Chamber and committees

Information on crimes recorded by the police is not available by sheriffdom. The information on crimes recorded by police force area is given in the following table.Number of Crimes of Serious and Simple Assault Recorded by the Police, by Police Force Area, 1997-2001

Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Central	2,437	2,483	2,609	2,709	3,000
Dumfries and Galloway	1,589	1,469	1,519	1,273	1,172
Fife	3,214	3,289	3,351	3,600	3,693
Grampian	5,610	5,871	6,106	6,146	6,257
Lothian and Borders	11,738	11,521	12,490	13,702	12,488
Northern	2,263	2,478	2,341	2,240	2,509
Strathclyde	25,296	25,881	27,695	27,187	28,234
Tayside	3,237	3,802	4,201	4,126	3,990
Scotland	55,384	56,794	60,312	60,983	61,343

The available information on persons proceeded against where the charge is proved is given in the following table. The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, and a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year. Charges recorded by the police may also be altered as a result of the judicial process.Persons with a Charge Proved for Assault¹, by Sheriffdom and Police Force Area, 1997-2000

Sheriffdom/Police Force Area	Total Number with a Charge Proved				Percentage of All Proceeded Against
	1997	1998	1999	2000	1997	1998	1999	2000
Sheriffdom
Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2,488	2,247	1,967	1,844	76	75	72	70
Grampian, Highland and Islands	2,101	2,077	1,848	1,638	86	88	87	88
Lothian and Borders	2,155	2,121	1,831	1,797	85	84	86	86
North Strathclyde	1,872	1,867	1,782	1,621	74	75	75	72
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2,240	2,134	1,935	1,864	71	72	73	73
Tayside, Central and Fife	2,375	2,258	2,321	2,256	77	77	77	78
Police force area
Central	659	595	596	656	77	81	80	81
Dumfries and Galloway	388	327	361	290	78	77	83	77
Fife	748	634	619	538	84	81	82	81
Grampian	1,370	1,380	1,172	1,021	89	90	87	88
Lothian and Borders	2,155	2,121	1,831	1,797	85	84	86	86
Northern	731	697	676	617	81	83	87	88
Strathclyde	6,213	5,921	5,323	5,039	73	74	73	71
Tayside	968	1,029	1,106	1,062	72	73	73	74
Scotland2	13,440	12,914	11,895	11,190	78	78	78	77

Notes:1. Where main offence.2. Includes High Court and court or police force not known.

Matters relating to the allocation of funds to individual colleges, including one-off payments to increase the pace of college recovery plans, are a matter for the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

This is a matter for the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

A number of research methods are used to measure the efficacy of Scottish Executive public information campaigns. These include:

• Quantative research to provide baseline measurements
• Quantative and qualitative research pre-campaign to obtain audience insight
• Qualitative research pre-campaign to test creative effectiveness
• Quantative research post-campaign to test awareness, recall and reaction

• Quantitative research to track attitudinal and behavioural changes over time
• Quantative and qualitative research into media consumption

Quantative and qualitative research produced by third parties

The Executive believes its opposition to an absolute right to buy for tenants is entirely consistent with its support for the proposed crofting community right to buy in Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. The crofting community right to buy is not an absolute right to buy. It is conditional on a range of criteria being met and can be exercised by a crofting community body only when ministers consider that the acquisition of the property would be in the public interest.Furthermore, I stated in my previous answer that blight on the property would arise from the creation of the absolute right to buy for tenants because it would materially affect the private right of a landowner to determine how long they owned, used and obtained income from that holding. The crofting community right to buy is being introduced against a background where the value of crofting land is usually substantially lower than that of agricultural land and the rights of a crofting landlord to use, manage and peacefully own croft land are already subject to strict statutory controls to protect the crofting status of the land.

The Scottish Further Education Funding Council commissioned the Scottish Further Education Unit to carry out a review of its "Activity Measurement Method", the recommendations of which were the subject of a consultation with the further education colleges. As a result of this consultation, I understand that the funding council is in the process of developing a draft implementation plan for proposed changes to its Activity Measurement Method, which will be shared with colleges prior to finalisation in the New Year.

This is a matter for the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

The Scottish Executive did not apply for any accreditations for the Brussels European Council.

Neither the crofting community right to buy in general nor a crofting community body's right to buy salmon fishings is an absolute right to buy. Conditions apply regarding the eligibility of a crofting community body and an eligible crofting community body can exercise the right to buy only where ministers are satisfied that their acquisition of the property would be, for instance, compatible with the sustainable development of the land and in the public interest. There are also very tight constraints on when the right to buy salmon fishings can be exercised. We also believe that the creation of the crofting community right to buy salmon fishings should not impact upon the value of these fishings.

As is usual practice in relation to issues that involve questions of law, I sought and obtained advice from the department's legal advisers before responding to the question referred to. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.