Chamber and committees

The Reproductive Health Programme (RHP) of NHS Quality Improvement Service (QIS) collects information on all stillbirths in Scotland. Information on stillbirths is collected from the General Registry Office for Scotland (GROS), and additional information is collected from the hospital unit where the stillbirth, such as discharge letters, local critical incident/root cause analysis reports and post mortem reports - where these exist. This information is combined with some data from the Scottish Morbidity Record 02 (SMR 02) database, provided by Information Statistics Division (ISD) to classify the cause of death. In partnership with (ISD), NHS QIS produce an annual report on stillbirths and neonatal deaths The Scottish Perinatal and Infant Mortality and Morbidity Report:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/3112.html.

The SPIMMR report includes information on numbers, rates, causes and associated factors for all stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Scotland, identifies trends and makes recommendations for practice where appropriate. The production of the report is overseen by a multidisciplinary committee which includes public partners (lay representation). The report is published annually on the NHS QIS and ISD websites.

Information on the numbers of wards closed to admissions or visitors in general is not available centrally.

Health Protection Scotland monitors ward closures due to norovirus outbreaks via point prevalence management information however:

This does not include counts of wards with visitor restrictions

The data is not collected at individual hospital level.

Norovirus point prevalence reporting commenced on 7 January 2008.

The numbers of wards closed in NHSScotland due to presumed or confirmed Norovirus outbreaks, broken down by individual health boards, for each Monday in 2008, 2009 and to week 10 (01 March) of 2010 (Monday Point Prevalence) are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50374).

It should be noted that:

Norovirus prevalence reporting is voluntary and not all single ward outbreaks are necessarily included in the tables.

The prevalence data is management information and relates to the number of wards closed at any time on a Monday.

Outbreaks resulting in ward closure starting on a Tuesday (or later) and finishing on a Sunday (or earlier) are not included in the prevalence data.

Ward closures occurring on a Monday that are still ongoing the following Monday will be counted twice even though they relate to a single outbreak.

It is not possible, therefore, to aggregate the provided data into an annual total of ward closures.

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

The Mental Welfare Commission has been contacted on two occasions in the last three years. Additionally the Mental Welfare Commission has visited Cornton Vale for a routine visit in each of these years.

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We are satisfied that the signage already in place is sufficient to guide road users to the upper Forth crossings and have no plans to change signage to include the Clackmannanshire Bridge.

Measures for mitigating the impact of the Beauly to Denny upgrade on communities, on visual amenity and landscape, on the environment, on cultural heritage and on tourism are defined in the developer''s application, and in the conditions of the consent. It is against the application as proposed, and against the additional conditions imposed upon the developers in the letters of consent, that mitigation measures will be assessed.

Historic Scotland did not attend the Beauly to Denny public inquiry because they did not object to the application. Although Historic Scotland did not attend and give oral evidence, they did submit written evidence which was accepted by the reporters.

The possible health risks associated with exposure to electric and magnetic fields have been addressed in the report of the Technical Assessor appointed to the Beauly Denny Public Inquiry. I refer the member to the Technical Assessor''s report, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50006).

This report notes that: The European Commission has concluded, with respect to EMF, that the precautionary principle should not be invoked because there are no clear scientific indications that the possible effects on human health may be potentially dangerous. The World Health Organization supports this interpretation advising that only very low-cost measures will be justified.

The approval in 2004 by Ofgem for the Beauly-Denny 400kV overhead line was informed by a cost benefit analysis, which was based upon a comparison of network capital and operation costs over time. The developers will be required to obtain approval from Ofgem for the additional expenditure before enacting the various mitigation measures secured by the conditions of consent. I do not consider that such expenditure will prove an obstacle to ensuring that the visual and environmental impacts of the 400kV line are acceptably mitigated.

The issue of undergrounding was fully considered by the Technical assessor appointed to the Public Inquiry. I refer the member to the Technical Assessor''s report, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50006).

All evidence and other documentation submitted to the Public Local Inquiry, including responses submitted during the formal consultation periods, are in the process of being published on the Scottish Government''s website, and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Infrastructure/Energy-Consents/Beauly-Denny-Index.

Representations received since the inquiry closed have also been considered by ministers. However, as no new material evidence has been presented, Scottish ministers do not intend to publish these representations.