Chamber and committees

Each NHS board receives ageneral allocation of funds. It is for boards to decide how best to utilisethese funds to meet the health care needs of their resident population,including mental health services, taking account of national and localpriorities. The Scottish Executive does not collect information on whatproportion of NHS spending is allocated to treating depression and chronicanxiety.

I refer the member to thequestion S2W-26201 answered on 5 June 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The manner in which a policeforce handles telephone calls from members of the public is an operational matterfor the relevant Chief Constable.The Association of Chief PoliceOfficers in Scotland (ACPOS) advises that non-statutory guidance on handling telephonecalls is available to forces in Scotland. This guidance takes the form of recommendations madein an Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)thematic inspection called First Contact: Police Contact Management: HMIC ThematicReport, which is a report produced by HMIC in England and Wales with the collaborationof HMIC in Scotland. It is available at: http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/inspect_reports1/thematic-inspections/first-contact/First_Contact-summary.pdf?view=Binary.

Both call handling and complaintshandling are operational matters for the relevant Chief Constable. They are bothmonitored by each force according to their own procedures. Every Chief Constableproduces an annual report which includes the force’s responses to complaints. HerMajesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary lays a report before the Parliament eachyear which comments on both call handling and complaint handling under the rubricof service delivery.

The Scottish Executiveissued a consultation on this subject. We are now considering the responses tothat consultation to ensure that all the issues are fully taken into account.

The setting of council taxis a matter for local authorities and they have to justify the levels they set tolocal taxpayers. However, we have provided record levels of investment to localauthorities and we have made clear to councils that we expect that this,coupled with the work they are taking forward on efficiency, aligning resourcesto priorities and improving council tax collection, means council tax risesshould be kept to a minimum.

The Scottish Executive iscurrently developing a public information campaign to educate and inform theelectorate about the new single transferable vote system for the 2007 localgovernment elections.

In doing this, the ScottishExecutive is working with the Electoral Commission to develop, from the voter’sperspective, a single campaign for both the Scottish Parliamentary and localgovernment elections, which are being held on the same day, in order to effectivelycommunicate with the electorate and maximise savings on campaign expenditure.The Commission is responsible for information relating to the Parliamentaryelection.

The information requested isnot held centrally.

However, as part of ScottishLocal Government’s Self-Review of its Political Management Structures, theLeadership Advisory Panel reported in 2001 that six councils had adopted acabinet-style structure, five had adopted a devolved or partially-devolvedstructure and the remaining twenty-one had adopted a streamlined committeestructure.

At this stage in thedevelopment of the Scottish Executive’s public information campaign, theestimated expenditure to educate and inform the electorate about the new singletransferable vote system for the 2007 local government elections is £1.25 million.

The Scottish Executive isworking with the Electoral Commission to develop, from the voter’s perspective,a single campaign for both the Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections,which are being held on the same day, in order to effectively communicate withthe electorate and maximise savings on campaign expenditure. The Commission isresponsible for information relating to the Parliamentary election.

Laboratory confirmation of HighlyPathogenic H5 Avian Influenza became available at approximately 16.30 hours on Wednesday,5 April. On suspicion that the neuraminidase was N1, an appropriate response strategywas developed and a news release issued at 20.35 hours. Laboratory confirmationthat the neuraminidase was N1 became available at mid-morning on 6 April and wascommunicated to the public along with details of the wider disease control measures,particularly the creation of the Wild Bird Risk Area, at 16.00 hours.