Chamber and committees

Information on the average gross remuneration of non-medical staff in the NHS for the last three years is given in the following table. Latest available data is at 31 March 2005.

Average Gross Remuneration (£) of Non-Medical Staff in NHSScotland

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Non-medical Staff	20,177	22,272	22,714

Source: Scottish Standard Payroll System.

Notes:

1. Average gross remuneration is calculated using total cost divided by whole-time equivalent staff who were in post for the full financial year. Information for staff who joined or left part way through the year have been excluded. Ambulance staff have been excluded due to incomplete data.

2. Total cost: gross salary (basic salary plus overtime, enhancements and allowances etc) plus employers' national insurance and superannuation.

3. Whole time equivalent is calculated by dividing the number of contracted hours/sessions by the normal conditioned hours for a particular group of staff.

4. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest pound.

The information requested is shown in the table.

Average Gross NHS Remuneration^1,2 Paid to Dentists Providing NHS general Dental Services; Year Ending March

2003	2004	2005
£85,985	£84,702	£85,828

Source: MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

Notes:

1. Gross earnings (item of service fees, plus capitation and continuing care fees), divided by the number of non-salaried dentists (principals and assistants) who had earnings during the financial year.

2. Excludes grants and allowances that non-salaried dentists may be entitled to claim in addition to item of service, capitation and continuing care fees.

The information requested is shown in the table.

Number of Dentists¹ Offering NHS Dentistry; at 30 September

	2002		2003		2004
NHS board	Number of Dentists2	Number per 100,000 Population3	Number of Dentists2	Number per 100,000 Population3	Number of Dentists2	Number per 100,000 Population3
Argyll and Clyde	180	43	186	45	182	44
Ayrshire and Arran	133	36	138	38	148	40
Borders	48	45	43	40	41	38
Dumfries and Galloway	41	28	43	29	45	30
Fife	147	42	147	42	135	38
Forth Valley	105	38	106	38	110	39
Grampian	170	32	178	34	191	36
Greater Glasgow	442	51	444	51	462	53
Highland	87	42	83	40	89	42
Lanarkshire	217	39	230	42	238	43
Lothian	386	50	383	49	389	49
Orkney	6	31	9	47	9	46
Shetland	11	50	12	55	12	55
Tayside	184	47	183	47	188	48
Western Isles	9	34	9	34	10	38
Scotland	2,088	41	2,118	42	2,161	43

Sources:

MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

GROS.

Notes:

1. There are various ways of calculating the number of dentists working in the NHS General Dental Service. Classification of counting dentists has been revised from 2004 to ensure a consistent way of recording dentists. A dentist is counted once for each NHS board where he/she has a contract to provide NHS General Dental Services or where he/she is employed to provide such services. As a result, the sum of the number of dentists in each NHS board will exceed the number of dentists in Scotland.

2. Headcount of non-salaried principals, salaried principals, assistants and vocational trainees active in the NHS General Dental Service at 30 September 2005.

3. Mid-year population figures.

Only four of 23 health boards are projecting cumulative overspends. These are:

NHS Boards	Projected 2005-06 Outturn (£000)
NHS Argyll and Clyde	72,541
NHS Grampian	8,123
NHS Lanarkshire	19,959
NHS Western Isles	738

 

I have already announced my intention regarding Argyll and Clyde.

NHS Grampian have in place an agreed financial recovery plan which will see them returning to financial balance in 2006-07.

The Lanarkshire deficit is from an earlier period and is planned to be managed using profit on a land sale.

The new Director of Finance of NHS Western Isles is currently working through the board’s financial recovery plans to address the deficit. This is due to be submitted to the department by the end of September.

This information is not available as the distribution of practice income between General Practices and their staff is a matter for each practice.

The table illustrates average gross payments to practices per GP whole-time equivalent collected by Practitioner Services Division of NHS National Services Scotland. This does not include other income such as fees and direct payments between each NHS board and each practice.

GP Practice Gross Payments

All Scotland Average Gross Payments per GP (Whole-Time Equivalent)	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
	£108,951.90	£122,138.30	£146,208.60

 

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The information requested isnot held centrally.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Information about short Scottishsecure tenancies from registered social landlords has been collected since September2002. A total of 1,228 short Scottish secure tenancies have been issued up to 31 March 2005. The followingtable provides a breakdown on a yearly basis:

	Number of Short SSTs Issued
2002-03	341
2003-04	427
2004-05	460
Total Granted	1,228

 

Information is not held centrally on the total number of temporary accommodation places available, neither in properties owned by registered social landlords, nor in properties in other tenures.Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, local authorities have a duty to ensure that temporary accommodation is made available for homeless people in a number of different circumstances. The accommodation can be provided across a range of tenures including private rented accommodation and temporary accommodation in the council’s own property. The latest available information on numbers of homeless households in temporary accommodation in each local authority area at 30 September 2005 was published in February 2005 and is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00399-00.asp.

The table shows for each local authority for each of the last three years the total number of houses owned by the council which the council has designated as temporary accommodation for homeless applicants.

Local Authority Dwelling Stock and Temporary Accommodation for Homeless Households as at 31 March 2003-05 by Local Authority Area.

Local Authority Area	2003		2004		2005
	Total Stock	Designated temp. accommodation for homeless	Total Stock	Designated temp. accommodation for homeless	Total Stock	Designated temp. accommodation for homeless
Local Authorities	415,992	1,712	388,970	2,066	373,554	2,923
Aberdeen City	25,841	66	25,193	72	24,683	72
Aberdeenshire	14,642	74	14,316	90	13,994	107
Angus	9,043	46	8,737	51	8,494	51
Argyll and Bute	6,302	24	6,062	40	5,707	40
Clackmannanshire	5,787	71	5,607	51	5,482	59
Dumfries and Galloway	11,878	63	0	na	0	na
Dundee City	17,841	82	16,754	77	15,940	76
East Ayrshire	16,037	17	15,313	24	14,657	53
East Dunbartonshire	5,322	66	5,153	75	4,077	90
East Lothian	9,040	38	8,671	38	8,417	41
East Renfrewshire	3,804	15	3,695	21	3,536	22
City of Edinburgh	26,497	n/k	25,399	n/k	24,115	493
Eilean Siar	1,880	14	1,834	23	1,841	23
Falkirk	19,479	26	18,837	82	18,196	106
Fife	36,570	0	35,430	0	34,207	0
Glasgow City	0	nk	0	na	0	na
Highland	16,188	60	15,538	95	14,725	81
Inverclyde	9,233	55	8,866	85	9,328	100
Midlothian	6,969	42	6,604	39	6,385	43
Moray	6,751	9	6,567	6	6,373	18
North Ayrshire	15,928	35	15,333	104	14,816	115
North Lanarkshire	43,745	238	42,392	291	41,145	288
Orkney	876	37	838	42	819	47
Perth and Kinross	9,142	0	8,807	0	8,312	80
Renfrewshire	18,228	112	16,881	105	15,725	136
Scottish Borders	0		0	na	0	na
Shetland	2,073	60	2,027	60	2,027	93
South Ayrshire	9,790	55	9,411	66	9,024	63
South Lanarkshire	31,872	249	30,358	239	29,094	198
Stirling	7,116	23	6,869	23	6,618	25
West Dunbartonshire	13,179	50	12,577	182	12,121	240
West Lothian	14,939	85	14,901	85	13,696	163
Scottish Homes	2,002	0	1,158	0	479	0

Source: Scottish Executive HousingStatistics branch – Stock 1 Return.

Notes:

Glasgow were unable to provide a breakdown for 2003.

Due to stock transfer, no figuresare provided for Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and Scottish Borders for 2004 onwards.

Agenda for Change represents a ground breaking package of pay reform for over 90% of NHS Scotland staff. Not only will it deliver equal pay for work of equal value for staff, but will also improve personal development though wider access to training and career progression opportunities.

Agenda for Change is currently in its implementation phase, so it is as yet too early to establish what the full effects of implementation on patient services are. However, when it is fully embedded it is anticipated that the new system will support the delivery of improved and modernised services to patients, with higher quality care provided to more patients, more quickly.

The Scottish Executive has recently written to all health boards in NHS Scotland asking for the submission of delivery plans which outline how pay modernisation is being used and will be used to deliver benefits realisation. Health boards have been asked to submit their initial plans by 30 September 2005, with a further six months progress report to be submitted by 31 March 2006.

At the end of August 2005 NHS Scotland had matched 45% of its staff to national job profiles. While progress has been steady, NHS Scotland acknowledge that, in common with the other UK Health Services, not all staff will be assimilated to new pay bands by the original UK target date of end September.

Partnership discussions have taken place with a view to establishing a framework which will achieve assimilation of staff to new Agenda for Change pay bands as soon as possible, while retaining the quality assurance and consistency checking which is carried out at local and national levels. In this respect, the Scottish Executive Health Department has asked all health boards to submit tightly timetabled progress plans. Progress plans, both at health board level and across NHS Scotland, will be performance managed by the Scottish Executive.

The Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group have made a number of recommendations to health boards with a view to improving progress towards implementation. These are:

Concentrating efforts, in the first instance, on the large job families and those posts which will match straightforwardly;

Developing a separate timetable for Special Health Boards, and

Establishing regional or national job evaluation panels for common posts requiring local evaluation.

An electronic tool which will assimilate staff to the new Agenda for Change pay bands has been designed, and will be rolled out to the service in the week commencing the 26 September.

NHS Scotland remains committed to implementing Agenda for Change as quickly and effectively as possible, while ensuring that the process of implementation and its outcomes are fair, balanced and consistent.