Chamber and committees

On 24 March, I announced, through Scottish Executive News Release SE0786, the resumption of the schools BCG vaccination programme in Scotland. We have now received details of vaccine requirements from boards and will be writing out to them shortly asking them to restart this element of the schools programme, giving priority to S4 pupils due to leave school in 2001.

Child protection registers are maintained by individual local authorities in Scotland. The following table illustrates the total number of children recorded on these registers as at 31 March 1999, and is the most current information held centrally.

Local authority area	Number on Register		Rate per 1,000 population aged 0-15
Aberdeen City	201		5.2
Aberdeenshire	86		1.8
Angus	59		2.7
Argyll & Bute	41		2.5
Clackmannanshire	16		1.6
Dumfries & Galloway	70		2.5
Dundee City	44		1.6
East Ayrshire	11		0.4
East Dunbartonshire	11		0.5
East Lothian	72		4.0
East Renfrewshire	21		1.2
Edinburgh, City of	360		4.6
Eilean Siar	19		3.5
Falkirk	80		2.8
Fife	85		1.2
Glasgow City	380		3.2
Highland	216		5.1
Inverclyde	11		0.6
Midlothian1	47		2.9
Moray	50		2.8
North Ayrshire	31		1.1
North Lanarkshire	54		0.8
Orkney Isles	1		0.2
Perth & Kinross	45		1.7
Renfrewshire	65		1.8
Scottish Borders	21		1.0
Shetland	23		4.5
South Ayrshire	4		0.2
South Lanarkshire	50		0.8
Stirling	42		2.6
West Dunbartonshire	42		2.1
West Lothian	103		3.1
SCOTLAND	2,361		2.3

Notes:1. Figure for 1998 for Midlothian is an estimate.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14568 on 2 May 2001.

Discussions with the UK Government take place on a wide range of subjects including energy policy.

This is a matter for local authorities. The information requested is not currently held centrally.

There are none. At present landfill sites are regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (WMLR) 1994 which ensures that landfill sites do not pollute the environment.

Figures are available centrally for the routine immunisation programme for school children only. The number of such children reported as vaccinated against tuberculosis in the years ending 30 June 1995 to 1999 were:

Year	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Scotland	31,119	62,174	47,786	48,754	46,389

Source: Common Services Agency, Information and Statistics Division.A national shortage of BCG vaccine and the measles/rubella campaign resulted in a limited school BCG programme throughout Scotland in 1995.

There are none. However, I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14984 on 26 April 2001.

None. Under the terms of the new statutory contaminated land regime, which came into force on 14 July 2000, local authorities have until October 2001 to produce and publish strategies for inspecting their areas to identify contaminated land.

Improving the patient's journey by extending access, reducing waiting times and improving the way it responds to the needs of patients is a key priority for every part of the NHS. Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change requires each local NHS Board to demonstrate to the Executive and to the local communities it serves, how it is using its resources to transform the patient's experience from first contact through primary care, outpatients clinics, inpatient's stay if necessary and back to their home.Central funding of £3 million has already been allocated to support the redesign of local services and a further £6 million will be made available over the next three years. This is in addition to £7 million of non-recurring funding provided in August 2000 to facilitate service redesign, the development of managed clinical networks and give a further impetus to modernisation and the reduction of waiting times.