Chamber and committees

The information of changes in numbers of fire fighters and support staff in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) broken down at local authority area level is not held centrally. Information on aggregate staff numbers employed in SFRS across Scotland are presented in:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/02/9404 which was published on 24 February 2015.

The Scottish Government is still considering some of the policy issues around a damages Bill, in light of stakeholder responses to Scottish Governments’ consultation, and we currently have no firm timescale for taking this legislation forward. Scottish Ministers are continuing to engage with stakeholders on aspects of measures featured in the consultation, such as in respect of time-bar in relation to survivors of historic child abuse.

The information of changes in numbers of fire fighters and support staff in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service broken down at local authority area level is not held centrally. Information on aggregate staff numbers employed in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service across Scotland are presented in:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/02/9404 which was published on 24 February 2015.

Where a trust deed for a village hall requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Scotland for any changes, this responsibility has not transferred to the Scottish Ministers. The community should therefore contact the Scotland Office.

The Scottish Government values the role played by grandparents in helping to bring up children. This is reflected in Family Matters: Charter for Grandchildren: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2006/04/21143655/0.

When there is disagreement on matters such as contact, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 provides that the welfare of the child is the paramount consideration. A grandparent does not have a statutory right to contact with a grandchild as there is no guarantee that this would be in line with the principle that the welfare of the child is paramount. Under the 1995 Act, a person with an interest in a child, including a grandparent, may ask the court to make an order such as a ‘contact order’, setting out with whom a child should have contact, and when.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the rights of grandparents to contact with their grandchildren.

The Scottish Government supports the important role that local authorities have in protecting communities. We welcome the work of Trading Standards in protecting citizens across Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the range of impacts that counterfeit electrical goods can have and welcomes the work that bodies such as the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Electrical Safety First are doing in this area. Seizures from Scottish ports are the responsibility of UK Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs and regulations concerning counterfeit goods are reserved. I would encourage the UK Government to take action to help reduce the availability of counterfeit goods.

Information about an allegation established in court to be false would only be provided to Disclosure Scotland by a chief police officer as ‘other relevant information’ (ORI) in connection with a Police Act enhanced disclosure or a Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme record application. Under the Police Act and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 the chief officer is responsible for deciding whether or not he or she should provide such information for inclusion on the disclosure.

If an individual wishes to dispute the ORI content of a certificate, Disclosure Scotland will contact the police force in question. Again, the decision about whether or not the ORI should stand as issued or be changed rests with the chief officer.

Information on all disputes handled by Disclosure Scotland in the last two financial years (including those relating to ORI) was provided in response to question S4W-23476 on 10 December 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottishparliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

In relation to bus shelters, the Local Government (Omnibus Shelters and Barriers) (Scotland) Act 1958 provides for the erection and maintenance of omnibus shelters and queue barriers by local roads authorities in Scotland.

It is for local road authorities to decide what notification to give when exercising powers within that Act.

The Scottish Government has identified an overall community justice budget for 2015-16 of £113.2 million – which includes over £95 million allocated under Section 27 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to Community Justice Authorities to deliver criminal justice social work services.

The allocation of funding each Community Justice Authority does not specify how much funding is to be allocated to support women offenders. Provision of funds to specific projects or areas of work is a matter for local community justice partners. Community Justice Authorities have the flexibility to allocate this funding as they see fit across their area, in accordance with their area action plans, and in the way they see as most appropriate to fulfil their statutory obligations and to reduce reoffending.

A number of payments will be made specifically to projects supporting women offenders. An annual payment of £1.7 million is made to support the 218 Centre in Glasgow. The Reducing Reoffending Change Fund has been sustained into 2015-17, with funding of up to £3 million from the Scottish Government, and it will continue to support projects including the national mentoring service for women offenders (which received £1.3 million annually in 2013-15), as well as services for both men and women delivered by Tayside Council on alcohol (£155k annually), and Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire (£90k annually).

In addition, I indicated on 28 January 2015 that a further £1.5 million will be made available specifically to support community justice services for women in 2015-16.