Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service does not collect this information. It would not be possible to collect accurate data on the number of children affected by the imprisonment of a parent, as some prisoners are unwilling to disclose such information and the SPS does not have access to verifiable data. However the Scottish Prison Service does conduct an annual survey of prisoners, with the last one being published in November 2011. The following information is extracted from those survey results.

Percentage of prisoners responding “Yes” to the question “Are you the parent of a child?

2008       51%

2009       51%

2011       48%

Total number of children under 18 disclosed:

2008       3950

2009       3893

2011       4614.

The information requested is not centrally held. However, published information showing whole time equivalent and headcount for Nurses and Technicians are available on the ISD website at the following link, it should be noted that Endoscopy Technicians are recorded as support workers, Band 3-4.

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/data-tables.asp.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-04962 on 6 February 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

Local systems must have the capability to record the reason why a period of unavailability has been applied to the patient’s waiting time clock.

The Chief Executive of NHS Lothian initiated the investigation into waiting times in NHS Lothian. It would be a matter for the Group undertaking the investigation to consider whose views should be sought as part of the inquiry.

Teeth whitening is the practice of dentistry and only those registered with the General Dental Council may lawfully offer it as a treatment. The General Dental Council will take action against businesses undertaking teeth whitening illegally.

NHS dental practices which offer teeth whitening privately will be inspected by the local NHS health boards as part of the routine dental practice inspection

programme.

Non-NHS dental practices are not currently regulated as independent healthcare services.

All NHS boards must ensure that their waiting times management systems are fully compliant to meet the requirements of “New Ways of Defining and Measuring Waiting Times”. This includes the recording of reasonable offers and the reason for refusal of the reasonable offer.

It is not possible to estimate the additional weekly costs incurred because this would depend upon the strength of the alcohol and the current price being paid - which may be under or over 45 or 50p. Professor Ludbrook's research has shown that all income groups purchase cheap alcohol and the Sheffield study shows that individuals' behavioural response includes a reduction in demand and switching to cheaper products. The Sheffield study reports the mean impact on groups of drinkers. This is disaggregated in terms of consumption of wine, beer and spirits in the detailed tables within the Sheffield report.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any employment contracts which have come to an end. The director of the Chief Scientist Office post has not been vacant and has therefore not been advertised. The duties of the post have been covered on a temporary basis since 24 January 2011.

The post of Chief Scientist was reviewed in the context of a wider review of the provision of scientific advice across government. It was decided that this role should remain. The post was advertised following the review and the successful candidate will be announced shortly. The post of director Chief Scientist Office is not vacant.