Chamber and committees

The group is to be chaired by Dr Charan Gill MBE. The Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and I will also sit on the group.

We expect tobe able to respond to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive on the Glasgow Crossrailstudy during the spring.

The Defence Scientific Advisory Council’s (DSAC) Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of less lethal technologies is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is responsible for monitoring the medical implication of taser. The secretariat of the DSAC can be contacted on the following link http://www.mod.uk/dsac/secretariat.htm.

The deployment of Taser guns is an operational matter for chief constables. Ministers support the use of these devices in accordance with the policy and operational guidance which has been prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. Copies of the guidance are publicly available on request through [email protected].

The Taser X26 is the device used in Scotland.

Taser technology has been subject to rigorous assessment by the police Scientific Development Branch and the Defence Scientific Advisory Council’s Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Technologies (DOMILL).

DOMILL continues to receive information from police forces across the UK to ensure on-going clinical scrutiny of the use of Taser.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) approached the Executive in September 2004 seeking Scottish ministers’ views on extending the operational trial of Taser as a less lethal option for Scottish forces in dealing with firearms incidents. The proposals made clear that the use of these devices would adhere to the ACPO/ACPOS Manual of Guidance on Police use of Firearms; that threat and risk assessments would be conducted so that Chief Constables could be satisfied about their force’s tactical and operational capabilities to deploy this weapon, and that before any operational deployment is made a rigorous training programme would be conducted.

On that basis, ministers supported the decision to use these devices, while recognising that it was an operational matter for chief constables to determine the appropriate response to any firearms incident in the light of circumstances in each case.

The available data on closure orders granted by sheriff courts are presented in the following table and cover the period from October 2004 to September 2005. This is also available in the Standing up to Antisocial Behaviour First Anniversary Report:

www.antisocialbehaviourscotland.com.

At present we can only provide information on the number of closures by police constabulary area. However, we will be able to provide the additional information required after 30 April 2006, when we receive the first annual reports on the use of the measures of the act.

Constabulary Area	October 2004 to September 2005 Number of Closure Orders Granted
Fife	4
Tayside	3
Lothian and Borders	1
Strathclyde	1

 

If Scottish ministers wanted to make it compulsory for those using the services of Disclosure Scotland to hold an identity card or submit to an identity check through the National Identity Register, then this, according to Section 44 of the Identity Cards bill, would require an act of the Scottish Parliament.

The Executive currently has no plans to require individuals to hold an identity card in order to have a criminal record check carried out or for any other purpose.

Comprehensive information on all grants made by the Executive to voluntary organisations is available publicly on the Executive’s website. Information for 2004-2005 is to be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Voluntary-Issues/15300/22255

Information for 2005-2006 is at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Voluntary-Issues/15300/DF0506.