Chamber and committees

These are issues, which are being considered in the context of the Action Plan, to which the answer given to question S2W-13550 on 24 January 2005 refers. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-13555 on 24 January 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.

A list of the 41 hospitals undertaking maxillofacial in-patient and day case treatment during the year to 30 September 2004 is provided in the following table.

NHSScotland: Hospital Undertaking Maxillofacial¹ In-Patient and Day Case Treatment During the Year Ending 30 September 2004^P

NHS Board	Location
Argyll and Clyde:	Inverclyde Royal Hospital
	Lorn and Islands District General Hospital
	Royal Alexandra Hospital
	Vale of Leven District General Hospital
Ayrshire and Arran	Crosshouse Hospital
	The Ayr Hospital
Borders	Borders General Hospital
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
	Garrick Hospital
Fife	Queen Margaret Hospital
	Victoria Hospital
Forth Valley	Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary
	Stirling Royal Infirmary
Grampian	Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
	Dr Gray’s Hospital
	Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital
Greater Glasgow	Canniesburn Hospital
	Glasgow Dental Hospital and School
	Glasgow Royal Infirmary
	Royal Hospital for Sick Children
	Southern General Hospital
	Stobhill Hospital
	Victoria Infirmary
	Western Infirmary/Gartnavel General
Highland	Belford Hospital
	Caithness General Hospital
	Raigmore Hospital
Lanarkshire	Hairmyres Hospital
	Monklands Hospital
	Wishaw General Hospital
Lothian	Roodlands General Hospital
	Royal Hospital for Sick Children
	Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France
	St John's Hospital At Howden
	Western General Hospital
Orkney	Balfour Hospital
Shetland	Gilbert Bain Hospital

NHSScotland: Hospital Undertaking Maxillofacial¹ In-Patient and Day Case Treatment During the Year Ending 30 September 2004^P

Tayside	Ninewells Hospital
	Perth Royal Infirmary
	Stracathro Hospital
Western Isles	Western Isles Hospital

^PProvisional.

Note: 1. Operations defined using the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 4th Revision Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures (OPCS4). Maxillofacial surgery is defined using OPCS4 F08-F18 AND V01-V21 recorded as primary operations.

This information is not collected centrally.

Information is available by NHS board on the average number of programmed activities (i.e. four hour blocks of work) contained in consultants’ job plans. The average figure for Scotland is 11.6, which indicates that on average consultants are contracting to working less than 48 hours per week.

These are issues, which are being considered in the context of the action plan, to which the answer to question S2W-13550 on 24 January 2005 refers. 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.

As part of its response to the challenges of hepatitis C, the Executive is developing, in consultation with stakeholders, an action plan which will identify the main issues and the specific actions needed. The plan will be supported by appropriate education and training materials for health professionals and measures to raise public awareness, with the focus on groups most at risk and their families.

The measures to be used to raise public awareness and to identify those people who may not know they carry the hepatitis C infection will be developed, taking account of evidence based social research and using any available evaluations from similar communication strategies.

The latest information available from the teacher vacancies survey returned by local authorities is at February 2004 which is in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, Bib. number 32903. The next survey will be undertaken at February 2005 and the results will be available in the spring.

Legislation to encourage manufacturersto reduce packaging already exists. Under the Packaging (Essential Requirements)Regulations 2003, anyone may complain to their local authority trading standardsofficer if they believe a product uses excessive packaging. The Producer ResponsibilityObligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 require businesses with a turnoverof £2 million and making or using over 50 tonnes of packaging a year to recycleor recover certain proportions of packaging waste. This acts as an incentive onthem to minimise their packaging use.

In addition, we support the InnovationFund, run by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, to help retailers minimisewaste from packaging and products.

No. The main relevant legislationis the Waste Incineration (Scotland) Regulations 2003. These are consistent with the WasteFramework Directive (75/442/EEC) and the Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC).

The Fresh TalentInitiative aims to attract bright, talented individuals to come and live, work andstudy in Scotland. Non-EUstudents graduating from a Scottish institution with a HND, degree, Masters or PhDwill soon be able to stay on in Scotland for up to two years without requiring a work permit.There are no plans to extend to this to students who are here for a very limitedperiod of time.

However, there area number of other elements of the initiative which will benefit students who comehere for a short time, for example on placements or internships, as well as thosecompleting a degree or other course. This will include the Challenge Fund announcedlast week which will fund activities to support and mentor international studentsduring their time in Scotland.