Chamber and committees

Based on the results of the ScottishHealth Survey (SHS) 2003, the percentage of adult males (aged 16 to 74) achievingthe minimum recommended level of physical activity of 30 minutes per day increasedfrom 41% in 1998 to 44% in 2003. The percentage of adult women meeting the recommendationsalso increased from 30% in 1998 to 33% in 2003. Full results from the SHS can beviewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50251.

The information requested isnot held centrally. However, NHS Tayside has provided the information shown in thefollowing table on total attendances at accident and emergency department in theyears in question.

Hospital	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Ninewells Hospital	48,158	48,687	47,818
Perth Royal Infirmary	24,472	24,391	25,460
Stracathro Hospital	766
Total	73,396	73,078	73,278

Note: Stracathro Hospital accidentand emergency closed June 2003.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Persons in the Tayside PoliceForce Area with a Charge Proved for Carrying Knives or Offensive Weapons¹,2003-04 and 2004-05

	Possession of an Offensive Weapon2	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or a Point	Total
2003-04	82	45	127
2004-05	90	74	164

Note:

1. Where main offence.

2. Knives cannot be identifiedseparately from other types of offensive weapon in the data held for this crimecategory.

The implementation of the ScottishExecutive’s Hungry for Success initiative is being monitored by HM Inspectorateof Education.

Since August 2004, an inspectionprogramme has been undertaken in primary and special schools which, by June 2006,will have seen 111 schools inspected. The inspection programme for secondary schoolswill begin in September 2006 and will run in conjunction with continued inspectionof primary and special schools.

In March 2005, an evaluation of the Free Fruit in Schools Initiative wasalso carried out. The report of the evaluation is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/12/21110322/03222.

The numbers of jobs located outsideEdinburgh associated with each relocation of staff in each Executive department, agencyand non-departmental public body are set out in a table on the Executive’s website.This can be accessed through the following link:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Relocation/StoryFar#a1

Although many relocation projectswill include a number of newly-created jobs, the majority of newly-created jobswill be associated with newly created organisations. These include, in particular:Food Standards Agency, Public Guardian’s Office, Scottish Social Services Council,Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care Headquarters, Office of the ScottishCharity Regulator, Mental Health Tribunal Service, Scottish Building Standards Agencyand the Risk Management Authority.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26602 on 19 June 2006. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Women and Transport:Guidance and Checklist was issued tolocal authorities, Strathclyde Passenger Transport and transport providers in Scotland inJuly 2002. How the guidance is put into practice is not monitored centrally.

Network Rail haveresponsibility for developing the Route Utilisation Strategy for Scotland andwill be issuing a draft for consultation around August. The Route UtilisationStrategy considers whether better use can be made of the network, includingroutes in the north east, through changes to timetables or through small scaleimprovements to the infrastructure. This will produce options for ministers totake into account when specifying the outputs we want from Network Rail and anyamendments we might want to the franchise specifications in future.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.

First ScotRail are committedto delivering a number of improvements over the life of the current rail franchiseas part of its £40 million Station Investment Programme. These include theinstallation of CCTV at 13 stations, Customer Information Systems at 44stations, Help Points, Public Announcement systems and lighting improvements. Inaddition to this, improvements to station signage, totem information displays,new poster cases and telephones will be made at stations across Scotland. FirstScotRail also provide a free assisted travel service for customers requiringhelp at stations, and passengers can book this via the Customer Contact Centre.

The cross-border railpassenger services are fully funded by the Department for Transport in London aspart of the rail devolution settlement. The Scottish Executive has made nosubsidy payments to the train operators providing these services and has nocurrent plans to do so.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.