Scottish Government

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Dear Consultee

CON SU LTATION ON MAKING SU RE CRIME DOESN'T PAY: PROPOSALS FOR A NEW MEA SU RE TO PREVENT CONVICTED CRIMINALS PROFITING FROM PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS OF THEIR CRIME

The Scottish Executive along with HM Government, and the Northern Ireland Office are keen to ensure that convicted criminals do not profit from their crimes, whether directly from the proceeds of the crime itself or indirectly through cashing in on the story of their crime.

We are inviting written responses to this joint consultation paper by 9 February 2007 . Earlier responses would be very welcome. Please send your response to:-

MSCDPConsultation@Scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Or

Steven Reynolds
Criminal Procedure Division
Scottish Executive Justice Department
GW.14
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest internet point is.

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 8 March 2007 . We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on proposals for a new measure to prevent convicted criminals profiting from published accounts of their crime.

Yours sincerely

DIANNE DRYSDALE

Criminal Procedure Division

Annex A - The Scottish Executive Consultation Process

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many types of consultation. However, in general Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.

Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site enabling a wider audience access to the paper. Copies of all the responses received to consultation exercises (except those where the individual or organisations requests confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).

The views and suggestions detailed in the consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• Indicate the need for policy development or review
• Inform the development of a particular policy
• Help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• Be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

If you have any comment about how this consultation exercise has been conducted please send them to the person named in this letter.

The Scottish Executive now has an e mail alert system for SE consultations (SE consult). This system allows stakeholders to register and receive a weekly e mail containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SE consult complements but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Annex B- Respondent Information Form: Consultation on Making Sure Crime Doesn't Pay

Please complete the details below and return it with your response. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately. Thank you for your help.