Chamber and committees

The number of ambulance call-outs from these areas between 1 January 2004and 31 December 2004 were as follows:

	Emergency Responses  - 999 calls categorised as A (life-threatening) and B (serious but not life-threatening)	Urgent Calls - GPs requesting patient transfer by A&E vehicle
Clydebank	2,508	733
Milngavie	641	282
Bearsden	1,060	545

 

COSLA is currently undertaking a review of the quality of fish farm Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). The Review of EIAs is a priority for action in the Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquaculture. COSLA hopes to publish a report for wider consultation in the Spring of this year, and thereafter to issue guidance to developers and regulators on the minimum standards expected from fish farm EIAs.

The information requested is given in table 1.17 of Scottish Executive Statistics Publication Notice ISSN 1479-7569 Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2004 published on July 21 2004 at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00346.pdf.

The Parents’ Demand for and Access to Childcare in Scotland research published in 2004 found that 65% of parents did not pay for their child care. Of those who did pay, 72% found it easy to pay for their child care, 26% found it difficult to meet the costs, and 2% found it very difficult. Cost of child care for those on low to moderate income is being addressed through enhancements to the child care element of tax credits, with the maximum cost of child care eligible for tax credits increasing to £175 for one child and £300 for two or more from April 2005 (currently £135 and £200 respectively), and the maximum proportion of costs funded by the child care element increasing from 70% to 80% from April 2006. We are not currently considering the commissioning of further research.

Immigration is a reserved issue and any review of managed migration is an issue for the Home Office. However, as part of the further development of the Fresh Talent Initiative, the Scottish Executive and Home Office are in regular discussions about managed migration and the implications for Scotland. This includes Scottish Executive staff attending occasional informal meetings where Home Office officials update other Government Departments on its work in this area. These meetings are for the exchange of information only and have no decision making powers.

Pay is a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Executive has been working to increase the pool of social workers. This has included a Social Work Fast Track Graduate Scheme which will produce up to 520 additional new social workers by 2008, with the first 97 trainees graduating over the coming months. The numbers of Fast Track and qualified undergraduates in social work are rising each year and, over the next three years, we expect there will be an additional 650 new social workers joining the labour force each year. We have established an Incentive Scheme to encourage newly-qualified graduates into areas of significant shortage.  There has also been an on-going recruitment media campaign since 2002 and promotion of the new social work degree. Figures show a 25% increase in qualifying social workers between 2002 and 2003 and a 25% increase in new social work students between 2003 and 2004. While recognising the need for a continuing commitment to the sector, significant progress has been made to address the need for social worker services across Scotland, including those areas with highest levels of deprivation.

The Scottish Executive has adopted the OGC Gateway Review process and appliesit to a range of procurement, business change, construction, re-location, IT enabled, legislative and policy delivery projects. We are committed, in the light of the Holyrood Inquiry’s findings and recommendations, to expanding the application of Gateway Review and are currently working on proposals to achieve this.

In accordance with the Scottish Public Finance Manual, Project Sponsors and Project Managers are responsible for appraising, monitoring and evaluating their major investment projects, and are required to report progress to the projects’ senior responsible owner or similar authority on a regular basis.

All major projects are required to include a post project evaluation within their planning irrespective of the degree of innovation involved and in the case of projects subject to Gateway Review; the final review takes the form of a Benefits Evaluation.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Information on the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS) performance on targets set for 2002-03 and 2003-04 is covered by the SPS Publication Scheme and was published in the SPS Annual Report for 2003-04. This was laid before Parliamenton 14 October 2004 and is available on the SPS website (www.sps.gov.uk). Performance so far in 2004-05is similar to that in 2003-04.

These parts of the Directive have been transposed by the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003, which came into force on 10 April 2003. Oversight of the engineering, operation and regulation of landfill sites is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The Executive has no current plans to conduct a multi-modal study covering these sections of road. These are local roads and decisions on these matters are the responsibility of Glasgow City Council and West Dunbartonshire Council, as the local roads authorities for the area.