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The Public Health Institute for Scotland's Autistic Spectrum Disorders Needs Assessment Report, published on 7 February 2002, recommended that resources for the systematic development of services for those with ASD should await completion of an audit of current service provision, expenditure and training by joint planning groups in each NHS board and local authority.

The Scottish Executive is aware of the findings of Professors Knapp and Jarbrink. It has not estimated the lifetime costs of people with autistic spectrum disorders, with or without associated learning disabilities.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The contract was awarded in November 1997. The prison was opened in March 1999.

The Scottish Executive do not believe that there is any discrepancy between the Care Development Group Report, the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 schedule 1 and the subsequent guidance CCD/4/2002 issued to councils on the implementation of the policy.The Care Development Group recommended that there should be sufficient flexibility in the definition and in turn application of personal care to ensure an individual's care needs can be properly met. "Assistance with the preparation of food" was therefore included in the definition to encompass those with severe physical and/or mental frailty who may need support for certain tasks. The Executive will continue to monitor the practical effect of the policy across all local authorities and keep the guidance under review.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:All major new legislation is reviewed to identify resource implications for the Scottish Court Service. The impact of increasing the financial thresholds in small claims and summary causes and the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Bill would not be expected to affect materially the level of business of the courthouse at Peebles.

As indicated in the answer given to question S1W-28351 on 9 September 2002, the Executive does not issue guidelines to the judiciary on judicial matters. In Scotland, judicial decisions on bail are governed by the relevant legislation and case law.The Lord Advocate has no plans to issue further guidance to procurators fiscal as to the attitude they should adopt when the courts are considering the grant of bail.

I have asked John Ewing, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Court Service is currently assessing the scale and extent of the work required to bring the court up to the level of compliance required by the Disability Discrimination Act. In most courts there is already disabled access to the sheriff clerk's offices but in other cases work may be needed to extend the access to a wider range of courts, jury rooms and witness accommodation. The full extent of work needed and costings have yet to be determined. The following table lists the courts where work is likely to be required.Facilities for the Disabled

Location	Disabled Access to Jury and Witness Rooms	Disabled Access to Courts	Disabled Access to General Office
Aberdeen	Yes	Yes in Cts 2,3 4 & 7	Yes
Airdrie	Yes	Yes but not Ct 4	Yes
Alloa	No	No	Yes
Banff	Yes	Yes	Yes
Campbeltown	No	Yes	Yes
Cupar	No	Yes	Yes
Dingwall	No	No	Yes
Dornoch	No	No	Yes
Dumfries	Ct 1 only	Ct 1 only	Yes
Dunoon	No	No	Yes
Duns	No	No	-
Elgin	Yes	Yes	Yes
Forfar	Ct 1 only	Yes	Yes
Fort William	No	No	Yes
Greenock	Only 1	Yes	Yes
Hamilton	Not Ct 2, 4	Yes but not Ct 4	Yes
Inverness	Not Ct 1, 3	No	Yes
Kilmarnock	Yes	No	Yes
Kirkcaldy	Ct 2 & 3 only	Ct 1 only	Yes
Kirkcudbright	No	No	Yes
Kirkwall	No	No	No
Lanark	Ct 3 only	No	No
Lerwick	No	No	Yes
Linlithgow	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lochmaddy	No	No	No
Oban	No	No	Yes
Paisley	Yes	Yes	Yes
Peebles	No	No	Yes
Portree	Yes but too small	Yes	Yes
Rothesay	No	No	Yes
Selkirk	No	No	Yes
Stirling	One Ct	One Ct only	Yes
Stonehaven	No	No	No
Stornoway	No	Yes	Yes
Stranraer	No	No	Yes
Tain	No	No	Yes
Wick	No	No	Yes"

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28957 today. All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .

The ministerial targets set for the Scottish Court Service include targets relating to quality of service. Quality of service in the sheriff courts is measured by the percentage of sheriff courts achieving administrative standards agreed with the Sheriff Principal and by the percentage of court houses meeting the Coming to Court standards. The results are reported in the Scottish Court Service Annual Report and Accounts.

Where a person is accused on petition, all pre-trial procedures are held in private including the consideration of applications for bail. This is because bail applications are considered at hearings which also cover confidential matters.Where a person convicted on indictment applies for interim liberation pending the determination of his appeal, his application is considered in private by the court on the basis of a written submission. I understand that the Crown have a system in place for alerting victims and next of kin when a person convicted of a serious crime is granted interim liberation pending appeal.We are currently considering the full range of issues around interim liberation on bail, in consultation with the Lord Justice General.