SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
Health and Community Care
Older People's Services (Remote Areas)
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will protect services for older people in remote parts of Scotland provided by centres such as the Assynt centre in Lochinver and the Cala Sona in Melness. (S2O-8909)
It is for individual local authorities to determine what level of provision is required to meet the needs of older people and to arrange an appropriate range of services. In the current financial year, we have provided councils with £1.6 billion to support their provision of community care services.
The deputy minister will be aware that, during the past hour, Highland Council has, thankfully, decided to put on hold the proposal to shut the Assynt centre in several months' time. Does he agree that the upset and distress for local people has been colossal, that the issue has not been handled as well as it could have been and that the council's decision is just a holding move? Will he ask his officials to look into what has happened and into the possibility of maintaining for the long term that important centre in a remote part of the Highlands, where we desperately need respite beds and where distance is a huge issue?
Jamie Stone rightly alluded to the fact that my officials are in touch with Highland Council on that and a range of related matters. However, it is important to be clear that it is not for ministers or officials to tell councils how they should make best use of the resources with which we provide them. We are clear about the importance of appropriate services being available to people where they can access them. Clearly, those services need to meet given standards, which are set by the Scottish ministers. We look to local authorities to ensure that, whatever range of services they provide in order to meet the needs of people in those positions, they do so in a way that meets those standards. Jamie Stone referred to the importance of respite; again, that is well understood and is reflected in the guidance that we give to local authorities.
I wonder, from what the minister says, whether he understands how difficult it is in small communities to maintain the jobs that can flow from having care homes? It is essential in the Highland area, where a third of the beds for care homes are provided by the council, that we maintain jobs that support local people—in small communities such as Assynt—and that we have a policy of moving forward. He said that he gave councils £1.6 billion for the provision of community care services. Can he build into that some element for remote communities to encourage the expansion of small care homes?
It is important to be clear about the direction of policy, which is not to encourage more people to be resident in care homes but to enable more people to stay in their own homes. I know from Jamie Stone's and Rob Gibson's questions that they appreciate the importance of people having access to services close to home. That is our intention too. However, it would not be appropriate for Government to dictate to councils whether sheltered housing, care homes or other forms of support are most appropriate in the circumstances. That is for councils to decide; they are elected and are therefore accountable.
It has come to my notice that Lorn and Islands district general hospital and, as far as I can make out, other hospitals in Argyll and Bute, have been unable to refer anyone for home care packages for free personal care since November. Since Christmas, there have been no referrals to nursing homes because there is no money. Will the minister confirm that? If that is the case, does it not make a mockery of the Executive's principles of free personal care for the elderly, and independence and choice for elderly people?
I cannot confirm the details that Nanette Milne has provided to the chamber, but I am aware of issues around the funding of free personal care and how councils carry out their responsibilities in that regard. We are working closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to ensure that there is a better understanding around the table of the funds that are provided and the purpose for which they are provided, and to ensure that they are properly spent. The policy position is clear: an entitlement to free, personal care in the circumstances that have been described.
I appreciate what the minister says about this being a decision for local authorities and the tendency to emphasise the need to keep people in their homes and provide the appropriate care for that. However, does he agree in principle that, given our increasing frail and elderly population, we need a spectrum of care in all communities that will include residential and respite care as well as home care?
I agree with the principle that Eleanor Scott enunciates. That is the principle that underlies "Delivering for Health", which Andy Kerr announced to the Parliament a few weeks ago. Making a spectrum of care available in communities is the right way forward. We will look to our delivery agencies to deliver that in the most appropriate way in their local areas.
National Health Service<br />(Sustainable Development)
To ask the Scottish Executive how NHS Scotland will contribute to sustainable development. (S2O-8920)
The NHS in Scotland will continue to work towards further significant reductions in its consumption of energy and water, in carbon dioxide emissions and in volumes of waste sent for disposal. We are currently updating NHS Scotland's environmental policy, and NHS boards are making good use of NHS Scotland's computerised environmental management system, as are others in the health care, retail and manufacturing sectors throughout the United Kingdom.
I welcome the minister's commitment to reducing the direct impact that the NHS has on the environment and on resource use. Can he tell us how the NHS will play a more fundamental role in, for example, developing an indicator for the overall well-being of the nation? Is that something that the Executive is pushing on, which we will see in the future?
The direction of our policy is to recognise both the impacts of the environment on health and the role that the health service plays in the environment. If that is the direction in which the member is inviting me to go, I am happy to confirm that we endorse that cross-cutting approach. Indeed, our officials on the environment side are working together in precisely those areas.
Nursing
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to encourage school leavers and students to consider nursing as a profession. (S2O-8867)
The Health Department is pursuing several initiatives on behalf of the health service in Scotland that will enable health boards to improve recruitment and retention. The careers for health team within the Health Department is leading on a number of initiatives to increase public interest in health-related careers that include nursing and midwifery.
I thank the minister for his efforts in encouraging young people to enter nursing as a profession. However, I advise him of the other side of the argument, which was brought to me by four students at one of my local high schools. They informed me of their visit to an open day at Glasgow Caledonian University. They went along to show their interest in a nursing career but were advised that two thirds of the places on the course for the forthcoming year were reserved for mature students. Where does that type of policy fit in with encouraging young people to become student nurses?
It does not. I would be interested in taking up that matter with the member, as what he says gives me some concern about the implementation of that policy. It also runs counter to many things that we are involved in—for instance, the creation of an online virtual hospital, using games technology, that enables school pupils and the public to experience and learn about health care careers. That is one of many initiatives in which we are involved that is targeted at young people. We also attend national careers and recruitment fairs throughout Scotland to try to encourage folk into the NHS family. I find what the member says surprising, and I am happy to consider the individual case that he has raised.
Does the minister agree that pay and conditions are important in encouraging school leavers and students to consider nursing as a profession? Will he respond to the concerns that are being raised by staff and unions about delays in the implementation of agenda for change? Can he reassure us that the May deadline, to which he has referred previously, will be met and that health boards will have the necessary resources to implement agenda for change?
The agenda for change exercise has been a huge one for the NHS in Scotland. It involves Scotland's biggest workforce and represents a major change in the terms and conditions of those who work in the NHS. It was subject to individual interrogation at every review that I carried out during the summer. I implemented several steps that ensured that enough resources were put into the local agenda for change process. I value that; the deal is clearly important not only to those involved, but in what it delivers for patients in ensuring that we have a more flexible and better trained staff that will deliver our health services in the future. This undertaking is huge and I have said to boards—and I maintain this position—that I want to implement agenda for change as quickly as possible.
Hospitals (Parking Charges)
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to regulate the cost of parking charges at hospitals. (S2O-8911)
Guidance on car park charging on NHS sites was issued to NHS Scotland in April 2004. That guidance is designed to manage better the use of limited parking facilities, discourage unauthorised parking and improve the security of car parking. Therefore the Scottish Executive has no plans to regulate the cost of parking charges at hospitals.
I hope that the minister appreciates the problem that hospital car parking creates for families who several times a day visit their relatives in hospital. I suggest that Scotland's health boards offer free permit parking for qualified and registered families, and I hope that he will encourage that.
That opportunity is already in the guidelines. However, we must be clear. It does not make sense for the Executive to centrally determine what those charges might be and how those systems might work. There are many health care facilities around Scotland, but public transport arrangements for each are different, as are the availability of public parking on streets and other places, the availability of land for parking and indeed council policies. Fly parking is a big issue in certain parts of Scotland—people inappropriately use our health service parking facilities. Although I do not wish to drive that from the centre, because those are local issues, any parking scheme should be not about profit but about improving parking facilities for users. NHS boards can have the arrangement to which the member refers.
I call Kenny MacAskill at this point, and withdraw question 7.
Is there a proposal to improve the availability of access by public transport? Will steps be taken to provide financial support for that, given that many hospitals are now being built on out-of-town sites and are difficult to access without a car? As John Farquhar Munro clearly said, hospital car parking has an impact not only on staff and patients, but on visitors.
I take the point seriously, and I have been working on it. The Minister for Transport and Telecommunications and I have met, and we correspond regularly on the matter. I have made this issue clear to NHS board planners. There are good examples of green travel plans and public transport travel plans. For instance, I saw recently the work that is going on in Tayside. However, such work is not widespread enough.
Question 5 is withdrawn.
University of Dundee (Nursing and Midwifery Training)
To ask the Scottish Executive what communication it has had with the University of Dundee in respect of the impact on the recruitment of nurses and midwives of the proposed relocation of nursing and midwifery training from Kirkcaldy to Dundee. (S2O-8861)
Decisions about where and how pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes are provided are a matter for the higher education institutions that deliver them, in consultation with all other stakeholders including NHS Scotland.
The minister will be aware that the university's contract for the provision of nursing and midwifery education was awarded in 1996. First, will he inform me how long the contract has to run and whether the proposed changes comply with the spirit of the contract? Secondly, is he aware of the serious concerns that stakeholders have expressed about the impact that the changes will have on nurse and midwife recruitment in Fife, particularly from mature students?
I am aware—because the member has made me aware—of some of the concerns about the matter in Fife. Of course, the purpose of the consultation exercise that the university is undertaking is to consider those concerns. We want to ensure that we retain all our existing students so that they go on to work within NHS Scotland. Any student loss would be a tragedy for the service. We must also ensure that their education experience is valuable and appropriate.
Wheelchair Services
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns regarding the waiting times for the assessment and provision of adult wheelchair services. (S2O-8915)
We do have such concerns. As a result, we allocated £1.9 million of interim funding to the wheelchair service to help to reduce waiting times during the current financial year. We set wheelchair centres a target that 80 per cent of adults should wait no more than 26 weeks from their referral to the time when they leave the centre with the appropriate equipment to meet their clinical need. All five wheelchair centres in Scotland are currently meeting that target.
I raise the issue today on behalf of an 18-year-old constituent who has a degenerative condition that means that his wheelchair needs are subject to frequent change. His experience of the service is not quite what the minister described. He has been told that he will have to wait 11 months for an assessment of his wheelchair needs. He has also been told by those who provide the service in NHS Lothian that patients are becoming bedridden because they are having to wait. Some patients have been bedridden for six months. I accept that the minister is trying to do what he can, but does he think that the review that is being undertaken and the extra money that has been provided can be put to good use in improving the unacceptable waiting times?
I believe that that is the case. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has indeed commissioned a review that is examining the structure of the service and considering the best way for services to be delivered. Margaret Smith referred to her constituent who is 18 years old. One of the difficult areas for those who need to access the wheelchair service is the transition from children's services to adults' services. In some respects, that might be particularly marked in Lothian, where the services are provided from different centres. The review is considering ways in which patients who need access can get access quickly. The funding that we provided in the current financial year has undoubtedly made a difference and we expect to receive the report from NHS QIS by the end of the financial year.
Environment and Rural Development
Single Farm Payment
To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers who are retired or living overseas are entitled to single farm payments and what the estimated total amount of such payments is. (S2O-8839)
To qualify for receipt of the single farm payment, claimants must be engaged in an agricultural activity. The European Commission, not Scottish ministers, sets what constitutes agricultural activity, which includes maintaining land in good agricultural and environmental condition.
I thank the minister for his informative answer. Like other rural members, I am sure, I have been contacted by constituents who believe that the residency of the farmer receiving the single farm payment should be a factor. Like many members, those constituents believe that such payments should go to farmers who live on or work the land directly. It is not right—it is perhaps immoral—that such payments should go to farmers who are living overseas or have retired in this country and are no longer working the land. The minister is aware that there are fishermen who are given quota despite the fact that they no longer go to sea and are in effect retired; this is a similar situation that is causing controversy in the farming sector. Does he agree that it is immoral that payments should go to farmers who are retired and that something should be done about that? Will he do anything about it?
We must be careful to keep the issue in some sort of perspective. I understand some of the concern that exists, but I gave an answer to the effect that £177,000 out of a possible total of in excess of £400 million goes to farmers who are residing overseas. We should be careful not to give the impression that there is a widespread problem throughout Scotland.
Would the minister care to comment on the trading of single farm payment entitlements? This week, there is an auction in Aberdeen where those bits of paper are being traded.
Mr Arbuckle's question follows on very sensibly from that of Richard Lochhead. Under the previous system, people were eligible for a number of entitlements, which are now in a single payment. Even under the old arrangements, it would be perfectly possible for someone to qualify who had entered into a contractual arrangement with a third party to carry out farming activity. Under the old schemes, it was possible to have an address overseas, as long as the conditions of the schemes were met.
Water Framework Directive
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received in relation to the implementation of the water framework directive by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. (S2O-8890)
The Executive has received representations from a variety of stakeholders, most recently from the consultation on SEPA's charging scheme. Those representations have been about the way in which SEPA will implement its WFD obligations. The Executive continues to work with SEPA and our stakeholders to ensure that implementation of the WFD secures an appropriate balance between protecting and utilising the water environment in Scotland.
The minister will doubtless be aware of the concerns that the farming sector has raised about the financial and administrative burdens of the new regulations. SEPA has made concessions on the charges, but does she accept that there will still be an administrative burden? Does she recognise that farmers, who struggle with an ever-increasing mountain of red tape in their businesses, will not welcome the regulations, which will simply add to that administrative burden? Will she look at that issue with SEPA to see what can be done to simplify the paperwork that will be involved?
I am aware that farmers have made representations on the matter. SEPA has been working closely with the sector and its representatives to try to ensure that any regulation is proportionate. I understand that the banding system that is used for the charging scheme unfairly penalises operators who are on the borderline between bands or who rotate their crops on rented land as part of good land management practice.
I applaud the minister's ideal of keeping it simple, but is she aware that the farmers who are applying for an abstraction licence have 12 qualifying points? They have to work out a mathematical sum that is beyond most before they find out how much they have to pay.
The consultation period ended in December and, as the member will know, there were more than 100 responses to it, which ministers will have to examine closely. Eventually, it will be ministers who make the decision about appropriate charging schemes. They will have to balance the needs of the environment with social and economic considerations.
Urban Woodland
To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is supporting to maintain and develop woodland in urban areas. (S2O-8872)
Forestry Commission Scotland introduced the woods in and around towns initiative in 2004, which has already brought some 1,500 hectares into active management and created over 300 hectares of urban woodland. The initiative includes a challenge fund and last week I announced a £2 million boost for the fund. We now have nearly 80 partnership projects in urban areas across Scotland. We are also active partners in the Central Scotland Forest Trust, which is helping to eradicate the legacy of industrial dereliction in the central belt.
I welcome the resources to which the minister referred, part of which was used to enhance access to woodlands close to Livingston for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Does she agree that access to woodland areas for people who live in urban areas is extremely important in enhancing their quality of life and providing exercise opportunities? What is the Executive doing to promote access to woodlands, particularly among young people and through schools?
The kinds of benefits to which Mr Muldoon referred are hugely important. Clearly, Forestry Commission Scotland's role in working with local councils such as West Lothian Council is important. I pay tribute to the work that that council has done in improving access to forest land. Mr Muldoon rightly recognises the importance of schools in this regard. Indeed, a number of projects across Scotland to develop forest schools have been taken forward recently.
Cockle Harvesting (Upper Solway)
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the relevant regulatory bodies regarding the enforcement of regulations on cockle harvesting on the upper Solway. (S2O-8844)
The Scottish Executive has had a number of discussions with a range of regulatory bodies about the enforcement of regulations on the Solway cockle fishery. Those bodies include the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency; Dumfries and Galloway constabulary; the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; the Health and Safety Executive; HM Revenue and Customs; the Gangmaster Licensing Authority; Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Cumbria sea fisheries committee. Most recently, a meeting was held by the Executive on 1 February at which all those organisations were represented. Further discussions will continue as necessary.
I am sure that the minister is aware that a great deal of illegal cockling happens on the upper Solway. Often, hundreds of people are involved at a time, perhaps 6 miles out from land in an area where the tides can come in very quickly—much more quickly than a man can run. When we talk to the regulatory agencies, they say either that they have no power to do anything, or, if they have power, that they have no resources to do anything. The potential for a major tragedy in the near future is very real indeed, and simply having more meetings will not put that off. Will the minister say what concrete action will be taken?
I am grateful to Alasdair Morgan and other members from his area for their interest and for the great amount of intelligence that they provide from time to time about illegal activities. I share Mr Morgan's concerns about illegal fishing, which could have a serious environmental impact on the Solway.
Will the minister confirm that an announcement is imminent on the formation of the Solway shellfish management association? That association would license cockle fishermen, thus making the identification of illegal fishermen all the easier.
We are close to resolving some of the rather unfortunate last-minute issues that have to be resolved before confirming the order that will lead to the formation of the management association. Mr Fergusson is right to say that the association will make it much easier to identify the legal and the illegal fishers.
Forests (Recreation)
To ask the Scottish Executive what support is given to Forestry Commission Scotland and others to develop forestry land for recreational pursuits. (S2O-8873)
Last year, through Forestry Commission Scotland, we invested £7.8 million in creating opportunities for more people to enjoy woods and forests in Scotland, which attract 26 million visits annually. Forestry Commission Scotland also works with VisitScotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise on forest-related tourism, which brings in more than £160 million each year.
I am sure that we will pursue that last activity. The minister might be aware of heartlands, which is a derelict coal-mining site west of Whitburn in my constituency that is now undergoing regeneration. One proposal is to use the adjacent forestry land for walkways, mountain bike tracks and so on—although not, I have to say, for husky sled dog trials. Perhaps we should think about that. Will she consider supporting such developments to ensure that my constituents have a place where they can engage in healthy pursuits? If so, can she tell us what form that support might take?
I very much welcome the heartlands regeneration project at Polkemmet colliery. Indeed, I understand that, at almost 600 hectares, it is one of the largest in Britain and aims to provide jobs, housing and community facilities.
The Carron valley forest, which is partly in my constituency, is on many people's doorstep and serves a very large urban population in central Scotland. The minister will be aware of the on-going work there; indeed, one voluntary group in particular has been developing mountain bike and walking trails in the forest and has generally been encouraging people to use it. How will the Scottish Executive support the group to develop the recreational facilities in the forest?
Again, Forestry Commission Scotland has been in discussions with the Carron valley development group on these matters and I particularly welcome the development of mountain bike trails in the area. I believe that the commission has been discussing with the group heads the terms of an agreement on the future management of the trails. After all, it is one thing to help with capital, but the key issue is how the trails and on-going costs are managed. We need that sort of partnership working on such matters.
The minister will be aware of Glentress in my constituency, which is renowned not only for mountain biking but for midnight mountain biking, a pursuit that I have not yet tested. However, is she aware that, in order to compete internationally with other competitions that are being held, we need additional support for the physical and tourist infrastructure of the entire Tweed valley? What work is she carrying out with the Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department and the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach for the whole area rather than for the forest alone?
Forestry Commission Scotland has a specific post that involves working with officials on tourism-related activities. I should point out that Scotland has had a huge success in providing facilities for mountain bikers. In fact, I believe that the commission leads the way in Europe—and perhaps the world—in that activity.
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