What the average time was for the preparation of social enquiry reports requested by the courts in each local authority in each of the last…

Answered Asked by Richard Lochhead SNP Lodged 2 Mar 2004

The question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time was for the preparation of social enquiry reports requested by the courts in each local authority in each of the last three years and how many such requests (a) were processed in each of the last three years and (b) are currently outstanding in each local authority.

The answer

Answered by Hugh Henry on 16 Mar 2004 · 14 days after it was lodged, on time

Section 201(3) of theCriminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (as amended by section 67 of the CriminalJustice (Scotland) Act 2003) specifies maximum periods for adjournmentfor the preparation of social enquiry reports. Information on the numbers ofSERs expressed as a percentage submitted on time and broken down by localauthority is available on the Audit Scotland website, pages 97-98, at thefollowing address:
http://www.audit-Scotland.gov.uk/performance/documents/2003Report/servicespdf/SW.pdf. Information on the number of social enquiry reports (SERs) by localauthority is published in Table 4 of statistical bulletin “Criminal JusticeSocial Work Statistics, 2002-03” (Bib. number 30274). Information onoutstanding reports is not held centrally.

In the Official Report

No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-06671 by reference.