Chamber and committees

A total of £49 million in Rural Priorities funding has been allocated, over the first four assessment rounds, for spend in 2009.

The applications process for Rural Priorities has not been closed or suspended. Applicants and agents may still submit proposals through the online applications system.

Any applicant who has put forward a proposal will still have the opportunity to have their proposal considered in full at the next assessment round. Therefore no money or effort will have been wasted by applicants in preparing their applications.

In light of the success of the February assessment round, we are currently considering the arrangements for the next assessment round for Rural Priorities and I will make an announcement on these arrangements in the near future.

The applications process for Rural Priorities has not been closed or suspended. Applicants and their agents may submit Statements of Intent or Proposals through the online applications system.

The amount actually available for new commitments under Rural Priorities will depend on a number of factors, including the level of uptake for demand-led elements within the relevant budget headings, and any future policy changes.

At the start of the SRDP, taking assumptions for the amount of spending on the other elements within the relevant budget headings, around £500 million was expected to be available for new commitments under Rural Priorities overall.

So far we have committed nearly £125 million under the RPAC rounds to date, so assuming spend under other linked budget headings remains steady, there is about £375 million still to commit.

However, in the light of UK budget outcome, there is no guarantee that the resources available for commitment under the SRDP will remain at currently anticipated levels. The Scottish Government will need to consider effects of UK budget on all its expenditures.

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The shortcomings of the current UK quota management system has been recognised for a number of years. Indeed, many of the deficiencies with quota management, common across Europe, have also been highlighted in the European Commission''s recently launched consultation on the future of the CFP (Green Paper).

Victim Information and Advice will provide information direct to victims and witnesses aged 12 years and over. Where a child victim or witness aged seven to 11 years lives with a parent or guardian, VIA sends information to the parent or guardian to pass on to the child. The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is currently eight years.

Procurators fiscal have a duty to consider all pleas of guilty offered by the defence and to accept them where it is in the public interest to do so. The likely sentence is one factor in the process of considering whether to accept any pleas which the accused is prepared to offer. Other factors, include, the nature and gravity of the offences libelled, the views of the victim, where known, and the effect of adjusted pleas in avoiding the attendance and testimony of witnesses.

The possible sentence is one of many factors the Procurator Fiscal considers in deciding whether to accept any plea which the accused is prepared to offer. A plea will only be accepted when it is considered to be in the public interest to do so.

There is a joint protocol between the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The protocol stresses the seriousness of domestic abuse and includes the presumption in favour of prosecuting all cases of domestic abuse which involve violence against the victim where there is sufficient evidence in law to prosecute.

In dealing with domestic abuse cases, the police and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are committed to identifying best practice and obtaining consistency of approach in the investigation reporting and prosecution of these cases, with a view to improving the service that is provided to the public.

The Procurator Fiscal will consider all the circumstances of the case before deciding whether it is in the public interest to prosecute or, in exceptional cases, to take other action.

Procurators fiscal have a duty to consider all pleas of guilty offered by the defence and to accept them where it is in the public interest to do so. The views of the victim may, where known, be taken into account at the discretion of the Procurator Fiscal as one factor in the process of considering whether to accept any pleas which the accused is prepared to offer.

Victims receive the same level of information regardless of whether they are cited to give evidence at trial.