Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive does not monitor cross-border flows in respect of the uptake of free personalcare.

The fleet of three ferries owned by Royal Bank Leasing Ltd and currently leased to NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd for the provision of the Northern Isles lifeline services were purpose built for the routes after the award of the 2002-07 subsidy contract to NorthLink in December 2000. The vessels are fully compliant with the new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations which came into force in 2002. The contractual arrangements between the Scottish Executive, Royal Bank Leasing Ltd and NorthLink relating to the 2002-07 contract provide for the fleet to be made available, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, to any future operator of the services awarded a subsidy contract by the Scottish Executive. The availability of the vessels for future contracts has, therefore, been secured without the Scottish Executive assuming ownership of the vessels.

The subsidy currently being paid to NorthLink reflects an agreed budget covering the period 1 June to 30 November 2005. This budget envisages subsidy of £11.4 million being payable over that period. However, the actual subsidy payable will depend on trading performance over this period and the funding arrangements provide incentives to NorthLink to reduce costs and increase revenues whilst maintaining service standards. A further detailed budget covering the period from 1 December 2005 until the contract handover date will be discussed with NorthLink in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-17686 answered on 12 August 2005.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

This is part of work by NHSGrampian to redistribute beds between specialties to match bed usage. The boardis clear that these changes will have no adverse effect on waiting times,including those for cancer treatments, and that will enhance overall serviceprovision. The redesignation of beds at ARI is part of ongoing service redesignwhich once complete will deliver an improved service for patients. The transferof resource between surgery and medicine addresses the current imbalance whichresults in some medical patients being cared for in surgical beds.

This is a matter within theoperational responsibility of the board and therefore there is no need orrequirement to consult the Scottish Executive.

I understand from NHS Grampian that the changes are part ofwork to redistribute beds between specialties to match bed usage which, oncecomplete, will deliver an improved service for patients. The transfer ofresource between surgery and medicine addresses the current imbalance whichresults in some medical patients being cared for in surgical beds. The changesshould reduce patient movements between wards during their stay, andspecialties will be more appropriately co-located for effective and efficientworking. The reduction in general surgery inpatient beds will be accompanied bythe development of a new Short Stay Surgery Unit to support more day surgery.

Given that the ScottishExecutive has no direct role in determining the courses which are offered byindividual institutions, there have consequently been no discussions betweenthe Executive and the organisations referred to about the provision of coursesin nautical studies.

Courses with a nautical ormaritime dimension are available at a wide range of institutions in Scotland. Theavailability of any course is entirely a matter for the governing body of theinstitution concerned, taking account of issues such as student demand and theneeds of employers. In determining their course provision, institutions engageclosely with employer organisations and sector skills bodies.

The new Northern Isles FerryServices contract will include a grant agreement between the Executive and thenext operator. The draft grant agreement provides that adjustments to the grantmay be made where this is justified on the basis of the costs of running theservice.

The provisions of theexisting legislation are considered to be sufficient to require administeringauthorities to address non fiduciary and ethical matters and there are no plansat this time to introduce changes to the LocalGovernment Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) (Scotland)Regulations 1998 (as amended).

Students taking FurtherEducation (FE) courses in nautical studies in Scotland may apply for thestandard range of bursaries, allowances and fee waivers generally applicable toFE studies, subject to meeting residence requirements and any other applicableeligibility criteria.

Similarly, students onnautical studies courses at Higher Education (HE) level are entitled to thestandard HE student support package available through the Student Awards Agencyfor Scotland (SAAS), again subject to meeting residence requirements and anyother applicable eligibility criteria. However, many HE students will take aHigher National Diploma (HND) course in conjunction with a Certificate ofCompetence course approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). It isnormally a requirement of admission to MCA Certificate courses that the studentis either sponsored or employed by a shipping company or training agency whileundertaking the course. Students’ employment or sponsorship could affect theireligibility for SAAS support, depending on the level or specific conditions ofsponsorship. In addition, HND courses in most subjects normally last for twoyears but, where the student is also working towards an MCA Certificate at thesame time, HND courses in nautical studies may take longer to complete. In suchcases, SAAS may still provide student support, but only for the minimum periodthat would usually be required to complete the SAAS-funded course.