Chamber and committees

The information requestedis not held centrally.

The Scottish Governmentis in regular contact with the Home Office at ministerial and official levels ona wide range of issues. Those where the specific possibility of widening the Scottish Parliament’s powers has been raised are firearms control and drink driving. Thesewere among the issues discussed when I met the Home Secretary on 19 July 2007, and those discussions are continuing.

Yes. Following carefulconsideration of the 17 October 2007 House of Lords Judgment on pleural plaquesand having listened to the views of representatives of asbestos campaign groupsand of the insurance industry, the Scottish Government has decided to introducea bill to reverse the Judgment so that those negligently exposed to asbestos whohave been diagnosed with pleural plaques will continue to be able to raise and pursueactions for damages in Scotland. We will prepare a bill which would take effectfrom the date of the Judgment.

I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response isas follows:

Designation of DarrochHall at HM Prison Greenock to accommodate young offenders is an operationaldecision for the Scottish Prison Service. As Chief Executive I have a duty to ensurebest use of accommodation taking account of varying population pressures.

I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response isas follows:

(a) There are no setup costs involved, and (b) the annual running costs of operating one accommodationhall for young adults in HM Prison Greenock will be managedwithin the establishment’s existing overall operating budget for 2007-08 of £7.6million.

It is for local authoritiesto decide how best to improve recycling services in their area. We will help localauthorities by supporting work in a variety of areas including developing marketsfor recycled materials; public awareness of recycling facilities; community recycling;waste prevention and advice on the best way of improving recycling services.

Statistics on personscharged by the police are not available centrally. The available information on persons proceeded againstin court and persons with a charge proved is given in the following tables. Theinformation provided is based on the month of sentence (or month of disposal ifthe charge was not proved). Statistics held centrally on court proceedings do notcontain information on the date on which offences were originally committed.

Persons ProceededAgainst in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving-Related Offences¹, byApproximate Local Authority Area², by Month of Sentence³,November to December 2003, November to December 2004, November to December 2005

Local Authority Area	November 2003	December 2003	November 2004	December 2004	November 2005	December 2005
Aberdeen City	36	57	48	54	31	42
Aberdeenshire	25	8	23	9	16	24
Angus	28	19	17	13	13	17
Argyll and Bute	9	13	7	11	10	10
Clackmannanshire	6	5	2	4	5	5
Dumfries and Galloway	22	16	25	29	16	19
Dundee City	23	32	31	32	11	17
East Ayrshire	21	29	26	28	27	20
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	10	13	14	12	15	10
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	54	46	66	60	49	60
Eilean Siar	4	2	12	4	13	4
Falkirk	20	17	18	25	16	12
Fife	40	32	41	57	27	49
Glasgow City	90	78	93	91	81	83
Highland	57	53	61	47	46	41
Inverclyde	6	9	9	7	5	12
Midlothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
Moray	15	22	20	19	11	13
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	25	24	26	20	18	18
Orkney Islands	5	1	5	6	1	2
Perth and Kinross	22	37	24	17	7	17
Renfrewshire	25	17	20	25	21	18
Scottish Borders	13	14	11	24	13	11
Shetland Islands	1	3	5	7	4	2
South Ayrshire	22	22	16	16	11	28
South Lanarkshire	33	30	48	50	33	62
Stirling	18	15	9	13	10	10
West Dunbartonshire	23	16	22	24	12	23
West Lothian	21	23	28	15	17	25
Scotland4	675	653	727	720	539	654

Notes:

1. Where main offence.Includes the crime of death by careless driving when under the influence of drinkor drugs.

2. Incorporates anapproximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courtswill deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authorityareas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriffcourt.

3. Or month of disposalif the charge was not proved.

4. Total containsa small number where local authority area is unknown.

Persons with aCharge Proved in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving-Related Offences¹,by approximate local authority area, by month of sentence, November to December2003, November to December 2004, November to December 2005

District Court	November 2003	December 2003	November 2004	December 2004	November 2005	December 2005
Aberdeen City	35	57	46	53	30	42
Aberdeenshire	25	8	23	8	15	23
Angus	28	18	17	13	11	15
Argyll and Bute	9	12	7	11	10	9
Clackmannanshire	5	5	1	4	4	5
Dumfries and Galloway	21	15	24	25	16	18
Dundee City	20	29	31	29	10	15
East Ayrshire	21	28	24	27	26	20
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	10	12	13	11	15	10
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	53	44	65	56	49	59
Eilean Siar	4	2	12	3	13	3
Falkirk	19	17	18	25	15	12
Fife	39	31	38	56	26	48
Glasgow City	89	74	87	89	80	83
Highland	53	51	60	46	45	40
Inverclyde	6	9	8	7	5	12
Midlothian	-	-	-	-	-	-
Moray	15	22	19	17	11	12
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	-
North Lanarkshire	24	23	23	19	18	15
Orkney Islands	5	1	5	6	1	2
Perth and Kinross	21	36	24	17	7	16
Renfrewshire	24	16	19	25	19	18
Scottish Borders	13	13	10	24	13	10
Shetland Islands	1	3	5	7	4	2
South Ayrshire	22	21	16	15	11	28
South Lanarkshire	33	27	46	50	32	60
Stirling	17	14	9	12	9	9
West Dunbartonshire	22	15	21	22	11	23
West Lothian	21	22	27	15	16	23
Scotland3	656	625	698	693	522	632

Notes:

1. Where main offence.Includes the crime of death by careless driving when under the influence of drinkor drugs.

2. Incorporates anapproximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courtswill deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authorityareas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriffcourt.

3. Or month of disposalif the charge was not proved.

4. Total containsa small number where local authority area is unknown.

Persons ProceededAgainst in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving-Related Offences¹, byPolice Force Area², by Month of Sentence³, November to December 2003, November to December 2004, November toDecember 2005

Police Force	November 2003	December 2003	November 2004	December 2004	November 2005	December 2005
Central	44	37	29	42	31	27
Dumfries and Galloway	22	16	25	29	16	19
Fife	41	32	41	57	27	49
Grampian	76	87	91	82	58	79
Lothian and Borders	98	96	119	111	94	106
Northern	67	59	83	64	64	49
Strathclyde	254	238	267	273	218	274
Tayside	73	88	72	62	31	51
Scotland	675	653	727	720	539	654

Notes:

1. Where main offence.Includes the crime of death by careless driving when under the influence of drinkor drugs.

2. The table presentsinformation by police force area because information is not held by specificpolice division.

3. Or month of disposalif the charge was not proved.

Persons with aCharge Proved in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving-Related Offences¹,by Police Force Area², by Month of Sentence³, November toDecember 2003, November to December 2004, November to December 2005

Police Force	November 2003	December 2003	November 2004	December 2004	November 2005	December 2005
Central	41	36	28	41	28	26
Dumfries and Galloway	21	15	24	25	16	18
Fife	40	31	38	56	26	48
Grampian	75	87	88	78	56	77
Lothian and Borders	97	91	115	106	93	102
Northern	63	57	82	62	63	47
Strathclyde	250	225	251	266	212	268
Tayside	69	83	72	59	28	46
Scotland	656	625	698	693	522	632

Notes:

1. Where main offence.Includes the crime of death by careless driving when under the influence of drinkor drugs.

2. The table presentsinformation by police force area because information is not held by specificpolice division.

3. Or month of disposalif the charge was not proved.

Theintroduction of car park charging is a local matter for NHS boards in accordance with the current Scottish Government guidance.

However, I amcurrently deciding whether that guidance should be reviewed and will make anannouncement shortly.

Scottish Executive officialshave not met directly with the owners of Scottish airports regarding child trafficking.

However, the UK Action Planon Human Trafficking, jointly published by the Scottish Executive and the HomeOffice in March 2007, identifies a number of actions designed to tackle traffickingthrough airports and other ports of entry. In particular, police and UK Border &Immigration Agency staff working at ports of entry to the UK are receiving specialisttraining to ensure they have the tools and expertise to identify victims of trafficking.Work is also being undertaken by the Home Office in collaboration with the airlineindustry to develop a Code of Practice on the carriage of minors.

Child trafficking is a very seriouscrime, and the police will thoroughly investigate any reports they receive of childrenbeing trafficked into or out of Scotland. For operational reasons, it is not possible to disclosedetails of individual investigations into reports of child trafficking. However,Scottish police forces will be participating in Operation Pentameter 2 later thisyear, a UK-wide multi-agency operation targeted at all forms of human trafficking.