Chamber and committees

The textile sector is a vital part of many local economies in Scotland. Given the intense global competitive pressures on this sector, we are determined to do all we can to support it. I have therefore set up a Textiles Forum, bringing together the full range of expertise in the private and public sectors and in trades unions. It will be meeting shortly to discuss the way forward for all sectors of the industry. The approach in Scotland will build on the textile strategy document for the UK due to be launched soon.

The conclusions of a UK inter-departmental review group on ill health pensions will be published shortly and the Scottish Executive plans to review its procedures in the light of the conclusions of that review.

Jaeger Tailoring, Kilmarnock did not contact the Scottish Executive prior to this announcement. However, Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire has been in close touch with the company in recent months. This contact will continue in order to support future operations at the company and those affected by the recent announcement. We shall ensure that such support is being provided in accordance with the principles set out in our PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) document.

The new arrangements for the pay of general and senior managers was published to the service on 2 May by a Management Executive Letter (MEL). In addition to bringing the pay of these managers under ministerial direction the new arrangements will ensure a more robust system of performance management is in place which clearly ties pay to performance and improvements to patient care.

This information is not held centrally.

NHS pay is a fully devolved matter. The Scottish Executive, along with the other three Health Departments, is taking forward negotiations on Agenda for Change - Modernising the NHS Pay System on a UK basis.

No definite timetable for concluding these negotiations has yet been set. However, it is hoped that substantial progress on the main design of a new system can be made over this summer.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within The Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health services and patient care within the NHS in Scotland. Although CSO has received no research proposals of a sufficiently high standard on Meares-Irlen syndrome (which is the term sometimes used to refer to the collection of symptoms and signs of visual fatigue when reading) and therefore does not directly fund research on this condition at present, they would be pleased to receive applications for research funding.

Figures for each local authority cannot be given due to the limited data available. The latest information however shows that, as at September 1998, there were an estimated 33 full-time equivalent (FTE) publicly funded teachers in the pre-school, primary and secondary sectors who held a specialist qualification for teaching visually impaired pupils in Scotland.

The tables below show the available information on (a) patient attendances and (b) orthoptists, but the two tables are not directly comparable and should therefore be interpreted with caution.

Numbers of attendances of patients seen by orthoptists by health board area for financial year 1998-99 are shown in Table 1.

The number of orthoptists employed in the NHS in each of the health boards in Scotland is shown in Table 2. This table shows the number and whole time equivalent employed at 30 September 1998. This data only includes staff in post at the time of the census and does not take into account any vacancies that existed at this point in time. Therefore, it may not represent staffing levels present throughout the financial year. For this reason this data, when related to throughput of patients, cannot be used to provide a robust comparison of workload per orthoptist in each health board.

Table 1

NHSiS - Orthoptist Activity; by Health Board Area of Treatment: Year Ending 31 March 1999

	New patients	Total attendances
Scotland	27,909	112, 063
Ayrshire and Arran	1,970	10,656
Borders	814	2,077
Argyll & Clyde	4,009	12,439
Fife	1,434	5,448
Greater Glasgow	5,526	18,199
Highland	1,218	6,439
Lanarkshire	2,476	10,770
Grampian	1,290	9,576
Orkney	-	199
Lothian	2,948	11,278
Tayside	2,595	11,116
Forth Valley	1,161	7,278
Western Isles	43	356
Dumfries & Galloway	2,425	6,232
Shetland	-	-

Source: ISD Scotland (Form ISD(S)1).

Table 2

Orthoptists Employed in the NHS in Scotland by Health Board

Headcount and Whole Time Equivalent: at 30 September 1998

	Number	WTE
Scotland	94	68.6
Ayrshire and Arran	8	7.0
Borders	3	1.3
Argyll & Clyde	7	6.1
Fife	5	3.9
Greater Glasgow	24	15.4
Highland	4	4.0
Lanarkshire	9	5.5
Grampian	8	6.6
Orkney	-	-
Lothian	8	5.5
Tayside	8	7.8
Forth Valley	5	2.7
Western Isles	-	-
Dumfries & Galloway	5	2.9
Shetland	-	-

Source: National Manpower Statistics from payroll, ISD Scotland.

I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-6354.