strengths of both existingmodels. The position of the drug courts will then be reviewed in three years timeagainst the progress made with the summary justice reforms.

There are, however, clear lessonsto be learned from the success of the drug courts – about successful multi-agencyworking, about working to shared agendas and about the benefits of adopting a problemsolving approach to delivery. We will apply these lessons across Scotland andwill take them forward through the reducing reoffending agenda and through the summaryjustice reforms. At present there is no plan for further drug courts given the nationalcoverage of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders - disposals which incorporate themost important features of the drug court and which have been shown to have successin dealing with this client group.

A new older learners programme- Experience Counts’ - will be available from today. This programme aims to improvethe skills and learning capacity of older workers (age 50 and over) through encouragingSector Skills Councils to collaborate with colleges and learning providers to developand deliver bite size or taster courses aimed at the older worker within their sector.This programme will fund proposals aimed at improving the employability skills ofolder people currently in work and will deliver a total of £500,000 over the threefinancial years from 2005–08. Sector Skills Councils will now be invited to submitapplications for this funding.

In the answer to question S1W-24583 on 28 March 2002, I undertook to continue to report quarterly on the number of letters received by ministers and our performance in answering them.

In the quarter July to September 2005, 2,539 letters were received for ministerial reply of which 70% received a reply within our target of 20 working days.

In the quarter October to December 2005, 3,011 letters were received for ministerial reply of which 76% received a reply within our target of 20 working days.

I am pleased to announce that we are today publishing the booklet in electronic form. It is available on http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/17093804.

Additional actions includeclear lines of accountability; proposals to introduce a duty on professionalsfor them to share information where this is required to protect children andyoung people and retraining front line professionals, including social workersin child protection.

Ministerial colleagues wroteto health, police and local authorities in 2003 seeking assurances that theChief Officers have reviewed child protection services in their area and weretaking any necessary action to improve those services. We will be writing againwithin the next week to make further progress with the work that is being done locally on childprotection, particularly in relation to children in substance misusingfamilies.

The SESTRAN Integrated Transport Corridors Study (SITCoS) was commissioned by SESTRAN and the acceptance of the recommendations is primarily a matter for SESTRAN. Should this work inform the regional transport strategy, setting down the priorities of the partnership, the strategy will then be subject to approval and revised by the Scottish ministers at that time.

Consideration is being givento the emerging findings from the bridge cable tests. We have commissioned anindependent analysis of the work done to date and will wait until that work iscomplete before we make any decisions. I will keep the Parliament advised ofprogress at the appropriate time.

Information is given in the document Accident & Emergency information 2004 - 2005. A copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 38433).

Information in the document includes:

the numbers of attendances to hospital accident and emergency departments for the years ended 31 March 2004 and 2005.

the numbers of emergency admissions to non-obstetric/non-psychiatric specialties by hospital/ location for the years ended 31 March 2004 and 2005.

the number of incidents requiring an emergency ambulance by location for the years ended 31 March 2004 and 2005.

Information on the numbers of accident and emergency attendances who proceed to hospital admission is not available, on a routine basis, from central statistical returns.

Published information, from the annual Accident & Emergency Waiting Times Surveys 2000-2005, indicates approximately 15-20% of the new patients that attended during each survey period were admitted to a bed in the same hospital.

In cases of emergency admission, many of these patients may have been admitted via accident and emergency departments but this is not explicitly stated in the source data. Patients may be admitted via other routes (for example, acute medical receiving wards).