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Information on appeals and Decisionsof the Scottish Information Commissioner, including those concerning the Executiveare published on the Commissioner’s website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/appealsdecisions/index.htm.

As of 31 July 2006 the websiteshows 75 outstanding investigations and 33 where a decision has been issued concerningthe Executive.

A request by an applicantfor an internal review of a decision is required before any appeal for aDecision of the Scottish Information Commissioner can be made. To end of July2006, 108 Executive requests have been appealed to the Scottish InformationCommissioner and he has issued decisions to date in 33 of these cases. Detailabout the decisions, including whether or not the commissioner has upheld theappeal, is published on the commissioner’s website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/appealsdecisions/decisions/index.php.

Information on the use of exemptions by the Scottish Executive during 2005 is available in a report on informationrequest handling in the Scottish Executive. This report is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 39491) and on the Freedom of Information pages of the Scottish Executive website:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/monitor2.

The Executive will bepublishing the report for requests received during the first six months of 2006once the figures for this period have been analysed.

An applicant may request aninternal review if dissatisfied with the way in which a Scottish publicauthority has dealt with a request for information, including the applicationof exemptions. Information on numbers ofinternal reviews requested of the Scottish Executive during 2005 is available in a report on information requesthandling in the Scottish Executive. This report is available in the Scottish Parliament’sReference Centre (Bib. number 39491) and on the Freedom of Information pages of the Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/monitor2.

The Executive will bepublishing the report for requests received during the first six months of 2006once the figures for this period have been analysed.

After considering the options,ministers decided to commission a sculpture which would mark not only the contributionof Scottish women of suffrage but of all Scottish women - past, present and future- in getting the vote for women and advancing democracy.

I announced the name of the successfulartist on 8 March 2006 at an evening event in the Scottish Parliament, whichtook place against the backdrop of a small Executive-funded exhibition that includedsuffragette memorabilia and a large reproduction of a suffragette banner.

Further details aboutthe sculpture, including developing plans for the unveiling in December 2006, canbe found on the following Executive website page.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18500/comsculp.

The total cost to the ScottishExecutive of employing PA Consulting Group between April 2004 and May 2006 to providesupport and advice to local and national partners on youth justice issues was £1,744,256.31.

Research suggeststhat there is a complex interaction between homelessness and offending: experienceof homelessness is a risk factor for involvement in offending, and spending timein prison is a risk factor for homelessness: previously having been in prison isalso a risk factor for involvement in offending. In addition, there is evidencethat homeless people experience higher levels of crime than the general population.

Data on homelessnessapplications for 2004-05 show that around 10% of single men applying as homelesscited “discharge from prison” as the reasonfor applying as homeless. See:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1125/0018961.pdf

p.31 Table A.

Asummary of relevant research can be found at Annex A of the document Criminal JusticeAccommodation Services – A review and Consultation Paper:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/cjar-15.asp.

The number of people dischargedfrom general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland withan explicit diagnosis of drug dependency from 1999-2000 onwards is detailed in thefollowing table:

Discharge Period	Number Discharged from General Acute Hospitals	Number Discharged from Psychiatric Hospitals
1999-2000	1,285	543
2000-01	1,507	591
2001-02	1,424	555
2002-03	1,507	483P
2003-04	1,478
2004-05	1,610P

^PProvisional.

Source: SMR01; SMR04.

Notes:

1. Includes Scottish residentsonly.

2. Figures in the table relateonly to those individuals who are treated as in-patients in acute hospitals or psychiatrichospitals. They do not include individuals managed as out-patients.

3. Information is on individualpatients within a year. If one patient is admitted in two different years, theywill be counted separately in each year.

4. Diagnostic information isdefined by using the World Health Organization’s International Classification ofDiseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Dependence syndrome uses a subset of drug misusecodes (F11.2, F12.2, F13.2, F14.2, F15.2, F16.2, F18.2, F19.2).

5. Caution is necessary wheninterpreting these figures. The recording of drug misuse may vary from hospitalto hospital and over time. Where drug dependency is suspected but unconfirmed itmay not be recorded by the hospital.

6. 2002-03 is the most recentyear for which complete SMR04 data is available.

Information on the number ofcar drivers involved in road traffic accidents resulting in an injury which werereported to the police from 1994 to 2004, broken down by age group, is given intable 18 of Road Accidents Scotland, 2004, publishedby the Scottish Executive in 2006. A copy is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 38777).

It is not for the Scottish Executiveto investigate these allegations. The initiation of a criminal investigation isa matter for the police. So far, the police have taken the view that there is insufficientcredible and reliable information to support such an investigation.