Chamber and committees

We are taking further steps toreward those high street dentists who give their patients access to NHS treatment.

Dentists in deprived areas acrossScotland will be invited this week to apply for a deprived area allowance, equivalentto the existing remote area allowance, and worth up to £9,000 per dentist in thecurrent financial year.

In addition, the practitionercommitment payments, paid to any dentist earning over £25,750 from NHS work, willbe increased by 25% from 1 April 2007 and new measures are being put in place toprotect enhanced payments for NHS-committed practices, who fall short of the criteriafor these payments for a single quarter but seek to address this by registeringnew NHS patients.

A decision on whether to acceptthe nomination of the Antonine Wall will be taken by the World Heritage Committee,a United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) committee,in summer 2008. The nomination, including an associated management plan for thesite, will be evaluated before this date. The documentation will be checked by theUNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris before detailed examination is carried out by the InternationalCouncil on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the body with the formal role of advisingUNESCO on potential cultural World Heritage Sites.

Theoutstanding universal values of the proposed site as well as its authenticity andintegrity will be assessed by an ICOMOS evaluator, who will visit the site in summer2007. Checks will also be made to ensure that the necessary protection and managementstructures are in place. If ICOMOS requires further information this must be requestedfrom the UK government by 31 January 2008.The UK government will then have until 31 March 2008to submit further information for consideration. Once ICOMOS have made their evaluation,the UK government will have one final opportunity to highlight any factual errorsin the evaluation before the World Heritage Committee makes its decision on thenomination at its meeting in July 2008.

Inpreparation for the ICOMOS site visit and the subsequent management of the site,Historic Scotland, the relevant agency within the Scottish Executive, is coordinatingthe establishment of a management group for the site involving key stakeholders.

Copies of the Antonine WallNomination Document and Management Plan (Bib. number 41888) have beenplaced in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The Scottish Executive welcomesthe “European Year of Equal Opportunities for All” and plans to organise a seriesof events under this banner over the course of 2007, in addition to the significantwork it already undertakes to promote equality and tackle discrimination.

TheExecutive’s programme of events has yet to be finalised but will include: a nationallaunch of the European Year; a summer conference; supporting a series of local events,and a final closing conference towards the end of 2007.

The majority of these eventswill be cross-cutting in nature, aimed at raising general awareness rather thanfocussed on specific policy areas such as enterprise and transport. However, theyshould help to underpin the range of equal opportunities work already being undertakenin these domains.

Table 1 gives details of thesection 10 core funding grants awarded in 2005-06 to organisations which provideservices to disabled people. Core funding grants are for running and headquartercosts.

Table 2 gives details of thesection 10 project funding awarded in 2005-06 to organisations which provide servicesto disabled people and outlines the purpose of the grant.

Table 1

Organisation	2005-06 Grant (£)
Adult Projects
Communication Aids for Language and Learning (CALL) Centre	18,096
Enable	32,500
Partners in Advocacy	24,000
Update	255,438
Pain Association	36,000
Penumbra	62,000
National Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF) Scotland	82,000
Deafblind Scotland	19,387
Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF)	80,021
Children and Young People
Capability Scotland	50,000
Sense Scotland	48,340
Contact a Family Scotland	50,000
Butterfly Trust	42,000
Care Co-ordination	38,440
Sleep Scotland	36,600

 

Table 2

Organisation	Purpose of Grant	Award (£)
Ace Advocacy	The funding was for two part-time development workers to provide independent advocacy and identify gaps in service provision for disabled people across Scotland.	39,482
The Link Centre for Deafened People	Link provides support, advice and rehabilitation to late-deafened adults. This funding was for the recruitment, initial training, induction and salary of a Scottish Development Officer.	17,515

 

I expect the final report onthe public consultation phase of the review to be submitted to ministers in thecourse of this month, with a view to publication before the end of the year.

This information is not heldcentrally.

The weight of response to anyincident is an operational matter for the Chief Officer of the fire and rescue authority.

This information is not heldin the format requested.

The number of fires in educationalestablishments in the last ten years, for which figures are available, is shownin the following table by fire and rescue service area.

Brigade	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	20021	20031	2004
Central Scotland	10	5	5	4	10	16	4	0	21	18
Dumfries and Galloway	2	11	6	7	6	3	0	0	0	0
Fife	14	27	14	12	10	12	17	6	12	4
Grampian	7	17	8	13	16	5	18	24	24	33
Highland and Islands	3	0	0	6	3	5	5	7	10	0
Lothian and Borders	89	48	41	34	30	16	44	36	42	57
Strathclyde	159	124	111	134	109	123	87	76	98	129
Tayside	26	17	26	8	35	16	24	7	8	12
Scotland2	310	249	211	218	217	195	199	157	215	253

Source: ODPM

Notes;

1. Excluding incidents not recordedduring periods of industrial action in November 2002 and January/February 2003.

2. Parts may not add up to totalsdue to rounding.

The total number of hoax callsby fire and rescue service area in the last ten years, for which figures are available,is shown in the following table.

Brigade	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Central Scotland	396	444	406	436	477	459	399	435	383	321
Dumfries and Galloway	171	138	141	119	157	73	82	83	54	44
Fife	810	729	650	602	603	627	486	443	430	361
Grampian	421	486	446	356	307	330	318	354	280	247
Highlands and Islands	318	284	283	281	294	262	281	339	279	218
Lothian and Borders	1,298	1,280	1,247	1,126	1,425	1,265	1,253	1,209	1,264	1,136
Strathclyde	5,556	5344	4464	4074	4241	4536	4799	4,435	3,861	3,690
Tayside	707	636	585	482	509	529	487	485	399	333
Total	9,677	9,341	8,222	7,476	8,013	8,081	8,105	7,783	6,950	6,350

 

The total number of false alarmsother than hoax calls by fire and rescue service area in the last ten years, forwhich figures are available, is shown in the following table.

Brigade	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Central Scotland	2,266	2,121	2,093	1,999	2,123	2,093	2,276	2,162	1,976	2,039
Dumfries and Galloway	818	742	870	812	820	665	652	716	818	798
Fife	2,428	2,297	2,351	2,256	2506	2,550	2,457	2,471	2,624	2,775
Grampian	3,110	3,130	3,270	3,241	2,790	2,953	2,911	3,343	3,061	3,203
Highlands and Islands	1,543	1,587	1,632	1,611	1,652	1,865	1,907	2,057	2,227	2,145
Lothian and Borders	7,981	7,750	8,074	8,161	9,310	8,928	9,283	9,704	10,027	10,422
Strathclyde	19,157	19,159	18,569	19,024	20,397	21,345	22,467	22,086	21,408	22,565
Tayside	3,163	3,418	3,569	3,378	3,528	3,299	3,780	3,755	3,809	3,798
Total	40,466	40,204	40,428	40,482	43,126	43,698	45,733	46,294	45,950	47,745

Data Source: Scottish Executive:Criminal Justice Series: Fire Statistics Scotland.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish PrisonService to respond. His response is as follows:

I refer the member to thequestion S2W-26453 answered on 19 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website the search facility forwhich can be at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26481 on 19 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

A number of the recommendationsmade by the Working Group have resulted in action being taken. For example, since1 April this year the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004 has offered thepossibility that some of those at risk from hate crime may benefit from specialmeasures and other provisions designed to help vulnerable witnesses who may be infear or distress in connection with giving evidence to give the best evidence theycan. The act currently applies to vulnerable adults and children where cases arebeing heard in the High Court or in solemn proceedings in the sheriff court includingChildren’s Hearings Court Proceedings. These provisions will be rolled out to sheriffcourt summary and all Civil Proceedings including fatal accident inquiries proceedingsnext year. A formal response to the report will be issued in the near future.