SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
General Questions
Children's Health Services (Glasgow)
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to make available Professor Andrew Calder's independent report into children's health services in Glasgow. (S2O-09310)
The member will probably be aware that, following consideration, I announced my response to the Calder report on Tuesday 14 March. I have accepted the report's recommendation that the Southern general hospital is the most appropriate site for the new children's hospital and have asked NHS Greater Glasgow to start detailed planning for delivery of the triple co-location of maternity, children's and adult clinical services. That planning will include public consultation on moving children's services from Yorkhill to the Southern general hospital site. I have also asked the board to review the group's proposals on how best to integrate specialist maternity and paediatric services. In addition, the board must be able to demonstrate the impact of the modernising medical careers programme on the provision of maternity services in planning the move from three to two maternity units in Glasgow between 2007 and 2009.
I welcome the fact that the Calder group recognised the importance of an integrated service for women, children and babies, although Greater Glasgow NHS Board had not. Naturally, I am disappointed that a location could not be found in the west of the city.
I do not think that Greater Glasgow NHS Board wants to close any hospital prematurely. The issue is fully discussed in the report by Andrew Calder and his group. He has come down clearly in favour of ensuring that maternity services are available as and when changes begin to take place.
Professor Calder's report recommends that the Queen Mother's hospital should close before the new hospital opens. It has been said that that will leave a serious situation at Yorkhill, which will be a stand-alone hospital. Professor Calder has also recommended that the maternity unit at the Southern general hospital be gutted. Will the minister clarify whether that means that demolition work will be carried out while services at the Southern general hospital are still operational, or will the Southern general hospital maternity site be closed? That would leave Glasgow with only one maternity hospital—the Princess Royal maternity hospital—for an indefinite period.
Describing such a prospect is irresponsible scaremongering. Of course Professor Calder and his team and Greater Glasgow NHS Board would not consider services being delivered in the manner that the member describes. I remind her that the content of the Calder report is well considered. It states:
The minister will be aware that the model that he refers to will involve a super-campus that will rival the size of any hospital in Europe, let alone Scotland. I invite him to solidify the commitment that the Minister for Transport and Telecommunications gave this morning by acknowledging that the current transport links are woefully inadequate and by indicating that he will be involved very soon in developing the necessary arrangements for proper transport networks to and from the hospital.
The Calder group questioned NHS Greater Glasgow in great detail on the matter and it found that the board had taken into account the relevant factors in respect of access and transport.
Antisocial Behaviour
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle the causes of antisocial behaviour. (S2O-09324)
The Scottish Executive is taking action to address both the symptoms and the causes of antisocial behaviour. As well as introducing new legislation and improving antisocial behaviour services, we are continuing our long-term investment to deal with the causes of antisocial behaviour.
A recent welcome crackdown on antisocial behaviour in Gracemount, in my constituency, appears to have moved the problem to neighbouring areas. Can the minister assure me that the Executive's aim is to tackle antisocial behaviour at its source rather than to move it from one area to another?
As I said, through both legislation and investment, we are trying to address the symptoms and the causes of antisocial behaviour.
Can the minister outline what on-going discussions he has had with voluntary organisations in Lanarkshire, Kilmarnock and elsewhere in central Scotland about the important role that they can play in working with communities to combat antisocial behaviour?
That is a matter for local authorities in their area. It is not for ministers to determine what voluntary organisations do in any locality. I recognise the significant contribution that voluntary organisations make to improving the quality of life throughout Scotland. I have visited a number of voluntary organisations in recent years and have been very impressed with what they do to help young offenders, people who have been released from prison and young people. Although I am impressed with that work, the determination of what happens in a local area is a matter for the local funding agencies.
Community Safety Partnerships
To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that the funds allocated to community safety partnerships are used effectively and for the purposes for which they were intended. (S2O-09309)
Community safety partnerships have agreed community safety problem-solving plans with the Scottish Executive. Funding for subsequent years will be released subject to satisfactory performance against those plans. We have recruited a national community safety co-ordinator to lead a programme of support and training, to promote best practice and to work with partnerships to improve delivery.
I am glad that the minister acknowledges the importance of getting the best possible value from such new investment. Is he aware that Inverclyde community safety partnership obtained in excess of £100,000 from the Executive to buy a mobile closed-circuit television unit, which has been hidden away for 10 months and will continue to be hidden away because Inverclyde Council will not fund its operation? Does he share my view that that hardly represents best value for the taxpayer and that it short-changes my community? Will he assure me that he and other ministers will investigate the matter?
The CCTV van to which Duncan McNeil refers was funded through social inclusion partnership moneys rather than through community safety, but he identifies a real problem. It would be a scandal if any money that the Executive gave to improve safety in the community, under whatever heading, was not used for its intended purposes. I will certainly speak to my colleagues who are responsible for that budget, because we would want some assurances that the money has been used properly. It is unacceptable that a CCTV van should lie in a garage in the way that Duncan McNeil describes. Questions need to be asked of those who are responsible locally and they need to be held to account for any failure on their part.
Marilyn Livingstone is not present to ask question 4 and question 5 has been withdrawn.
Concessionary Fares Scheme (Young People)
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the concessionary fares scheme for young people. (S2O-09302)
We are currently developing detailed proposals to implement the partnership agreement commitment to introduce a national scheme of concessionary travel for young people. I will make an announcement once the proposals are finalised.
As the number of students and young people in training in my Dundee West constituency is higher than the average, the introduction of the scheme will be welcome there. Will the minister tell me what measures the Scottish Executive intends to take to encourage young people to take up their concessionary travel entitlement? Unlike elderly people, young people have never expected to have a concessionary travel scheme. Does he share my concern that the take-up might not be as good as that for the scheme for the elderly?
Kate Maclean makes a fair point about the publicity and information that would be necessary to make young people aware of the entitlement that they would have under the young persons travel scheme. We are considering a number of methods for doing that. It is also important to use some of the voluntary organisations that have a particular attachment to young people in that work, but we would be open to any suggestions that colleagues might wish to make on the matter.
The minister will be aware of recent publicity regarding tragic deaths on the A9 north of Inverness. A facet of that tragedy is that a high proportion of those who die are young people, including young drivers. Does the minister agree that, whatever happens with the concessionary fares scheme, it is desperately important that we get over to young people the message that they should get out of their cars and into public transport?
One of the benefits that will accrue to public transport from the national concessionary scheme for young people is that it will encourage the kind of shift to which the member refers. There is clear statistical evidence that, tragically, many young people are involved in accidents on our roads in their first year of driving after having passed their tests. The statistics are worse for that age group than for any other in the population. Jamie Stone makes a legitimate point about encouraging young people to use public transport where it is available—although availability is an issue throughout Scotland—rather than use the car.
Tay Road Bridge (Tolls)
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the traffic-modelling data for the Tay road bridge that were prepared to inform the tolled bridges review. (S2O-09323)
Yes. Detailed traffic-modelling data gathered as part of phase 2 of the tolled bridges review have been published through the Scottish Executive and transport model for Scotland websites.
The minister will be aware of the local view that tollbooths on the Tay bridge cause more congestion than would any increase in traffic that the removal of tolls might generate. Will he therefore reconsider his views on the Tay road bridge? In particular, will he reconsider carefully any proposal to spend £8 million on relocating the tollbooths, which are currently at the north end of the bridge, to my constituency? My constituents would consider such a relocation as adding salt to the wound.
The Scottish Executive has carried out a lengthy and detailed review of tolled bridges. That review has concluded and there was a statement followed by a fairly lively debate in Parliament a week or so ago. The construction costs of the Tay road bridge have not yet been recovered. That was the primary reason for the decision not to remove tolls.
Does the minister accept that the Scottish Executive's policy on tolled bridges contains an inequity? Will he respond to the call from Mr Smith—one of his back benchers—and the call from the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board? On Monday, the board asked the minister to reconsider his position urgently and to remove the tolls. The tolls are a punitive burden on the people of Tayside and Fife.
I do not accept Mr Swinney's argument that a one-size-fits-all policy would be right for the bridges. The review on tolled bridges has been published and he can read the clear reasons behind the decisions that were reached. Different circumstances pertain in different parts of Scotland. I am sure that he is well aware of the statistic that 65 per cent of traffic on the Tay road bridge is local, which suggests that a local determination of the issues is important.
Question 8 has been withdrawn.
Fish Farms (Planning Applications)
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce legislation that would make legally binding the current voluntary system whereby the Crown Estate accepts the recommendations of the relevant planning authorities in respect of fish farm applications. (S2O-09340)
The consultation paper "Extending Planning Controls to Marine Fish Farming" was issued in October 2004. We are still finalising the details, but our intention at this stage is to bring, as appropriate, marine fish farming under the control of the statutory planning system by summer 2006.
I thank the minister for her answer and I support the moves in that direction. How will the Executive ensure that the local authorities in question have the relevant expertise to deal with applications?
I acknowledge the importance of ensuring that local authorities have the necessary range of expertise. We are still considering how to ensure that we get that in place by 2006.
Oil Taxation (Economic Impact)
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to Scottish Enterprise Grampian's report, "North sea oil taxation: economic impact". (S2O-9267)
Responsibility for oil taxation rests with the United Kingdom Government. Currently, there are very high levels of exploration activity in the North sea and, with high oil prices, there is no reason why investment and production should not continue for the foreseeable future.
The minister will appreciate that that fails to answer the question. He may recall that his colleagues said that Gordon Brown's tax grab would have no impact on Scotland, yet the Government's own agency, Scottish Enterprise, says that it could leave an £800 million hole in the Scottish economy. Will the minister explain to Parliament and to the oil industry in north-east Scotland what measures he is calling for from Gordon Brown's forthcoming budget to help to repair some of the damage that will be caused if nothing is done soon, to encourage investment in the industry, and to promote initiatives such as those on carbon capture and storage?
As the member will be aware, before the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement, the Scottish Executive met representatives from the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association to discuss their concerns. Indeed, on 24 November, the Deputy First Minister wrote to the Department of Trade and Industry to set out the Executive's concerns.
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