Chamber and committees

There is no age limit for joint replacement treatments. The treatment is available to all ages and both sexes on NHSScotland.

Autologous chondrocyte transplantation and articular cartilage regeneration are different descriptions for the same procedure. Autologous Chondrocyte transplantation is in its infancy and is currently being used in clinical trials. There is therefore no indication when, if trials prove to be successful, it would be approved as a standard clinical practice.

I refer the member to the question S2W-11186 answered on 15 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

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

There is no record of a category A prisoner being released in error from a prisoner escort.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

It is not possible to say which, if any of our current prisoners might have been in the former category A since it does not exist. In SPS's view, however, there are no prisoners who would have been likely to be regarded as Category A who have been released in error either from Reliance or SPS custody.

The Spencely Report was commissioned by and for the Scottish ParliamentaryCorporate Body and the Executive noted its conclusions. The Auditor General’s report was delivered in 2000 and was the subject of specific recommendations by the Audit Committee’s 6th report of 2000. Each of those recommendations was acted upon and the Executive replied to the report in February 2001, which was subsequently lodged with in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (document ref SE/2001/63)(Bib. number 12386). In May 2001 the Executive issued its Construction Client Pack of policy and procedural guidance for major construction works projects, a copy of which is available on the Executive’s website.

The Executive has relatively small numbers of capital projects and there are no instances that we are aware of, of problems similar to those encountered on the Holyrood Project arising elsewhere.

The information requested isdetailed in the following table

Policy Analyst Appointees(June 2002 Competition)

No. of Appointments	Male	Female	Ethnic Origin
35	18	17	*

*In order to preserve confidentialitythis information cannot be published separately.

1. One of the appointees hasa professional finance qualification.

2. All appointees were recruitedat C1 (Policy Analyst) level within the pay scale for that band and salaryrange.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS has no record of howmany people have passed the Reliance prisoner custody officer training course whichis entirely a matter for the company. RCS staff require to be cleared by DisclosureScotland, and are required to pass a fitness test as well as the RCS training coursebefore they are certified by SPS, so not all staff who pass the training will becertified.

Centrally collected information on waiting times for in-patient and day case treatment is only available retrospectively. The median waiting times for orthopaedic surgery, by NHS board area of residence, for the years ended 30 June 2002, 2003 and 2004 are given in the following table.

The increases in median waits reflect our focus on reducing the number of patients waiting longest for treatment. A significant change in the waiting time distribution of patients treated, such as a higher number of patients who have had lengthy waits, will increase median waiting times. On 30 June 2004, no patient in Scotland with a guarantee was waiting more than nine months for orthopaedic surgery, compared with 1,395 patients on 30 June 2002.

I refer the member to the question S2W-11087 answered on 25 October 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times For Orthopaedic Surgery, by NHS Board of Residence: Years Ended 30 June 2002, 2003 and 2004^P

	Median Wait (days) During Year Ended 30 June
NHS Board	2002	2003	2004P
Argyll and Clyde	107	155	116
Ayrshire and Arran	84	83	103
Borders	75	78	83
Dumfries and Galloway	72	98	95
Fife	106	117	134
Forth Valley	113	162	176
Grampian	51	64	94
Greater Glasgow	83	105	107
Highland	78	94	139
Lanarkshire	89	107	125
Lothian	89	127	114
Orkney Islands	52	60	87
Shetland Islands	96	153	114
Tayside	76	95	95
Western Isles	43	34	61
NHSScotland	80	100	110

Source: NHS National ServicesScotland, SMR01.

^PProvisional.

In April 1998, 16 staff, equating to approximately 50% of the Executive’s procurement division, were either full members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), or partially qualified. Currently the number of staff who are either members of CIPS, or partially qualified is 26, which represents 93% of the procurement functions staff within the Scottish Procurement Directorate. The CIPS is an institute incorporated by Royal Charter and is recognised by both the private and public sectors as the leading UK and international professional Institute for procurement professionals.