Chamber and committees

Below is a list of each of theintensive care baby units by NHS board area. Information supplied to ISD Scotlanddoes not differentiate between the different types of care (i.e. Intensive care,special care and high dependency care).

Health Board	Location
Ayrshire and Arran	Ayrshire Central Hospital
Borders	Borders General Hospital
Argyll and Clyde	Royal Alexandra Hospital
Fife	Forth Park Hospital
Greater Glasgow	Queen Mother’s Hospital
	Southern General Hospital
	The Princess Royal Maternity Unit
Highland	Raigmore Hospital
Lanarkshire	Wishaw General Hospital
Grampian	Aberdeen Maternity Hospital
Lothian	Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion
	St John’s Hospital At Howden
Tayside	Ninewells Hospital
Forth Valley	Stirling Royal Infirmary
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary

 

The information regarding theratio of nurses to babies is not held centrally. This is a matter for individualNHS boards.

The Scottish Executive is committedto ensuring that professionals in the NHS have the necessary experience, skillsand competencies to provide skilled care. We are determined to ensure a clear careerstructure which places nurses and midwives at the centre of neonatal care. To thisend we are funding 18 nurses and midwives to complete the two year advanced neonatalnurse practitioner course.

Health boards, as NHS employers,are required by the mandatory Staff Governance Standard to ensure that all theirstaff, which includes their nursing and midwifery staff, are appropriately trainedfor the environment they work in. The Staff Governance Standard is monitored bythe Scottish Partnership Forum and in that way the performance of each individualhealth board is monitored.

We are on track to achieve thePartnership Agreement target of attracting 12,000 nurses and midwives into NHSScotlandby 2007. This target is associated with all qualified nurses and midwives, includingneonatal nurses. Information on neonatal nurses is not collected separately.

The Scottish Executive publishedthe National Workforce Planning Framework 2005 in August 2005 which setsout a workforce planning cycle at national, regional and NHS board level. This planningcycle allows for a bottom up evidence based approach to future staffing numbersacross all staff groups, including nurses and midwives. Workforce forecasts containedwithin NHS board workforce plans will help inform national decisions on future trainingnumbers and supply.

A Paediatric and Neonatal Nursingsubgroup of the Nursing and Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning Steering Grouphas been established to consider appropriate workload measurement tools to be pilotedacross NHSScotland. This will assist with overall action for workforce planningpurposes.

No report of the specific naturereferred to has been commissioned from the Social Work Inspection Agency. However,work begun by the Inspectorate in 2003 on a training framework for social work hasbeen taken forward by the Scottish Executive on a multi-agency basis. We have establisheda working group to create a child protection training framework, including a nationalsuite of training materials, to be used across disciplines.

The Executive also issued newguidance for child protection committees (CPCs) in January 2005, which makes clearthat CPCs are responsible for promoting, commissioning and assuring the qualityand delivery of inter-agency training.

The Joint Inspection Servicesfor Children Unit undertook in 2005 pilot inspections of services for protectingchildren in two authorities, which included their child protection training activity.These have been published and are available at http://www.hmie.gov.uk/services/default.asp.Joint inspections of child protection services in all 32 local authority areas areto be concluded by 2008.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22967 on 1 March 2006. 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-22967 on 1 March 2006. 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 practice model has been developed together with a capacity plan to enable clinical pharmacy services identify the resources and systems of work required to achieve the practice model standard. The practice model and capacity plan are currently being validated by practitioners before issue to NHSScotland for local implementation.

A wide ranging package of improvements are underway to step up the way sex offenders are monitored.

These include strengthening registration requirements; setting up new public protection arrangements for assessing and managing the risk posed by sex offenders between the police, the Scottish Prison Service and local authorities; ending the unconditional release of sex offenders sentenced to six months or more in prison, and reviewing the relationship between the sex offender register and the Disqualified from Working with Children List.

Under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, a planning authority may enter into an agreement for the purpose of regulating the development or use of a particular piece of land. The agreement is with anyone who has an interest in that land. Section 75 agreements may provide for financial payments by developers. These can contribute to the cost of providing necessary facilities required in the near future as a consequence of or in connection with the development.

Section 69 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 is a general power for local authorities to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the discharge of their functions. This enables local authorities to enter into a wide range of agreements, which can include agreements with developers to levy charges in relation to specific development. Such agreements must, however, be ancillary to some function of the local authority. In the context of development, they could be related to the specific development, or, more widely, to the general well-being of the area.

The generally very positive response to the Planning White Paper has reinforced our determination to introduce its wide-ranging and radical programme of modernisation. There are some issues which were unresolved at the time of the white paper’s launch on which we have now reached conclusions, and some issues on which our thinking has developed or changed. These are:

1. We have considered the many representations calling for planning’s role in promoting sustainable development to be given a statutory basis. We do recognise that Scotland’s future depends on development that is sustainable, in environmental, economic and social terms. As revitalised development plans will be at the heart of the modernised planning system, there should be an explicit requirement for those plans to be prepared with due regard to the principles of sustainable development. We have therefore concluded that the planning bill should include a duty on planning authorities to exercise their development planning function with the objective of contributing to sustainable development. They will also be required to have regard to any guidance issued by Scottish ministers.

2. As promised in the white paper, we have considered further the role that the Parliament should play in the preparation of the National Planning Framework. We do of course intend that there should be widespread and detailed consultation with all interests, including parliamentarians, on an early draft of the framework. We have concluded that the Parliament should have a further and formal role in the process, and the planning bill will establish a procedure by which the proposed National Planning Framework will be submitted to Parliament. A period for parliamentary consideration will follow, to allow Parliament to set out its view on the framework in a report or formal resolution. Ministers will then be obliged to have regard to any such report or resolution, and to set out how the framework has been changed in consequence to it.

3. We are proposing to strengthen the package of reforms still further by addressing key areas highlighted in responses to the white paper. Any necessary changes to the legislation will be introduced at stage 2 of the planning bill. These measures will include:

Further measures to toughen up the way enforcement cases are dealt with. Some measures were identified as requiring further consideration in relation to planning enforcement. The planning bill will include provisions for the establishment of Good Neighbour Agreements. The bill will also provide for a reduction in the grounds of appeal against an enforcement notice. We intend to go even further on other enforcement measures, including the potential introduction of new financial penalties.

Proposals for enhancing transparency and accountability in local authority interest cases, particularly where they are contrary to the local plan and have attracted significant opposition. In such cases, which will require to be notified to ministers, we intend to: require local authorities to explain more fully their reasons for departing from their own plans; increase the Executive’s powers to monitor local authority proposals for development, and increase the transparency with which the Executive processes such cases once they are notified to ministers.

Further proposals to enhance inclusion and public participation in the planning system, including by requiring pre-application consultations for all major applications.

4. There were a number of representations that the proposal to replace outline planning permission with approval in principle by means of identification in the development plan would not be workable. We have accepted that this measure should not be pursued. The planning bill will, however, include provisions to modernise the procedures in relation to outline planning permission. In particular, it will ensure that the key issues of detail determined subsequent to the granting of planning permission in principle, will also be subject to the same level of transparency and scrutiny as if they had formed part of a detailed planning application.

5. The planning bill will additionally legislate for the creation of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). The overall aim of BIDs is to increase economic growth and stability by enabling businesses to take forward their own priorities in the area in which they are located. It will assist towards the drive to regenerate and improve city and town centres in Scotland by providing additional funding towards agreed improvements. It will also encourage partnership working between the public and private sectors by providing an equal forum for businesses, local authorities and other public bodies to discuss mutually beneficial priorities.