Chamber and committees

Our latest Programme for Government sets out the significant progress we have made in improving education in Scotland's schools. In addition, we have achieved an agreement which will improve teachers' pay and modernise their conditions, and established an improvement framework with national priorities to maintain the drive to raise standards in schools.

The research referred to in the letter of 16 October 1990 was conducted "in-house" by the Scottish Law Commission and covered the exposition of the existing law. This research was taken into account when the Commission issued its consultation paper and reached its recommendations in its report.

No independent research on this subject was initiated by the Scottish Law Commission.

Representatives of the Scottish Prison Service and the Prison Officers’ Association attended a conciliation hearing on 1 May 2001 which was chaired by the Director of ACAS for Scotland.As a result, the dispute about staff attendance patterns has been referred for resolution to an Independent Arbiter appointed by ACAS. The hearing will be arranged at an early date and will produce an outcome this month that is binding on both sides.

The information requested is not available centrally as there is no formal definition of pregnancies which are classed as complex or high risk.

NHS boards have been asked to test their strategies against the Framework for Maternity Services in Scotland and a National Group will be set up to implement the framework, and this will include developing a performance management framework to be used in assessing implementation. The implementation will also involve the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland who will develop a range of standards flowing from the framework and this will also monitor progress on implementation.

The information requested is shown in the table.Maternities ^1,2 delivered in NHS Hospitals in Ayrshire & Arran, 1995-96 to 1999-2000

	Year ending 31 March
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000p
Total	3,965	3,916	3,863	3,821	3,529
Ayrshire Central & Maternity Hospital	3,943	3,899	3,843	3,806	3,517
Isle of Arran War Memorial Hospital	10	14	16	12	9
Other 3	12	3	4	3	3

^p Provisional.Source: ISD Scotland, SMR02 (at March 2001).Notes:1. Maternity is a pregnancy resulting in a live or still birth, where multiple births are counted only once.2. Excludes home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.3. Due to the small number involved, hospital details are not shown, although these figures include a small number of births at Crosshouse Hospital, Davidson Cottage Hospital and The Ayr Hospital.

The Framework for Maternity Services in Scotland recommends that areas with more than approximately 3,000 births per year should be served by a consultant-led specialist maternity unit with access to neonatal intensive care and access to neonatal surgery and adult intensive care. This will also include midwifery managed care.

The Scottish Executive will fix the date to lay these Orders once the current review of the Summary Cause and Small Claim Rules and the consequential review of the Table of Fees for Solicitors in Summary Cause actions is completed. The review of the Rules is being conducted by the Sheriff Court Rules Council in the first instance, and is then a matter for the Court of Session to consider any recommendations. The Table of Fees is for the Lord President's Advisory Committee and then for the Court of Session. The Review of the Rules is, I understand, still some months from completion. The current aim of the Sheriff Court Rules Council is to submit draft Rules to the Court of Session during the course of this year. The Lord President's Advisory Committee will not be able to consider the issue of fees in detail until the content of the Rules is clear.

We have made major progress in delivering our priorities in education as set out in the Working together for Scotland document. We have also achieved a stable agreement to improve teachers' pay and modernise their conditions, while we have established an improvement framework with national priorities which will drive improving standards in schools.