Chamber and committees

I understand that the Minister for Health and Community Care has received a letter from Dr Morrison, the chairman of the Area Medical Committee in Grampian, which raised a number of concerns about the Arbuthnott formula. Mr Chisholm has written to Dr Morrison answering his concerns. It has also been explained to him that we have already increased substantially expenditure on the NHS in Grampian and elsewhere, and are committed to further substantial increases over the next three years.

From 1 April 2002 local authorities have been required to pay fees to the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) to register their own care services. The transfer of authorities' regulatory functions to the Care Commission from that date necessitated a corresponding transfer of funds from local authorities to the Commission. The amount transferred (£5.68 million) took into account the fact that local authorities would have received income from registration fees paid by service providers. In addition, some of the funding was left with authorities to allow them to pay registration fees to the Care Commission for their own services, and to cover some residual staffing and accommodation costs. Care services are now inspected against national care standards. However, the Care Commission has discretion in applying those standards, taking into account the nature of the services being provided. For example, in the case of care homes for older people, where existing provision cannot meet the physical standards but is otherwise of good quality, specific criteria may be agreed with the Care Commission officers to allow existing rooms to remain in use. These arrangements apply equally to services delivered by local authorities and by the independent sector.The legislation and the national care standards require social care staff to be properly qualified and trained to carry out their roles in regulated care services. The £2.2 million Specific Grant for Social Work Training allocated to local authorities for 2002-03 was supplemented by an additional £3.5 million in the Action Plan for Social Services Workforce. This is specifically targeted at increasing the availability of training for social work and social care workers, as part of enhancing the qualifications of social work and social care staff in preparation for the establishment of the social services register, set up under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. It will also assist providers to meet the relevant national care standards.In addition, £9.2 million was allocated for the expansion and development of the early years workforce from 2002-04, with a further £6 million per annum committed during the period 2004-06. This funding is allocated through child care partnerships, and can be used for workforce expansion and development in the local authority, private and voluntary sectors.

Information on the WTE staff in Grampian NHS Board for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 is shown in the following table:Clinical Staff and Management Split in Grampian NHS Board for the Years 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Clinical Staff	1999	2000	2001
Medical	1,192.6	1,212.7	1,323.6
Dental	220.0	212.6	213.0
Nursing and Midwifery1	4,940.9	4,935.5	5,031.5
Scientific and Professional	137.4	142.6	151.1
Professions Allied to Medicine	660.4	675.3	689.6
Technical	378.4	384.4	411.8
Ambulance2
Health Care Assistant	30.8	32.2	30.8
Total Clinical Staff	7,560.5	7,595.3	7,851.4
Management
Senior Management	237.7	239.5	215.2
Administrative and Clerical3,4	1,333.8	1,400.9	1,458.9
Total Management	1,571.5	1,640.4	1,674.1

Source: Medical and Dental Census and National Statistics from payroll, ISD.Notes:1. Excludes nurse teachers and teachers in training.2. Although ambulance staff are considered to be clinical, it is not possible to break the data down into NHS boards.3. Includes obsolete management grades and management trainees.4. Not all grades are management.More detailed information on the number of staff working in Grampian NHS Board area is available in tables A3 and A4 on the ISD website at:http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/NHSiS_resource/Workforce/workforce_statistics.htm.

This is a matter for NHS boards and Primary Care Trusts. The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for NHS boards and Primary Care Trusts. The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally. Grampian NHS Board should be contacted directly for the detail required.

The median waiting times, in days, for first out-patient appointments for the last three years is given in the following table.

NHS Board (Residence)	Year Ending March
	2000	2001	2002
Scotland	45	46	50
Argyll and Clyde	42	41	44
Ayr and Arran	36	41	45
Borders	33	35	35
Dumfries and Galloway	45	46	53
Fife	51	49	56
Forth Valley	49	52	56
Grampian	50	55	61
Greater Glasgow	48	48	53
Highland	34	35	37
Lanarkshire	51	52	58
Lothian	42	42	46
Orkney	28	31	36
Shetland	34	34	27
Tayside	43	43	48
Western Isles	32	32	33

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR00.Note: Out-patient waiting times are based on referrals of Scottish Residents from GMPs (General Medical Practitioners) or GDPs (General Dental Practitioners). Guarantee Exception Codes (GEC) cases are excluded.

Information on the out-patient waiting times is published by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of NHSScotland. The annual median out-patient waiting times are published on the ISD Online website at: http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/acute_activity/Historic/annual1.htm.

Spend on the Learn to Let Go campaign is as follows:

2001-02	£539,100
2002-03 (to date)	£545,000

Part of this expenditure has been or will be offset against contributions made by public transport operators in Scotland by way of sponsorship of the campaign.

The Scottish Executive has adopted the targets of the UK National Cycling Strategy, to double the number of bicycle trips made between 1996 and 2002, then double that figure by 2012. This is included in the Programme for Government for Scotland. In order to achieve this target, additional resources have been provided to Scottish local authorities from the Public Transport Fund, which can be used for improving local cycling facilities. The Executive has also made grants to the cycle charity Sustrans to develop the National Cycle Network (NCN) in Scotland, in addition to providing works through the Trunk Roads Cycling Initiative for trunk road sections of the NCN.The Executive chairs the Scottish Cycle Forum, which was set up to identify opportunities for improving the cycling environment within Scotland and for encouraging bicycle use, both as a means of transport and for leisure purposes.Furthermore, the Executive's current travel awareness campaign, Learn to Let Go, aims to increase the number of journeys made by cycling, walking and public transport and to encourage more sensible use of the car.