SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

IN COMMITTEE
This week’s likely highlights in the Committee Corridors include:
 

SECTION 2 – NEWS

New rights for victims of crime
For the first time, victims of serious crime are to be informed of the perpetrator’s eligibility for home release or day release.

This is in addition to the opportunity for victims of serious crime to make representations to the Parole Board for Scotland when the prisoner is being considered for release on licence.

The new provisions, to take effect from 1^st November, will ensure that victims can register for the Victim Notification Scheme.  This will give them information on home release and day release and allow them to be informed if the prisoner is transferred outwith Scotland, dies, escapes, or absconds.

This new provision and others are covered under Sections 16 and 17 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 which makes provision for giving information to victims of serious crime about the offender who committed said crime.  These provisions will apply to the victims of certain crimes specified in a Scottish Statutory Instrument called the Victim Notification (Prescribed Offences) (Scotland) Order 2004. This includes sexual and non-sexual crimes of violence; crimes of indecency; crimes aggravated by racial or religious hatred; crimes involving the use of firearms; causing death by dangerous driving, or by careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs; and the most serious breaches of the peace and housebreaking offences.

Where the offender is sentenced to four years or more in prison, including life sentences and detention without limit of time, the victim will be given the option to register with the victim notification scheme and to receive this information.

It will normally be the direct victim of the crime who can register but where the direct victim has died, the four nearest relatives are eligible. Where the victim is incapable of registering, or is a child under 14, the nearest relative can register on their behalf.

Full Story

New unit aims to improve frontline policing
A new Business Benefits Unit is to be set up by the Executive and Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland to help forces improve their efficiency and ensure their finances are concentrated on frontline policing.

The unit will seek out savings in back-office functions such as IT and payroll and advise forces on how best to cut red-tape.

A pilot scheme to improve the way police vehicles are sourced and maintained is already under way and is expected to yield savings of £200,000 a year.

Ministers expect the new unit be self-funding after two years and to identify significant savings - all of which can be ploughed into frontline police efforts to prevent and detect crime.

Initially based with ACPOS Secretariat and supported by £288,200 in Executive funding, the unit will:

·         Scrutinise forces' best value reviews to help them improve efficiency and ensure that existing good practice is spread across the country;

·         Develop standard ways of managing back office work such as legal advice, IT support and procurement which will be rolled out across the country and, where appropriate, handled nationally; and

·         Help forces implement and monitor the changes being introduced as part of these reviews, to ensure they are delivering results.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Wednesday’s Chamber Business begins with a Ministerial Statement and Executive debate on the Spending Review 2004.

The official announcement of the funding which each Executive department is to be allocated, it must be made to Parliament in the first instance and so no information regarding its contents is currently available.

The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on the Development of Edinburgh Airport from Margaret Smith (LIB DEM).

THURSDAY begins with a Conservative debate on Health Issues.

As is normal with opposition debates, the motion has yet to be published.  However, if press speculation is to be believed, it is likely that the centralisation of services across Scotland could be the focus.

As always, the text of the motion will be published in the Business Bulletin in due course and a full transcript of the debate will be available in the Official Report from Thursday.

This is followed by First Minister’s Question Time.

In the afternoon, after Question Time (for the departments featured in the themed section this week, see Section 1 above), the Chamber debates Stage 1 of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Bill.

This Executive Bill aims to create a specific offence of attacking an emergency worker, or someone assisting an emergency worker, when responding to emergency circumstances, thus providing specific protection for emergency workers.  The Bill, if passed, would also make special provision for health workers in hospital accident and emergency premises, with the effect that a state of emergency would be considered to exist at all times in such places.

In its stage 1 report, the Justice 1 Committee supported the general principles of the Bill (with only Margaret Mitchell (CON) dissenting), stating that it will add, at the margins, to existing common law and statutory provisions which protect emergency workers. However, the Committee does have questions about how the legislation will work in practice.

The Committee pointed out:

·     The Committee was very concerned about the information accompanying the Bill and the lack of clarity in the policy memorandum.

·     Statistical data made available to the Committee to support the policy intentions of the Bill was limited and inconsistent.

·     The Committee does not want offences to be downgraded from solemn (sheriff and jury) to summary proceedings (sheriff only) just because the Bill would allow a higher sentence (up to nine months) in summary court (higher sentences can be, and have been, passed for offences against emergency workers tried under solemn procedure).

·     Recent guidance from the Lord Advocate states that incidents involving attacks on public service workers and others providing a service to the public should be taken seriously and that the locus and the fact that the person is providing a service to the public are both aggravating factors which should be borne in mind by prosecutors in deciding the appropriate forum for the case. The Committee received evidence that this guidance is having a positive impact on how such cases are prosecuted and believes that the Executive should assess the impact of this guidance.

·     The Committee acknowledges that, due to the more complex evidential requirements for the Crown to prove an offence under the Bill than a common law offence of assault, there may potentially be a loss of flexibility for prosecutors.

Click here to read the Bill as introduced
Click here to read the Explanatory Notes
Click here to read the Policy Memorandum

The day is then rounded off with a Member’s Business debate on Increasing Gender Pay Gap from Sandra White (SNP).

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