Figures from the statistical bulletin, Staff of Scottish Local Authority Services 2003 (http://194.247.95.101/stats/bulletins/00355.pdf), show whole-time equivalent (WTE) criminal justice social workers numbers as follows: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 1,160 1,182 1,241 1,310 1,452 Figures for the 2004 bulletin are still being accumulated, but our most recent trawl of responses from 25 of the 32 local authorities indicated that WTE posts in offender services increased by around 8% between October 2003 and July 2004 and that vacancies reduced by 10% during the same period.