Chamber and committees

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-456 on 8 June 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish governmentrecognises that alcohol misuse represents a significant challenge to the publichealth of Scotland today.

The Scottish Governmentwill:

build on and developthe programme of work set out in the Updated Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems,published in February 2007;

examine ways to taketougher action on those involved in underage sales and to crack down on irresponsiblealcohol price promotions in supermarkets, and

developing a long-termstrategy to bring about a lasting and sustainable change in Scotland’s attitudeto alcohol by de-normalising excessive drinking.

The ScottishExecutive is currently addressing this in a wider context and is in discussionwith local transport authorities and the bus industry with a view to reviewingthe environmental impacts of all bus travel. There is no current Scottish Executive guidance specifically onenvironmentally friendly school buses.

In March 2007 the Scottish Executive published School transport: survey of goodpractice on its website, to help and encourage authorities to improve thestandards of school transport, discourage car use and promote healthier travelchoices. This builds on earlier school transport guidance and on the work of the local authority school travel co-ordinators, who are funded by the ScottishExecutive.

The percentage ofschool children who travel to school by school bus in each local authority area,and for Scotland as a whole, is given in the following table.This information is collected, in respect of a small sample of pupils, by the ScottishHousehold Survey (SHS). The results are subject to sampling errors. The survey’seight years of data have been pooled, in order to provide more reliable estimates,because of the small sample sizes in some local authorities.

Pupils in Full-TimeEducation at School – Percentage whose usual Method of Travel to School is “SchoolBus”:

SHS Data for 1999-2006Combined

	Percentage who Travel to School by School Bus	Total Number of Pupils Sampled Over the Eight Year Period 1999-2006
Aberdeen City	5	855
Aberdeenshire	29	1,216
Angus	11	537
Argyll and Bute	29	503
Clackmannanshire	19	541
Dumfries and Galloway	21	669
Dundee City	4	578
East Ayrshire	24	621
East Dunbartonshire	13	580
East Lothian	12	513
East Renfrewshire	18	608
Edinburgh, City of	3	1,621
Eilean Siar	59	449
Falkirk	19	736
Fife	25	1,661
Glasgow City	5	2,384
Highland	31	1,055
Inverclyde	16	460
Midlothian	12	575
Moray	22	580
North Ayrshire	18	692
North Lanarkshire	16	1,653
Orkney Islands	42	512
Perth and Kinross	24	586
Renfrewshire	14	843
Scottish Borders	22	519
Shetland Islands	45	593
South Ayrshire	20	555
South Lanarkshire	18	1,508
Stirling	15	540
West Dunbartonshire	11	442
West Lothian	18	820
Scotland	16	26,005

 

The Scottish Executiveguidance to education authorities on school transport provision, Circular 7/2003,includes advice on contracting with transport providers. This has been supplementedby School transport: survey of good practice, published on the Scottish Executivewebsite on 16 March 2007.

The patients’ travellingexpenses scheme allows for the reimbursement or partial reimbursement, oftravel costs for eligible patients, and where medically necessary escorts,attending hospital for treatment. Eligible patients are those who are inreceipt of Income Support, Income-based Job-seekers’ Allowance, Pension Creditguarantee credit, are entitled to, or are named on, a valid NHS tax creditexemption certificate or who are assessed by the NHS Business ServicesAuthority as eligible on low income grounds.

Help for visitors topatients in hospital is not available under the travelling expenses scheme.However, recipients of qualifying benefits may be able to obtain some help inthe form of a community care grant from the social fund.

It is for each health boardto plan and deliver services to meet the needs of its resident population. Traumaorthopaedics and general surgery were moved from St John’s Hospital andtransferred to Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 2004 and I understand from NHSLothian that they have no current plans to review their decision.

It is not our intention toundertake a general review of service changes that have been made in the NHS. However,I will continue to engage with local communities about the range of servicesprovided locally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-244 on 11 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

One of our central prioritiesis to support Scotland’s economic growth. We have already made clear that oneof the ways in which we will do so is by removing or reducing the burden of businessrates for small businesses, many of which are located in traditional town centresacross Scotland. We will announce further measures in due course.