Chamber and committees

The number of notices served requiring action to be taken to control the spread of ragwort during the last five years is given below:

Year	2005 (to 9 November)	2004	2003	2002	2001
Number of notices	0	2	1	1	0

 

Three of these notices were complied with to the satisfaction of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department. In one case, the Executive took control action itself and charged the occupier the relevant costs.

 

Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs) were introduced in July 2002 under the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002. The Scottish Executive surveyed local authorities in 2003 and 2004 on the numbers of DPAs in place. I refer the member to the answers to questions S2W-6217 on 9 March 2004, and S2W-12177 on 25 November 2004.

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/webapp/wa.search.

In December 2004, the Executive issued strengthened guidance to local authorities on deferred payments and other similar funding arrangements which allow care home residents to delay selling their homes. A follow up survey is planned for 2006.

The number of complaints made about ragwort in relation to the Weeds Act 1959 to the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department’s Area Offices in each of the last five years is shown in the following table. A complaint may relate to more than one site.

Year	Number of Complaints Received	Number of Sites Complained About
2005, as at 9 November	95	141
2004	35	51
2003	49	50
2002	41	41
2001	38	38

 

Data for 2005 is complaints received by 9 November 2005. Data for previous years include all complaints about ragwort received during the full calendar year.

The additional funding allocated to the General Dental Services is £37 million in 2005-06, £80 million in 2006-07 and £120 million in 2007-08 which cumulatively amounts to £237 million.

The increased funding contained within the ministerial statement on 17 March 2005 is held within the central General Dental Services programme for the purposes of primary care dental services, and is being allocated to NHS boards and to NHS Education for Scotland for oral health initiatives and workforce developments respectively.

We recognisethat the long-term solution for this junction maybe a grade-separated junction.However, in the meantime, other measures have been considered and action has beentaken to implement a range of safety initiatives including the installation of CCTVcameras, a 50mph speed limit in the vicinity of the Laurencekirk junction, advancewarning signs, anti-skid surfacing and renewed road markings. We will continue tomonitor safety around the junction and take further action as necessary. The forthcomingStrategic Transport Projects Review will provide the future framework for decisionson competing priorities for investment in schemes to improve the trunk road network,including proposals for grade separation at junctions such as the A90 at Laurencekirk.

 

Yes.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has worked on developing proposals for a trial re-introduction of beavers over a number a years since the mid 1990s.

SNH have assessed the costs incurred for the work which they undertook in the 1990s (including the 1998 public consultation, research on impacts of beavers on hydrology, fish and forestry, feasibility of re-introduction, population modelling and identification and evaluation of candidate trial sites) at £71,411 and they estimate that associated staff costs over that period amounted to approximately £100,000.

From 2000, when SNH decided to develop a proposal for a trial at Knapdale, their additional research costs are assessed at £82,202 and SNH estimate that associated staff costs over this period amounted to £197,235.

Forestry Commission Scotland (which is the owner of part of the land in Knapdale identified as a potential trial site) estimates that it has incurred costs of approximately £25,000 in connection with their investigation of the proposal.

No separate record has been kept of time taken by the Scottish Executive or other public bodies in considering the proposals.

There are no plans for a formalnational strategy. However, the Executive is participating in a range of measuresto improve the quality of care for people with asthma. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, with input from AsthmaUK Scotland, is working on a project to develop and promotepersonal management plans for asthma. The Asthma Project is being supported by fundingof £100,000, and includes training programmes for medical professionals. The ChiefScientist Office is putting substantial funding into asthma–related research projects.People with asthma will be among those who will benefit most from the ban on smokingin public places. At UK level, the new GP contract includes asthmaas a condition which will attract additional remuneration if performance markersare met.

ISD Scotland now co-ordinate the publication of data on all NHS dentistry, both hospital and community health service (HCHS) and general dental service (GDS) dentists, at 30 September each year. Data as at 30 September 2004 for both HCHS and GDS dentists was used within the answer to question S2W-13939.

In question S2W-5720, Table 1 related to the number of all NHS dentists. In the notes, under 6, it is clarified that data for hospital and community health service (HCHS) dentists was correct as at 30 September 2002. At the time that this parliamentary question was answered, data on GDS dentists was available as at 31 December 2003, clarified under note 5.