Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s policyfor higher activity waste in Scotland was announced and took effect on 25 June 2007 and supportslong-term near surface, near site storage facilities. We have been working on theimplementation of this policy in conjunction with the Regulators, the Nuclear DecommissioningAuthority and other stakeholders.

The vast majorityof radioactive waste produced by hospitals is low level and is disposed of. Forthis reason NHS Scotland has not been asked to consider implementing a policy ofonsite storage of radioactive waste.

Existing disposal routes areavailable at present for low-level waste and we would expect British Energy to utilisethese. The requirement for storing intermediate level waste on site is a long standingone which pre-dates the Scottish Government’s decision that near-surface, near-sitelong term storage should be the management option for this waste. The 2004 UK RadioactiveWaste Inventory indicates that there is no high-level waste at Hunterston B.

Scottish Government officialsmet with representatives from British Energy – at their request – on 16 November, 2007 todiscuss the implementation of the policy for the long term storage of higher activitywaste in near surface, near site facilities. British Energy representatives alsoattended a meeting of representatives from civil nuclear sites in Scotland set upand chaired by officials of the Scottish Government to discuss policy issues relatingto nuclear waste. This meeting involved individuals from a range of stakeholderorganisations.

The Scottish Government is committedto improving the lives of children and young people affected by domestic abuse.In November 2007, we announced the continuation of the National Children’s ServicesWomen’s Aid Fund for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11. The Children’s Services Women’sAid Fund supports the delivery of dedicated services for children and young peopleaffected by domestic abuse, including the provision of support for children in refuge,or following on from their stay in refuge. The fund also supports the delivery ofcommunity-based outreach services for children affected by domestic abuse who havenot lived in refuge.

In addition, the government continuesto support the work of the National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group. The DeliveryGroup was established last year to develop a three-year Delivery Plan which willpresent an integrated package of measures to improve outcomes for all children andyoung people in Scotland affected by domestic abuse. The group also oversees theimplementation of the Getting it right Domestic Abuse Pathfinder which is testingnew ways to improve agencies’ response to children and young people affected bydomestic abuse.

There are noplans to produce ad hoc official statistics nor has this happened in the past. Officialstatistical publications are produced according to the Code of Practice forNational Statistics as far as possible, and ad hoc statistics are produced accordingto more general codes.

Therefore, Irefer the member to the answer to questions S3W-6067 and S3W-6068 on 29 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Guidance on allNational Statistics and Official Statistics publications is contained in the Codeof Practice for National Statistics, which is published at:http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about_ns/cop/default.asp.

All otherinformation which might be regarded as ad hoc statistics are covered by moregeneral codes such as:

The CivilService Code, which ispublished at:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/iam/codes/cscode/index.asp.

The Freedom ofInformation (Scotland) Act 2002. However, there is specificguidance for Freedom of Information and Statistics, which is published at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/scotstat/guidance.

During electiontimes guidance is provided, the guidance for the 2007 is published at:

http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/election-guidance2007.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6067 on 29 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Currently mostofficial statistics publications produced by the Scottish Government areclassed as National Statistics and are produced according to the NationalStatistics Code of Practice. Even those official statistics publications whichdo not meet all the National Statistics requirements are produced according tothe National Statistics Code as far as possible.

The current National StatisticsCode is published and can be found at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about_ns/cop/default.asp

Under theStatistics and Registration Service Act, the Statistics Board will prepare andpublish a new Code of Practice for Statistics. This new statutory code,which will replace the current National Statistics Code, is to be a bestpractice guide for all official statistics. Further, the board will use this codeto re-assess all current National Statistics and assess official statisticsthat are put forward for National Statistics designation, including thoseproduced by and for the Scottish Government.

The board’s code willnot be published until some time after the act is brought into force in April2008.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6067 on 29 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.