Chamber and committees

The E-Planning Efficient GovernmentProgramme is a key component of planning reform. The programme involves 40 partners.Work is on-going on estimating the cost of the proposed e-planning systems for eachpartner, but based on work to date the estimates are:

(a) Dundee City Council– £41,000

(b) Angus Council – £78,000

(c) Aberdeenshire Council – £119,000.

The aim of the programme is tobring all partners up to the same level of e-planning service, so allocations varybased on how advanced the e-planning systems of the partners are and their overalllevel of involvement in the programme.

Estimates of employment aretaken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Table 1 shows estimates of the levelof employment of people ages 16 and over in Angus and Aberdeenshire.

The estimates are based on asample survey, and as such, are subject to some sampling error. Taking accountof sampling error there are no statistically significant differences inemployment levels between any of the years within Angus or Aberdeenshire.

Table1 – Employment levelsof 16+ in Angus and Aberdeenshire, 1999-2006

Year	Angus	Aberdeenshire
1999	51,000	115,000
2000	56,000	118,000
2001	55,000	126,000
2002	54,000	117,000
2003	46,000	119,000
2004	50,000	120,000
2005	49,000	116,000
2006	48,000	123,000

Source: Labour Force Survey,Spring quarter.

Note: Estimates are roundedto the nearest thousand.

The following table shows thenumber of employee jobs in Aberdeenshire by sector for the last three years forwhich data are available.

Due to changes in the data between2002 and 2003 there is a slight discontinuity with the data and therefore comparisonsbetween data from 2003 onwards with data prior to 2003 should be used with caution.

Table 1 – Employee Jobs bySector in Aberdeenshire, 2002-04

Industry	2002		2003		2004
	Level	%	Level	%	Level	%
A : Agriculture, hunting and forestry	3,900	5.1%	3,900	4.8%	3,900	4.8%
B : Fishing	900	1.2%	*	*	*	*
C : Mining and quarrying	1,400	1.8%	2,200	2.6%	2,100	2.5%
D : Manufacturing	11,600	14.9%	11,400	13.9%	11,000	13.5%
E : Electricity, gas and water supply	400	0.5%	*	*	*	*
F : Construction	6,600	8.4%	4,600	5.6%	6,600	8.0%
G : Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods	14,100	18.1%	14,200	17.4%	13,300	16.3%
H : Hotels and restaurants	5,100	6.5%	5,900	7.2%	6,900	8.4%
I : Transport, storage and communication	3,200	4.2%	3,700	4.5%	3,800	4.7%
J : Financial intermediation	900	1.2%	900	1.1%	900	1.1%
K : Real estate, renting and business activities	7,400	9.5%	8,600	10.5%	7,700	9.4%
L : Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	2,800	3.6%	3,000	3.6%	3,100	3.8%
M : Education	7,000	9.0%	7,800	9.6%	7,200	8.9%
N : Health and social work	8,500	10.9%	9,500	11.6%	9,600	11.8%
O : Other community, social and personal service activities	4,000	5.1%	5,200	6.3%	4,400	5.3%
Total	78,000	100%	81,700	100%	81,500	100%

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

1. Figures have been roundedto the nearest hundred.

3. 2002 figures are based onSIC 1992 codes and 2003-04 figures are based on SIC 2003 codes. This may lead toa discontinuity in levels.

4. Data for 1997–2002 are basedon 1991 census wards. Data for 2003-04 are based on 2003 CAS wards.

*Cannot be disclosed due to confidentialityconstraints.

The following table showsthe estimate of the number of economically inactive people aged 16 to 65 andthe proportion of 16 to 65-year-olds who are economically inactive in Angus andAberdeenshire. The estimates are based on a sample survey, and as such, aresubject to some sampling error.

The official economicinactivity figures in the UK are based on those of working age which consist ofmales aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59. The economic inactivity ratesfor the working age group for Angus and Aberdeenshire in 2005 were 18.8% and16.0% respectively.

Table 1 – Economicallyinactive people in Angus and Aberdeenshire aged 16 to 65, 2005

	Angus		Aberdeenshire
Year	Level	Proportion	Level	Proportion
2005	15,000	21.4%	29,000	18.8%

Source: Annual PopulationSurvey 2005.

Note: 1. Estimates arerounded to the nearest thousand.

The preferred source forearnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which iscarried out by the Office for National Statistics.

The following table shows themedian gross hourly pay and median gross weekly pay for males and females forthe last three years in Aberdeenshire.

Table 1 – Median GrossHourly Pay in Aberdeenshire, 2004-2006

	Hourly Pay			Weekly Pay
	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006
Males	9.24	9.07	11.66	422.1	421.6	488.6
Females	8.44	8.29	8.57	335.3	317.4	331.5
Both	8.94	8.96	9.96	386.8	382.5	435.6

Source: Annual Survey ofHours and Earnings.

Notes:

1. The estimates are basedon the pay excluding overtime for employees on adult rates whose pay for the surveypay-period was not affected by absence.

2. The estimates are based on asample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

3. Hourly rates of pay havebeen rounded to the nearest pence.

4. Weekly rates of pay havebeen rounded to the nearest 10 pence.

5. Rates are based on workbased earnings.

There is evidence to suggestthat improving the diet of adolescent girls by increasing calcium, vitamin D, fruit,vegetable and protein intake and decreasing carbonated soft drinks consumption maybe an effective bone health strategy. Skeletal development and optimising diet andactivity level at this stage would have a significant impact on preventing futureosteoporosis.

The Executive actively promotesmeasures such as improving diet, weight bearing physical activity, reducing alcoholintake and ceasing smoking.

The Food Standards Agency Scotlandhas informed me that the Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) for calcium is 800 microgramsper day for girls aged 11 to 18 years of age (Department of Health 1991). This isthe amount of calcium which is sufficientfor almost all adolescent girls (97.5%). The Lower Reference Nutrient Intake (LRNI) for calcium is 450 micrograms perday for adolescent girls and is sufficient for only the small number of adolescentgirls who have low requirements (2.5%).

Data from the National Dietand Nutrition Survey of Children and Young People Aged 4-18 years in Great Britain(Gregory et al, 2000), showed that approximately 22% of adolescent girls (11to 18 years) had daily intakes of calcium that were 800mg or over per day, and 22%of adolescent girls had daily calcium intakesbelow the LRNI of 450 micrograms per day.

The sampling frame for the NationalDiet and Nutrition Survey included participants from Scotland to ensurethat data was representative of Great Britain. However, the numbers are too small for the survey tobe fully representative of children and young people in Scotland alone.

The following table details howmuch and what percentage of the Scottish Executive Marketing Unit advertising budgethas been spent on Online, Television and Radio and Newspapers in the latest threeyears.

	2003-04 Spend	Percentage	2004-05 Spend	Percentage	2005-06 Spend	Percentage
Total Advertising Expenditure	£9,332,141		£9,554,912		£9,270,561
Online	£0.00	0%	£79,890	0.8%	£160,154	1.7%
TV and Radio	£2,803,607	30.0%	£2,976,349	31.2%	£2,975,326	32.1%
Newspaper	£1,964,295	21.0%	£1,385,072	14.5%	£643,239	6.9%

 

The Scottish Executive allocates£1.5 million each year to NHS Health Scotland to deliver tobacco control education and communicationsprogrammes. Last month (October 2006) NHS Health Scotland launched a new Smokelineadvertisement on quitting smoking during pregnancy along with a complementary DVDto encourage pregnant women to use their local smoking cessation services.

NHS Health Scotland also producea selection of information leaflets about smoking in pregnancy and the risks associatedwith second hand tobacco smoke which are widely distributed to doctors’ surgeriesand NHS hospitals.

The Executive has identifiedpregnant women as a priority group for NHS smoking cessation services and set atarget to reduce smoking prevalence in pregnancy to 20% by 2010.

Although information is not availablefor 1971 and 1981, data on how school children normally travelled to school foreach year from 1999 to 2005 is set out in Table 5.33 of Scotland’s People: resultsfrom the 2005 Scottish Household Survey, published by the Scottish Executivein August 2006, a copy of which is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40753).

Some sample data on how childrenaged 5-16 travelled to school in the period 1989-91 is set out in Table 12.19 of Scottish Transport Statistics no. 24:2005 edition, published by the Scottish Executive in August 2005, a copy of which is also available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 37306). However,those figures, which were produced from the National Travel Survey, are on a slightlydifferent basis.