Chamber and committees

We have signed a concordat with local government under which local government will make year-on-year progress to reduce class sizes. Local government has been provided with funding of £34.9 billion over the spending review period which represents a 13.1% increase. Discussion with local government is on-going as to how we monitor progress against all the concordat commitments.

The grant allocation at the beginning of each financial year is a single figure which includes provision for all relevant elements of the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP). In addition to the provision of affordable housing for rent to housing associations, this figure includes an allocation for grant mechanisms providing low cost home ownership and grants for the physical and social environment. The allocation for affordable housing for rent is not recorded separately.

AHIP funding allocated to East Lothian is as detailed in the following table.

Year	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
£ million	1.866	2.921	4.981	5.600	4.400

Note: For years 1999-2000 to 2003-04, the funding allocated to East Lothian is not held consistently. For 2007-08, the figure for includes £0.700 million of Housing Estate Regeneration Funding.

The relevant legislation is the Medicines Act 1968 and the Controlled Drugs Regulations. Neither provide legal powers to ban or otherwise restrict the consumption of methadone by a patient in a public place where the methadone has been legally prescribed and dispensed for that patient.

Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing diseases. There is no convincing evidence of a correlation between exposure to airborne PM2.5 particles and higher than average incidence of diabetes. However, some evidence exists that acutely high PM2.5 concentrations can exacerbate the vascular effects of pre-existing diabetes.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The Regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of  pre-existing diseases. There is convincing evidence of an association between levels of exposure to airborne PM2.5 particles and a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The Regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

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Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing diseases. There is no convincing evidence of an association between levels of exposure to airborne PM2.5 particles in the environment and a higher than average rate of birth defects.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing diseases. There is convincing evidence that exposure to high concentrations of some types of PM2.5 particulate materials, for example cigarette smoke and diesel exhaust, can increase the risk and severity of both acute and chronic respiratory conditions, and studies also indicate that acutely high PM2.5 concentrations can exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing lung conditions such as asthma.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The Regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing diseases. There is convincing evidence that exposure to high concentrations of some types of PM2.5 particulate materials, for example cigarette smoke, can increase the risk of lung cancer.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

Scientific studies conducted worldwide have found varying levels of association between inhalation of small airborne particles and a range of acute and chronic diseases. In some cases, the airborne particles have been shown to increase the incidence of disease occurrence, and in others to exacerbate the symptoms of pre-existing diseases. There is no convincing evidence of an association between levels of exposure to airborne PM2.5 particles in the environment and a higher than average rate of infant mortality.

Energy from waste plants are now required to obtain a permit from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which complies with the Waste Incineration Regulations (Scotland) 2003, unless they are covered by a specific exemption. The regulations impose stringent emission standards and controls which are designed to prevent negative effects on the environment and the resulting risks to human health, including controls on particulate emissions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8935 on 8 February 2008. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.