Chamber and committees

Information on average weight of children in each of the last five years is not available centrally for all local authority areas, and is only available for specific age groups. Available information is presented in two tables which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 38335 and 38334).

Table 1 gives the average (median) weight (kg’s) for children receiving a 39 to 42 month pre-school review (three to three and a half years) by local authority area and year of birth 1997 to 2001.

Table 2 gives the average (median) weight (kg's) for children receiving a P1 review (four to five years), P7 (11 to 12yrs) and S3 (14 to 15yrs)  by local authority area and school year 2000-01 to 2004-05.

Information about patient consultations with specialists relating to being overweight is not available.

The exact number of children under 16 consulting their general practice for matters involving being overweight in Scotland is not available centrally. However, national estimates of the numbers of children consulting for being overweight can be given, based on the number of patients seen for the condition in general practices participating in PTI (practice team information). PTI data are obtained from a sample of Scottish general practices. The number of participating practices is too small to allow estimates for local authority areas. Additionally, for this condition, the numbers in the sample are too small to allow a break down by age and so the estimates are shown by gender only.

Estimated Annual Number of Children (under 16 years) Consulting their GP with a Diagnosis of being Overweight; Years Ending 31 March.

Gender	Estimates Number of Patients in Scotland1
	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Males	600	850	750	650	550
Females	750	800	1,000	750	650

Note: 1. Estimates have been rounded to the nearest 50.

Many overweight children may not consult their general practice about their weight problem. Some patients may also visit the General Practice for a condition related to their weight without overweight itself being recorded.

The 2003 Scottish Health Survey reported that among children under 16 years of age, 34.6% of boys and 30.0% of girls were overweight or obese. These figures can be found at the website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/17861/HealthSurvey2003.

The Executive conducted a full and well publicised consultation exercise beginning in May 2004 on the draft service specification for the next Northern Isles Ferry Services contract. In addition, meetings were held in Orkney and Shetland to allow for detailed discussion with key interests and stakeholders, and further meetings were subsequently held with livestock interests about the draft service specification, in particular with the Northern Isles Livestock Transportation Working Group. A report on the consultation exercise was published on the Executive website in September 2004. The Executive considers that this process provided ample opportunity for all those involved to make their views known before the publication of the Invitation to Tender document in July 2005.

The Scottish Executive published a consultation paper on the draft service specification for the Northern Isles lifeline ferry service on 27 May 2004 on the Scottish Executive website. In addition, copies of the consultation paper were sent to the following organisations:

Shetland Islands Council

Orkney Islands Council

The Highland Council

HITRANS

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Shetland Enterprise

Orkney Enterprise

Orkney Tourist Board

Shetland Islands Tourism

Orkney Chamber of Commerce

Orkney Quality Food and Drink

Shetland Fishermens Association

Shetland Fish Producers Organisation

Orkney Fisheries Association

Orkney Fish Farmers Association

Seafood Shetland

Scottish Crofters Union

Shetland Branch National Farmers Union

Orkney Branch of NFU Scotland

Shetland Livestock Marketing Group

Shetland Transport Ltd

Orkney Auction Mart

Northwards Ltd

Jim Brackenridge (Transport) Ltd

Highlands and Islands Livestock Ltd

Scotbeef

Aberdeen and Northern Marts Ltd

Association of Shetland Community Councils

Stromness Community Business Forum

ERAD Office, Kirkwall

Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland Secretariat

Scottish Civic Forum

Aberdeen Harbour Board

Lerwick Port Authority

Orkney Harbour Authority

Scrabster Harbour Trust

Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd

Irish Continental Group plc

NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd

Pentland Ferries Limited

Smyril Line

Streamline Shipping Group Limited

Western Ferries Ltd

V.Ships UK Limited

The Caithness Courier

The John o’ Groats Journal

The Orcadian Limited

Orkney Today

The Shetland Times

Department for Transport

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Scotland Office

The Office Of The UK Permanent Representative To The EU

Brian Adam MSP

Lewis Macdonald MSP

Jamie Stone MSP

Tavish Scott MSP

Jim Wallace MSP

Rob Gibson MSP

Jamie McGrigor MSP

Maureen Macmillan MSP

Jim Mather MSP

Mary Scanlon MSP

Eleanor Scott MSP.

In addition, consultation meetings were held with the Shetland Islands Council’s Environment and Transport Forum on 16 June 2004 and with the Orkney Area Lifeline Ferry Services Consultative Committee on 28 June 2004.

A report on the results of the consultation was published on the Scottish Executive website on 30 September 2004, as were the responses from organisations and individuals who had agreed to publication of their response.

The Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the next Northern Isles Ferry Services contract includes a requirement covering the carriage of livestock on the routes supported from Orkney to the mainland. The detailed requirements, including the arrangements for vessels, are set out in sections 3.10 and 3.13 of the ITT document which was published by the Executive in July 2005. A copy of this is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37566).

The Executive considered this issue during the consultation on the draft service specification issued in May 2004. The draft service specification proposed the incorporation of livestock and freight in the contract, and the Executive was able to consider the implications, including the requirements for any dedicated livestock/freight vessels, in detailed discussions with the livestock sector in Orkney, including the Northern Isles Livestock Working Group, and other organisations involved before finalising the Invitation to Tender (ITT). The conclusions reached are set out in sections 3.10 and 3.13 of the ITT available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 37566).

There is no limit.

The following table shows the number of Postgraduate Certificate in Education student teacher entrants with the main subject of (a) English, (b) mathematics and (c) physics in each year since 1999:

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
English	160	140	125	150	125	160	280	365
Mathematics	90	105	60	85	90	135	270	250
Physics	35	35	30	40	35	45	60	90

Sources: 1998-1999 to 2003-2004 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 2004-05 and 2005-06 Scottish Executive Education Department figures collected from higher education institutions.

Notes:

1. In this table 0, 1 and 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

2. 2005-06 data is provisional as it is acceptances on the courses that started in August 2005.

Twenty-four local authorities provide facilities for the recycling of plastic bottles either through kerbside collections or through recycling points or centres. Information on recycling facilities across Scotland can be found on the “Sort-It” section of the Scottish Waste Awareness Group’s website at http://www.wascot.org.uk/.

Information on the amount of plastic recycled is available in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s Waste Data Digests. These can be found at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/publications/wds/index.htm.