Annual Reports
ScotGov: The 'large increase' in the average sentence handed down to those convicted of handling an offensive weapon sends a clear message that Scotland's courts are treating knife crime with the seriousness such crimes demand, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has claimed. The increase is revealed in the recently published Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2007-08.
The statistics show that the average length of determinate custodial sentences increased by 7% in 2007-08 - and that for those convicted of handling an offensive weapon, the average sentence increased by 35%, making the average sentence longer than 7 months.
CMEC: The Child Support Agency has collected or arranged more than £100m in maintenance in a single month for the first time in its history (March 2009), which marks a fitting end to the CSA's three-year improvement programme. The Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is developing an entirely new maintenance scheme to replace the two CSA schemes from 2011.
The Operational Improvement Plan was designed to address urgent issues facing the maintenance system as part of a 2-stage approach to reform. The second will see more fundamental change with the 'future' maintenance scheme underpinned by new IT systems & improved processes for assessment, collection and enforcement.
Press release ~ Quarterly Summary of Statistics ~ Child Maintenance Options ~ CSA Operational Improvement Plan ~ CSA OIA - FAQs
HEFCE: The content of submissions made to 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) has been published on the RAE2008 web-site. These are the submission data that the 67 panels of experts examined to determine the results of the RAE2008.
NAO: The National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Work and Pensions increased recoveries of benefit overpayments from £180m in 2005-06 to £272m in 2007-08 and preliminary results suggest that the Department has achieved its recovery target of £279m for 2008-09. But recoveries are not keeping pace with the rate of increase in identified overpayments.
The NAO report also found that the Department recovers about £3 for every £1 spent on debt recovery operations, though recoveries in 2007-08 represent only some 15% of the identified debt outstanding by the end of the year.
The Department’s ability to accelerate recovery is restricted by a number of factors, including limitations on the amount which can be deducted weekly from customers’ benefits payments under Social Security legislation, and difficulties in tracing some customers who are no longer on benefits.
