Annual Reports
ScotGov: The Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland has published its 4th Annual Report, which comments on the work of the independent Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) for the year to the end of May 2009. The IPS is the independent Inspectorate for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
Press release ~ Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland ~ Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland, Annual Report 2008-09
ScotGov: The Account in Bankruptcy (AIB), which is responsible for administering the process of Personal Bankruptcy and recording Corporate Insolvencies in Scotland, cost the public purse 25% less for its services in 2008-09 - despite dealing with more cases.
The agency's Annual Report for 2008-09 demonstrates that it has reduced its reliance on Government funding through more effective methods of recovering operational costs from its service users - one of the key aim's of the agency's Business Plan for the year.
DECC: The latest Annual Report on Fuel Poverty Statistics 2009 has been published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change – headline figures refer to fuel poverty levels in the UK and England in 2007. As well as giving new data for 2007, it also presents data for earlier years, findings from research undertaken over the year and projections.
EH: Evidence that heritage can have an impact on wider social issues such as people's sense of well-being and community cohesion have been claimed by English Heritage. The new research is described in Heritage Counts 2009, the annual report on the state of the historic environment, published by EH on behalf of the whole heritage sector.
The report also reveals that England's heritage has had a bumper year with visitor numbers far higher than expected despite less than perfect weather.
ScotGov: A study, commissioned by Health Facilities Scotland, has found that NHS Scotland's carbon dioxide emissions made up nearly a quarter of the public sector's as a whole. However, the 2.63 megatonnes (Mt) of CO2 represented just 3.6% of Scotland's total.
Greater use of the hi-tech eMART monitoring system means that from now on energy use in all NHS Scotland buildings can be measured, improving the accuracy of future carbon footprint estimates.
Press release ~ HFS: Carbon Footprint of NHS Scotland 1990-2004 ~ NHS Scotland HEAT targets ~ Friends of the Earth Scotland
ScotGov: 600 of the country's 'worst fine dodgers' are being targeted in a crackdown by the Scottish Court Service on those who attempt to 'avoid the ends of justice'. The range of tactics being used by the court service in their pursuit of those who don't pay up includes seizing wages, freezing bank accounts, deducting money from benefits and clamping vehicles. The announcement comes as the latest fines collection figures are published by the Scottish Court Service.
ScotGov: CBI Scotland's Industrial Trends Survey has reported an increase in output & new orders in the manufacturing sector - the first time growth has been reported since the first quarter of 2008, while the Scottish Chambers of Commerce Business Survey reported signs of an emerging recovery in manufacturing & tourism.
