Chamber and committees

We are considering, in consultation with Crown Office, whether to strengthen the law in this area and whether to introduce a specific new offence of grooming.

I reported our progress to the Parliament in a debate on 28 November 2002.We intend to publish a written report in February 2003.

We are considering the range of offences that trigger registration on the sex offenders register with the UK Government in order to ensure that the register continues to provide comparable protection throughout the UK.

The bill provides for a list of persons unsuitable to work with children to be established. We have proposed amendments at stage 2 that will extend to all organisations employing individuals in child care positions (whether voluntary or statutory) the duty to refer individuals to the list if they have harmed a child or put a child at risk of harm. All organisations will commit an offence if they fail to comply with this duty or employ an individual, in a child care position, who is on the list. We are considering appropriate support, advice and training for all organisations in implementation.

As the bill establishes a civil procedure, it does not require corroboration of evidence. However, a person will not be included on the list unless the evidence submitted with the referral is robust, and the appropriate disciplinary procedures have been undertaken.

Statistical information relevant to the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence)(Scotland) Act 2002 is being collected as from 1 November 2002, the date on which the act came into force. Qualitative research to assess the impact of the act will be commissioned once the new provisions have been in operation for a sufficient period to make such research meaningful. We also plan shortly to commission research on the operation of the pre-2002 law of evidence in sex offence trials, to provide baseline data for the future evaluation of the impact of the act.

Regulations provide that general practitioners may refuse applications from patients for inclusion in their lists. Any person whose application is refused has the right to be assigned to a general practitioner by the appropriate Island NHS Board or Primary Care Trust. No monitoring system is in place.

Regulations provide that when a patient has moved area and their application to join the list of a general practitioner has been refused they may apply to the appropriate Island NHS Board or Primary Care Trust for assignment to a general practitioner. Where the board or trust has been informed by the general practitioner that the application has been refused, it should inform the patient that an application should be made to another general practitioner or for assignment. If, after 14 days, the patient has not been accepted by another general practitioner and has not applied for assignment, they will be deemed to have applied for assignment.In selecting the general practitioner to whom a patient should be assigned, the board or trust should take into account whether the number of patients on any general practitioner's list is at the maximum, the respective distances between the patient's home and the practice premises of doctors in the area and such other matters which the board or trust considers relevant.

Each of the Scottish Police College's training programmes is subject to a continuous evaluation and review process. A quality assurance committee reviews all the outputs of training design and examines the detail of evaluations. The membership of that committee comprises representatives of the Scottish Executive, the police staff associations, the college and an independent person.In addition, a number of college courses are validated by higher education institutions and this validation requires the whole training and evaluation process to be examined to ensure a high quality. The colleges procedures and performance generally are regularly reviewed by a number of external bodies including Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Audit Commission, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland as customers and by the review processes contained in the charter mark, Investors in People and the European Foundation for Quality Management.

Evaluation of the training provided by individual police forces is carried out by members of the force staff who have had no input to the training courses. Questionnaires are used to elicit information about participants' satisfaction with the course content in relation to the quality of presentation, achievement of learning outcomes and about whether the course was appropriate and challenging. The evaluation process is continuous. The outcome from each evaluation is used to inform assessments about the quality of the training provided.