Chamber and committees

The Ambulance Service's Emergency Service performance is currently measured against "ORCON" national response targets. These vary according to population density and cover targets for the 50th percentile and 95th percentile. For the stations at Alva, Falkirk and Stirling, which are regarded as being "medium density" areas, the targets are for 50% of emergency 999 calls to be responded to within eight minutes and 95% within 18 minutes. For the stations at Balfron, Callander and Killin, regarded as "sparse density" areas, the targets are 50% within eight minutes and 95% within 21 minutes.For GPs' urgent calls, the national response time target is to transfer the patient to hospital within 15 minutes of the time agreed with the requesting GP.

The ambulance stations at Balfron, Callander and Killin operate on an on-call basis.

The Future for Scotland's Water: Proposals for Legislation has so far been sent to approximately 510 different organisations and individuals. These can be summarised as follows:

Type of organisation	Number
Government	18
Public Bodies	95
Local Authorities	36
Industry	74
Voluntary/Environment Groups	25
Water Industry	6
Fishery Organisations	114
Consultancies	15
Agricultural Sector	19
Legal	14
Leisure	8
Academic/Research	35
Individuals	18
Equality/Churches	12
Other	21

The cost of printing and distributing 2,000 copies of the consultation paper to the above organisations was in the region of £4,500. The consultation period closes on Friday, 5 April 2002.

The total publication costs of the Scotland's Economic Future leaflet were approximately £8,960. This figure is based on 8,000 copies of the leaflet and 5,000 copies have been distributed to date.

The table shows the number of 999 emergency calls, broken down by ambulance station in the NHS Forth Valley area, and the average response times for each between 1 April 2001 and 31 January 2002. The service also responded to 6,552 GPs' urgent calls in the NHS Forth Valley area over the same period.

Station	No. of 999 emergency calls	Average response time (minutes)
Alva	1,692	9.9
Balfron	381	16.5
Callander	382	14.2
Falkirk	5,373	9.3
Killin	187	18.3
Stirling	3,547	9.4
Total	11,562	10.0

The information requested is set out in the following table:Revenue from Prescriptions in Scotland 1995-96 to 2000-01

Financial Year	£000
1995-96	34,249
1996-97	33,993
1997-98	36,141
1998-99	38,715
1999-2000	42,926
2000-01	43,500

The only provisions in the Scottish Ministerial Code, which apply directly to ministerial parliamentary aides, are those in paragraphs 4.6 - 4.13 of the code, which set out their role and arrangements for their appointment. Paragraph 4.12 of the code makes it clear, however, that while ministerial parliamentary aides are not subject to the rules on private interests, which apply to ministers, they must, as a general rule, seek to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest between their role as a Ministerial Parliamentary Aide and their private interests.

The Review Regulatory Impact Assessment or "Regulatory MOT", introduced in February 2001, requires that all regulations which impact significantly upon business are subject to a rigorous review within 10 years of their introduction. This is not a short-term measure, though rather aims to ensure the regulatory environment remains effective in the longer term and that regulations do not remain in force by default.

Historic Scotland does not set its income targets, as a proportion of its total budget. Its income targets reflect what is achievable in any given sphere of commercial activity. It has published key performance targets, relating to market share and retail spend per visitor. The overall budget for Historic Scotland in future years will be determined as a result of the Spending Review 2002. Potential commercial income will be taken into account in that process.

Plans for implementation of the Arbuthnott formula were announced in September 2000. An additional £12 million was make available nationally in September 2000, to make progress in implementing the recommendations in the Arbuthnott Report. Forth Valley Health Board received £0.307 million. For 2001-02 all health boards received a minimum increase in unified budget of 5.5%, with those boards currently below their Arbuthnott formula targets making some move towards that target. Forth Valley Health Board received an increase in unified budget of 6% in 2001-02. In addition, Forth Valley received £0.623 million from the Health Improvement Fund and an additional £0.568 million as a contribution towards the extra costs involved in managing winter pressures, which were distributed on the basis of the Arbuthnott formula.