Chamber and committees

Home composting,community composting and centralised composting have a significant role in thesustainable management of biodegradable waste. The Scottish Government isproviding support to local authorities and other delivery bodies in relation tohome and community composting, the collection of material from householders forcomposting, composting infrastructure and developing markets for compost.

Where theproduction and storage of compost from appropriate materials is less than 400tonnes at any one time (1,000 tonnes in the case of farm businesses), producersbenefit from an exemption from the full requirements of waste managementlicensing and consequently lower regulatory charges.

We support theWaste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to provide advice and run capitalgrant schemes for composting infrastructure. Both WRAP and REMADE Scotland also carry out work on the development of marketsfor recycled products.

The government hasalso supported a number of community composting projects.

The information requestedis given in the following table.

Drug-RelatedDeaths, Dundee City

2004	2005	2006
11	11	16

 

The information requestedis given in the following table.

Drug-RelatedDeaths, Tayside NHS Board Area

2004	2005	2006
23	26	35

 

Patients dischargedfrom hospitals in NHS Tayside who came into hospital through emergency admission,and for whom there was an alcohol-related diagnosis are shown in tables 1 and 2which have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number43926).

Table1 shows the number of discharges of patients treated in NHS Tayside from generalacute hospitals with an alcohol-related diagnosis (emergency admission only) byhospital in the years 2002-03 to 2004-05.

Table2 shows the number of discharges of patients treated in NHS Tayside from mentaland psychiatric units with an alcohol-related diagnosis (emergency admission only)in the years 2002-03 to 2004-05

Information regardingthe numbers of emergency admissions for specific diagnoses is not held centrally.

At 30 June 2006 the average age of (a) the population in Dundee CityCouncil area, was 40 years and (b) people who have migrated to Dundee CityCouncil in the previous year, was 27 years.

The figure for(b) includes migrants from elsewhere in Scotland, migrants from the rest of theUnited Kingdom and migrants from abroad. The UN definition of an internationalmigrant is someone who changes their country of residence for 12 months ormore. Therefore, short-term seasonal migrants (likely to include some migrantworkers from eastern europe) will not be counted in the migration estimates norin the population estimates.

Information on thenumbers of money advice posts paid for through Scottish Executive funding streamsis not collected on a regular basis and is available for 2005 and 2006 only. Figuresfor each local authority area in north-east Scotland are given in the followingtable.

Total Number ofMoney Advisers (Full-Time Equivalent)

Local Authority	July 2005	July 2006
Aberdeen City	4.00	5.34
Aberdeenshire	3.80	4.30
Moray	3.50	2.75

 

Patients dischargedfrom hospitals in NHS Tayside who came into hospital through emergency admissionfrom 2003-04 to 2005-06, and for whom there was an  alcohol-related diagnosis areshown in tables 1 and 2 as follows. The age standardised rates for these years arealso shown.

Information regardingthe numbers of emergency admissions for specific diagnoses is not held centrally.

Table 1. The numbersof discharges of patients resident in NHS Tayside from general acute hospitals withan alcohol related diagnosis (emergency admissions only) for the years 2003-04 to2005-06.

	Numbers			Age-Standardised Rates
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06P	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06P
Tayside	2077	1937	2011	517	469	486

 

Table 2. Thenumbers of discharges of patients resident in NHS Tayside discharged from mentalhospitals and psychiatric units with an alcohol-related diagnosis (emergency admissionsonly) for 2002-03 to 2004-05.

	Numbers			Age-Standardised Rates
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05P	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05P
Tayside	139	171	103	36	43	26

 

Some patients residentin Tayside will have been treated outside the area but age standardised rates canonly be calculated for the population resident in Tayside.

Equality is a guidingprinciple of the skills strategy. In order to fully consider the equalities implicationsof each policy area on its relevant audience and to mitigate against occupationalsegregation, we will ensure that each programme underpinning this strategy willbe equality impact assessed across six strands (race, disability, gender, sexualorientation, age and religion/faith) to make sure that they are appropriate. Wewill also ensure that they are monitored thereafter, to mitigate against any potentialnegative impact, to be proactive in promoting positive actions and to ensure thatour policies supporting the skills strategy are as robust and effective as theycan be for as many people as possible.

Respect and Responsibilitycontains a recommendation that each NHS board must ensure women have access to appropriatetermination of pregnancy services which are in line with the guidelines producedby the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

In addition, NHS QualityImprovement Scotland is developing national Sexual Health Standards. The draft standards,which are currently available, contain a specific recommendation for each NHSboard to ensure that women receive safe termination of pregnancy with minimal delay,followed by a contraceptive review and counselling. The introduction of the draftstandard, which is also in line with the guidelines produced by the Royal Collegeof Obstetrics and Gynaecology, will allow NHS boards to test themselves againstwhat is proposed and to work towards it.