Chamber and committees

National Indicator39 in the concordat between the Scottish Government and local government relatesto reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill in 2010, in line with the firstEU Landfill Directive target. In addition, the Landfill Allowance Scheme placeslimits on the amounts of biodegradable municipal waste which can be sent to landfill.Authorities which exceed these limits can be subject to penalties. We will, of course,support work by local authorities to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfillthrough our zero waste budget. In addition, the rising cost of landfill providesa further incentive to find other ways of dealing with waste.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7154 on 13 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Zero waste requireshigh-levels of recycling and composting and a greater emphasis on waste prevention.Figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency show that recycling andcomposting is increasing and the amount of waste going to landfill is falling. Anumber of steps are in place to tackle waste growth such as the Scottish Waste AwarenessGroup’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign, on food waste; work by the Waste and ResourcesAction Programme with retailers on packaging and other waste; a home compostingprogramme, and work by the community recycling sector to provide advice to householderson how to avoid waste. We recognise we need to do more on waste prevention and partof the zero waste budget will be allocated to work in this area. We are also committedto further improvements to the environmental performance of the public sector asa whole.

As indicated in theconcordat signed by the Scottish Government and COSLA on 14 November 2007, there is significant growth in the capital resourcesbeing made available to local authorities to secure investment in local governmentinfrastructure, including schools. The almost £3 billion local authority capital budget over three years includesan extra £115 million in 2008-09 which can be invested in schools. It is for authoritiesto deploy the capital resources according to their priorities, and to maximise theirschool building programme by utilising all available sources of funding.

The information requested forlevel 1 and 2 is given in Draft Budget 2008-09: Real Terms Analysis, acopy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 44133).

In respect of NHSboards the latest available information is shown in the following table:

	2005		2006		2007
	Head Count	Rate	Head Count	Rate	Head Count	Rate
Scotland	2,153	42.4	2,301	45.2	2,474	48.3
Argyll and Clyde	182	43.8	199	48.1	x	x
Ayrshire and Arran	147	40.0	150	40.9	163	44.5
Borders	39	35.7	42	38.3	46	41.7
Dumfries and Galloway	43	29.1	44	29.7	61	41.2
Fife	140	39.5	171	47.9	177	49.3
Forth Valley	112	39.7	119	41.8	122	42.6
Grampian	191	36.4	198	37.6	221	41.7
Greater Glasgow	474	54.7	489	56.4	x	x
Greater Glasgow and Clyde4	x	x	x	x	654	54.9
Highland	92	43.5	100	46.8	x	x
Highland4	x	x	x	x	163	53.1
Lanarkshire	234	42.1	237	42.5	235	42.1
Lothian	384	48.8	395	49.8	422	52.7
Orkney	9	46.2	11	56.2	12	60.7
Shetland	12	54.7	13	59.1	16	73.1
Tayside	183	47.2	211	54.1	239	61.0
Western Isles	10	38.1	14	53.1	15	56.9

Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental AccountingSystem).

Notes:

x. Not applicable

1. The number of NHSnon-salaried and salaried principals, assistants and vocational dental practitioners,based on location of dental practice.

2. An NHS generaldental practitioner may have more than one contact with an NHS board if he/she hasmore than one practice, or a contact with more than one NHS board if he/she practisesin more than one NHS board area. As a result, the sum of the number of dentistsin each NHS board area exceeds the number of dentists practising in Scotland.

3. Population relatesto the total Scottish population, not just the population registered with an NHSdentist. Population rates are based on the General Register Office for Scotland mid-year population estimates as at June 2004, 2005 and2006.

4. The dissolutionof Argyll and Clyde took effect from 1 April 2006. From this date, NHS Argyll and Clyde patients are included in figures for NHS Greater Glasgowand Clyde and NHS Highland.

In respect of localauthority areas latest available information is shown in the following table.

	2005		2006		2007
	Head Count	Rate	Head Count	Rate	Head Count	Rate
Scotland	2,153	42.4	2,301	45.2	2,474	48.3
Aberdeen City	94	46.2	100	49.4	109	53.9
Aberdeenshire	73	31.4	76	32.3	83	34.8
Angus	44	40.5	53	48.5	58	52.8
Argyll and Bute	40	43.9	46	50.6	48	52.5
City of Edinburgh	245	54.0	257	56.1	273	58.9
Clackmannanshire	15	31.1	19	39.1	18	36.8
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	10	38.1	14	53.1	15	56.9
Dumfries and Galloway	43	29.1	44	29.7	61	41.2
Dundee City	84	59.2	91	64.0	104	73.2
East Ayrshire	41	34.2	43	36.0	56	46.9
East Dunbartonshire	66	61.9	70	66.1	68	64.5
East Lothian	51	55.7	49	53.4	50	53.9
East Renfrewshire	51	56.9	53	59.2	54	60.5
Falkirk	57	38.7	61	40.9	73	48.8
Fife	140	39.5	171	47.9	177	49.3
Glasgow City	332	57.5	335	57.9	345	59.4
Highland	92	43.5	100	46.8	114	52.9
Inverclyde	32	38.8	35	42.6	41	50.3
Midlothian	26	32.7	26	32.8	31	39.1
Moray	29	33.1	28	31.8	32	35.9
North Ayrshire	52	38.2	51	37.5	52	38.4
North Lanarkshire	143	44.3	139	43.0	141	43.5
Orkney Islands	9	46.2	11	56.2	12	60.7
Perth and Kinross	65	47.3	81	58.5	86	61.6
Renfrewshire	84	49.2	90	52.9	91	53.7
Scottish Borders	39	35.7	42	38.3	46	41.7
Shetland Islands	12	54.7	13	59.1	16	73.1
South Ayrshire	56	50.1	57	51.0	57	51.0
South Lanarkshire	138	45.2	145	47.3	139	45.2
Stirling	43	49.8	47	54.1	37	42.1
West Dunbartonshire	36	39.1	39	42.7	41	44.9
West Lothian	78	47.9	81	49.5	86	51.9

Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental AccountingSystem).

Notes:

x. Not applicable.

1. The number of NHSnon-salaried and salaried principals, assistants and vocational dental practitioners,based on location of dental practice.

2. An NHS generaldental practitioner may have more than one contact with a local authority if he/shehas more than one practice, or a contact with more than one local authority if he/shepractises in more than one local authority. As a result, the sum of the number ofdentists in each local authority area exceeds the number of dentists practisingin Scotland.

3. Population relatesto the total Scottish population, not just the population registered with an NHSdentist. Population rates are based on the General Register Office for Scotland mid-year population estimates as at June 2004, 2005 and2006.

The use of bluetonguevaccine in areas such as Scotland which are free of disease is currently prohibitedby the European Commission. The Scottish Government is working closely with stakeholdersto consider potential Scottish needs and is liaising closely with the Department for Environment, Food and RuralAffairs with regard to the currentexercise to establish a vaccine bank within the UK.

I currently haveno plans to remove the cap.

There has been nochange to the protocol of notifying MSPs of ministerial visits to their constituencies.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise monitors its performanceon an annual basis against a set of targets agreed with the Executive. These targetsare published in its annual operating plans and monitored by the Executive duringthe reporting year to ensure that appropriate progress is being made. Highlands and Islands Enterprise reports on its performance againstthese targets in its annual report.