Chamber and committees

Distribution planning is a responsibility of NHS boards working with the operators of nuclear facilities, the police, local authorities and others who would be involved in the response to any nuclear accident or incident. Methods employed would depend on the nature, scale and circumstances of the accident or incident. In some circumstances distribution to people in their homes might be appropriate; in others, distribution might be effected at reception centres or other points at which people within an affected area would be collected.

I currently have no plans to make the guidance statutory.

March 2002.

The Scottish Executive is aware of advice from the Capercaillie Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group, recommending release of captive-bred capercaillie, on condition that the trial site is south of the central belt. I understand that the purpose of this trial would be to assess the feasibility of a release project and to perfect methodologies and techniques. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, any trial could only go ahead on the basis of a licence approved by Scottish Natural Heritage.

No funding is planned for captive breeding programmes as part of the LIFE Project.

The Scottish Executive is committed to safeguarding the capercaillie population in Scotland and a wide range of measures have already been applied to tackle the decline in capercaillie numbers. These include the implementation of actions set out in the Biodiversity Species Action Plan for Capercaillie. With funding from the Scottish Executive the Forestry Commission spent £700,000 from September 2001 to March 2002 on the removal and marking of deer fences in Scotland.The recent award of almost £2.5 million from the EU LIFE-Nature Fund supports a five year project directed at capercaillie conservation. An equal sum will be secured from a number of public and non public bodies including the Scottish Executive.

The Home Office is responsible for the Immigration Detention Centre at Dungavel House, Strathavon under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales is responsible for inspection. However, the Immigration Service have consulted with the host authority, South Lanarkshire Council and Social Work Services Inspectorate regarding the provision of services. It is anticipated that The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care will be consulted about arrangements for inspection.

Social Inclusion Partnership Fund grant expenditure is audited at a number of levels. At project level the accounts are subject to an annual audit by a qualified accountant. Where the council is the nominated partner, the council's management is responsible for ensuring that its systems for handling grant and accounting for it are sound. These systems may be subject to scrutiny by the council's internal auditors. Non-local authority nominated partners are responsible for ensuring that their systems for handling grant and accounting for it are sound and for ensuring that their final grant claim is audited by professionally qualified external auditors. At the partnership level, partnerships' final claims are periodically certified by auditors appointed by Audit Scotland. The role of these external auditors is to ensure that expenditure is properly accounted for and used for the intended purposes. Communities Scotland is currently undertaking a review of financial procedures and practices in relation to the social inclusion partnership programme.

This is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service. I can, however, advise you that the service regularly reviews its operational performance addressing all of the factors which influence that performance. These include demand on the service, staffing levels generally and specifically covering relief requirements, training demands and sickness levels. There are no rostered single crewed ambulance shifts. Where single crewed ambulances are operating it is because of short notice unplanned absences. Across Scotland the incidence of such responses last year was 0.69% of all calls. In those circumstances where a single crewed accident and emergency ambulance provides the first response to an emergency call, staff in the operations room ensure that this is backed up by a double crewed resource at the first available opportunity. The single crewed response is only recorded against the response times target if the follow up resource reaches the patient within 14/18/21 minutes (depending on population density) of the call being received.

Overtime rates of pay are paid to ambulance frontline staff, paramedic technicians, operations room assistants, maintenance staff, driver/handymen and administrative and clerical staff within the Scottish Ambulance Service staff.