Chamber and committees

We will continue to encourage NHS boards to use workforce and workload planning tools when undertaking workforce planning to produce detailed clinical assessment plans. The boards then use this information to decide the service provision required to deliver high quality, safe and sustainable services to meet the needs of the population.

The heating within the surgical block of the Southern General Hospital has broken down once in each of the following years: 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. I have been assured that on each of these occasions, efforts were made to restore supply as quickly as possible, and contingency measures were in place for the interim period such as the provision of stand alone heaters and additional blankets.

It should also be remembered that this Government is investing £842 million in the New Southern General Hospital. This entirely publicly-funded project, which is Scotland''s biggest ever new hospital development, will see a 1,109-bed adult hospital integrated with a 256-bed children''s hospital, providing maternity, paediatric, acute and support services on a single site.

A full evaluation of the Census programme, including the awarding of the contract which includes IT support, will take place following the completion of the Census.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to implement the Act. The Act states that each local authority is required to publish an annual report on its performance of its functions in relation to the Act. The first reports cover the period 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010 and are due to be published by 30 June 2011.

As set out in the Act, the Scottish Government will lay a report before the Parliament on the performance of local authorities in relation to the Act by 30 September 2011.

Interrogation of prisoners is a legal activity, but the website alleges that a different subsidiary of CACI International, working for the US Government in Iraq, was involved in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib. The company vehemently denies these allegations and strongly deplores any form of abuse of human rights. The allegations of involvement in torture of inmates at Abu Ghraib have never been proved. Nor has the US Government, which court-martialled some of its troops over abuses at Abu Ghraib, taken any action against CACI or its subsidiary.

As part of the procurement process, the Registrar General obtained references about previous contracts that CACI (UK) Ltd had completed, as assurance of the company''s capability to deliver the required services. The main reference related to Ireland, because CACI (UK) Ltd had provided support services for the two previous Irish censuses.

The Registrar General also obtained copies of recent published accounts for CACI (UK) Ltd to ensure its financial stability, as well as details of its insurance cover and accreditations, and carried out other research on the status and history of the company.

In June 2008, the Registrar General awarded a contract for work on the 2011 census which included certain IT services and other services such as the printing of the questionnaires.

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During parliamentary passage of the then Bill, no additional funding was deemed necessary for implementation of the Disabled Persons'' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009.