Chamber and committees

Energy and Utility Skills, the Sector Skill Council for the gas industry, are currently developing new qualifications which will be submitted to the Scottish Qualification Authority for accreditation in due course.

The Expert Group, chaired by Julia Swan, has now submitted its report and recommendations to the Minister for Children and Young People. The Scottish Government’s response to the report will be published in due course.

Individual Patient Treatment Requests (IPTRs) provide an opportunity for NHS boards to undertake local clinically-led consideration of medicines which the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has advised are not recommended for routine use. Such consideration is reviewed on a “case by case” basis for individual patients in certain circumstances.

As these are local considerations, NHS boards are expected to review effectiveness of these as part of their overall responsibility of maintaining an overview of effectiveness for the introduction of new medicines.

In addition, the Scottish Government will monitor progress in implementing CEL guidance which took effect on 1 April 2011. Where there is evidence that NHS boards are not complying with the guidance, the Scottish Government will pursue this directly with NHS boards.

Scottish Water receives no income from its 0845 telephone number.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-06545 on 24 April 2012. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government has not issued specific guidance on the use of 0845 telephone numbers but would expect public bodies to be guided in their use of such numbers by best practice as recommended by the industry regulator Ofcom.

The Scottish Government does not derive any income from using 0845 numbers.

The Scottish Government has not conducted any studies to assess the impact of 0845 telephone numbers on disadvantaged communities.

A recent review by the industry regulator, Ofcom, found that the use of 0845 numbers can have a bigger impact on those who use mobiles and that the impact of the higher cost of calls on mobiles is particularly pronounced for people on lower incomes who are more likely to live in mobile-only households. Ofcom is currently carrying out a consultation on proposals for change to all non-geographic call services, including 0845 telephone numbers, and the impact on consumers of the use of these numbers is considered as part of this consultation.

The Scottish Government has not issued specific guidance on the use of 0845 telephone numbers but would expect public bodies to be guided in their use of such numbers by best practice as recommended by the industry regulator Ofcom.

A recent review by Ofcom found that the cost of calling 0845 numbers is generally significantly more from mobiles. Ofcom is currently carrying out a consultation on proposals for change to all non-geographic call services, including 0845 telephone numbers, and the impact on consumers of the use of these numbers is considered as part of this consultation.

The Scottish Government currently uses a non geographic number, 0845 774 1741, as its published central contact number.

The Directorate for Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities provides a helpdesk for the Rural Payments Online service and for the Scottish Animal Movement Unit on 0845 601 7597. They also provide an emergency helpline number, 0845 155 3366, in case of animal disease outbreaks and a fax number, on 0845 244 5236, for veterinary practices notification of tuberculosis (TB) cattle inspections, to allow a co-ordinated approach to inspections activity.

Use of these non geographic numbers ensure that calls from anywhere in the UK, using the same provider, are charged the same rate regardless of the caller’s location. There is no revenue sharing on calls to these numbers.

The telephony services within the Scottish Government are centrally managed by the Information Services and Information Systems (ISIS) division. ISIS is following the advice of the communications regulator, Ofcom, and is in the process of implementing the use of non geographic 030 numbers for calls to the Scottish Government. Numbers in the 030 range are for the exclusive use of public sector and not-for-profit organisations. All calls to these numbers are charged at no more than the national rate.