Chamber and committees

Statistics on convictions arepublished annually by the Scottish Executive Justice Department each spring. Thelatest set of annual statistics published on 27 April 2006are for 2004-05, which predates the enactment of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 on 9 May 2005.

Information available from theCrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case management database indicatesthat, at 14 September 2006, a total of 392 charges under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 had been prosecuted. A breakdown of this total by police force area is givenin the following table.

Offences Prosecuted Under EmergencyWorkers (Scotland) Act 2005^1,2,3

Police Force Area	Charges Prosecuted	% Convicted	% Still Subject to Active Court Proceedings
Central	8	75	25
Dumfries and Galloway	14	86	14
Fife	31	61	29
Grampian	22	64	9
Lothian and Borders	102	52	30
Northern	10	40	20
Strathclyde	189	40	48
Tayside	16	56	25
Scotland	392	49	36

Notes:

1. The information in this tablehas been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case managementdatabase. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processingof reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies.If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the databasewill record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based.The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the numberof individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

3. The table reflects the positionat 14 September 2006.

The following table shows howmany people graduated with a student loan debt of above (a) £10,000, (b) £15,000,(c) £20,000 and (d) £25,000 in each year since 2002. Details of the student loandebt from 1999-2001 are not held centrally.

The figures giving details ofthose with a student loan debt above £10,000 are inclusive of all amounts, for example, the figures giving details of those withdebts above £15,000 are also included in the over £10,000 figure.

Borrowers by Repayment Cohortwith Student Loan Debt Above Given Threshold, Domiciled in Scotland

Threshold	>= £10,000		>= £15,000		>= £20,000		>= £25,000
Cohort Year	Borrowers	% of Cohort	Borrowers	% of Cohort	Borrowers	% of Cohort	Borrowers	% of Cohort
2002	451	1%
2003	3860	9%	150	0%
2004	4640	11%	1680	4%	26	0%
2005	4766	11%	2214	5%	217	1%	2	0%
2006	4755	12%	1741	4%	361	1%	32	0%

Source: Student Loans Company(SLC).

Notes:

1. Debt calculated at the pointof entering repayment (i.e. 31 March in the cohort year) rather than at point ofgraduation.

2. Separate figures for AccountCohort year even though this may mean splitting the debt for one customer who hasdifferent accounts in different cohorts (reducing average).

3. Inclusion of customers whodid not graduate at all (reducing averages).

4. Inclusion of real interestaccrued up to the point of entering repayment (making the debt at that point realistic).

5. Ignoring any repayments madebefore entering repayment (making the debt at that point look higher than it actuallyis).

6. Includes Income ContingentStyle Loans and mortgage style loans.

8. 2005 excludes debt sold toHonours Trust Limited.

9. Includes finance forhigher education figures.

The following table shows theaverage graduate student loan debt since 1999.

Cohort	Average Debt
1999	£2,863
2000	£3,174
2001	£3,876
2002	£4,294
2003	£4,924
2004	£5,421
2005	£5,722
2006	£5,737

Source: Student Loans Company(SLC).

The on-going review of the Scottishcurriculum, A Curriculum for Excellence, is explicitly working towards animproved curriculum for all children and young people from three to 18 yearsof age.

The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 came into force on 9 May 2005. The latest available figures indicate that 77% of the249 prosecutions so far completed have resulted in a conviction. No formal assessmenthas so far been undertaken of the implementation of the act.

The Executive is working withthe STUC to tackle violence against all workers serving the public. We are now inthe third year of an awareness campaign. Its objectives are to raise awareness of the issue, emphasise that violence, whether physical or verbal, against those whoserve the public is unacceptable, encourage workers to report any incidents andemployers to put in place systems to assess and address these issues. The campaignwebsite and advice line will refer enquirers to guidance and advice on best practice.The Executive has provided £516,000 for this programme. http://www.infoscotland.com/violenceatwork.

The Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act2005 came into force on 9 May 2005. The most recently available figures indicate that 392charges have so far been prosecuted under the act. The Executive has received norecent formal representations with regard to the implementation of the act.

The determination of licensingarrangements for taxis and private hire cars appropriate to their areas is primarilya matter for individual licensing authorities having regard to local circumstancesand their discretionary licensing powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act1982.

We intend to put draft guidanceout to consultation early next year.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Persons witha Charge Proved for Cycling Offences¹ in Scottish Courts, 1999-2000 to2004-05

Offence	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Dangerously riding a bicycle or tricycle	4	3	5	3	4	-
Carelessly or inconsiderately riding a bicycle or tricycle	-	-	2	5	4	5
Drunk when riding a bicycle	10	1	4	11	8	3
Bicycles, other offences	6	3	22	47	19	9
Total	20	7	33	66	35	17

Note: 1. Where main offence.