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Yes, there is a formal liaison mechanism at various different levels. At the top are the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland—ACPOS—and the Crown Office senior management team.
The local authorities have not resourced it or put it at the top of their agendas. To be honest, the issue has not been at the top of the agendas of directors of social work as much as it should have been.
A full list of Scottish public bodies can be found on the Scottish Government’s website.
Just because a body is a public body does not mean that all of its acts and decisions can be subject to judicial review.
If we have been invited to give evidence on the costs of judicial training, that would be our top priority. In other evidence sessions, we have heard about the considerable pressures on the Procurator Fiscal Service, which is for the courts at the lower end—that is, the district courts.
It is difficult for me to comment on whether that bureaucracy is top-heavy or at the right level. Since the reorganisation of the local authorities, there has been a big clear out of management staff at all levels.
The document is available on our website. Where we have liaised with objectors and communities, we have invited comment on that document—as we have on all the other documents that have made their way on to our website.