Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government consider that mercury amalgam fillings are safe to use. This view is supported by other UK Health departments and the British Dental Association.

The Healthy Start scheme is managed by the Department of Health on behalf of the UK Governments. The administrative costs of running the scheme are met by the Department of Health and are thought to be around £5 million per year. We do not contribute towards the cost of scheme delivery contracts, however we do meet the cost of vouchers redeemed by beneficiaries living in Scotland and we reimburse NHS boards for the cost of vitamins distributed. Based on the information received from the Department of Health, the cost of vouchers redeemed as at 18 December 2011 was £7,328,238.80 with a forecast spend of £10,275,118.32 as at March 2012. To date the total costs claimed by NHS boards for vitamins distributed is £27,208.80.

This information is not currently available. The Food Standards Agency in Scotland and the Scottish Government have funded an analysis of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) in blood samples collected in the 2010 and 2011 Scottish Health Surveys. This data is currently being analysed and is expected to report towards the end of this year. In addition the Scottish Government are funding the Northern Isles Vitamin D Study - prevalence and impact of hypovitaminosis D in a high risk population which is expected to report in spring this year.

In September 2010 the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland wrote to all health professionals urging them to explain the importance of vitamin D to patients at risk of deficiency. In June 2011 we produced a leaflet for the general public and health professionals highlighting the importance of vitamin D supplementation for at-risk groups, including pregnant women, young children, older people and those with limited sun exposure. The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and his counterparts in the UK issued a joint letter to health professionals on 2 February 2012 to restate these messages and give them maximum impact across the UK.

Based on the Management Information report received from the Department of Health for the reporting period (21 November to 15 December 2011) there were 50,294 Scottish beneficiaries eligible under the scheme and 38,625 receiving the benefit. This represents an uptake rate of 77%. The information contained in this report does not include data relating to pregnant women aged under 18 nor does it show, as a separate statistic, the uptake rate for Scottish children.

This information is not collected.

The information requested is not held centrally. In the case of the core Scottish Government, there have been no such write offs.

The standardised measure used to report sickness absence across Civil Service organisations is average working days lost per full-time equivalent employee (AWDL). Sickness absence is reported over a full 12 month period to account for the seasonal patterns associated with sickness absence. The most recently available data covers the 12 month period to 30 September 2011. The equivalent period from the prior year is given for comparison.

Scottish Government Human Resources can only provide this data for organisations to which it provides an HR service, or those which provide a sickness return to Scottish Government. AWDL figures for these organisations are given in the following table.

Notes:

- Organisation not in existence for this time period

** Not currently available.

We are also aware that sickness absence figures for NHS Scotland are published by Information Services Division.

NHS Scotland records sickness absence differently – it is reported in terms of an annual percentage rate and is therefore not directly comparable to the AWDL figures above. The information on sickness absence in the NHS is available at the following link:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/data-tables.asp?id=659#659.

The Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is the main delivery mechanism for private sector planting. Since the beginning of 2010 support for 17,263 hectares of new woodland creation has been approved. Taking an average stocking of 2,000 trees per hectare this equates to 34.5 million trees.

In addition, by the end of March 2012, Forestry Commission Scotland will have created 1,712 hectares of new woodland on the national forest estate. Using the same average stocking this equates to almost 3.5 million trees.

The following table provides details of woodland creation schemes approved within SRDP.

SRDP Woodland Creation Area of Approvals in Hectares

The Scottish Government supports a number of projects including:

(a) Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) which has provided more than £100,000 to support the creation of over 100 community / school orchards since July 2010.

(b) £15,000 to the Children’s Orchard Fruitful Schools Project to enable the planting of 771 trees at 73 schools as a focal point to develop learning around food through outdoor learning.

(c) Forestry Commission Scotland which has supported over 120 schools and community groups within Tayside, Stirling and the Loch Lomond National Park to establish fruit trees for the benefit of children and communities. This represents £18,000 of funding over three years from 2009-12.