Chamber and committees

The recent report referred to in the question details a large cohort of children from the UK, including 1,740 from Scotland, who had their immunisation records examined. 5.2% of the total individuals included in the study (14,578) had opted for at least one single vaccine. In Scotland this was 2.8% (51 out of the 1,780 people included).

Of the 634 people who had chosen single vaccines, only 52% of the children had received all of their immunisations. Therefore almost 50% of those children who opted for single vaccines, did not complete the course. The report does not suggest that 50% of all children opted for single injections and then did not complete the course.

The most recent statistics collected by the Scottish Government indicate that uptake of one dose of MMR (MMR1) by 24 months for children born in the fourth quarter of 2005 is 91.8% Quarterly uptake of MMR1 by five years old is 94.4%, just below the World Health Organization (WHO) target of 95% and uptake of the second dose of MMR (MMR2) by five years old for children born in the fourth quarter of 2002 is 87.1%.

Evidence shows that positive and effective communication from a trusted health professional is a key factor in influencing a parent''s decision to immunise their child. The NHS in Scotland continues to reinforce the message that the recommended way to protect your child is through the combined MMR vaccination. NHS Health Scotland continues to support NHS boards and Health Protection Scotland to achieve good MMR uptake rates through the provision of a range of accessible information for parents and health professionals, along with supporting materials.

Guidance was issued to all local authority, independent and grant-aided schools in July 2006. Sections 2C of the guidance provided specific advice for boarding schools and secondary schools with hostels. It is available electronically at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/07/05121311/0.

Responsibility for liaison with voluntary organisations rests with Category 1 Responders as defined by the Civil Contingency Act 2004. Category 1 Responders are organisations such as local authorities, NHS boards, the police and the Fire and Rescue Services. Preparing Scotland, the Scottish Government guidance on preparing for emergencies, directs Category 1 responders to integrate the activities of voluntary organisations at all stages of preparation in order to ensure a coordinated approach and response to emergencies.

The Healthy Living programme relates to health improvement and therefore contains no guidance on planning for a flu pandemic. Relevant guidance was however published in A Scottish Framework for responding to an influenza Pandemic on 22 November 2007. The framework reflects the fact that pandemic flu will have an impact across society and provides guidance and planning assumptions on which all business continuity plans for an outbreak should be made. The Scottish Government recognises that in the event of a flu pandemic the overall aim is to maintain business as usual as far as practicable and has been involved in considerable direct preparatory and planning work with key business sectors, such as energy, telecommunications, food, transport and water. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires local authorities to provide advice and assistance for those undertaking commercial activities, in relation to business continuity management, in the event of an emergency. In order to assist local authorities with their responsibilities, the Scottish Government produced a leaflet which local authorities could use as the basis for their approach to local businesses to promote business continuity planning, at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/178380/0050775.pdf.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12384 on 9 May 2008. 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.

All 32 local authorities in Scotland have submitted draft single outcome agreements (SOAs) that set out how they will contribute to the agreed national outcomes in relation to education provision. Those drafts are currently the subject of discussion. We aim to complete the process of finalising all the Agreements for 2008-09 by 30 June. Subject to agreement with the authorities, all the finalised SOAs will be made publicly available shortly thereafter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-12384 on 9 May 2008. 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.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Information available centrally is only for cognitive behavioural therapists employed/managed in psychology services in each NHS Board in NHSScotland.

This information is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5381.html. Latest available data are at 30 September 2007.

In the winter of 2000-01, 5.9% of those aged 65 years and over had received pneumococcal vaccination. This rose to 19.4% before the 2003-04 vaccination programme and to 67.7% at the end of the first year of the programme. By 2005-06 73.0% had received the pneumococcal vaccination.

In relation to splenic dysfunction (a broad category which includes asplenia), 0.02% of those aged 65 years and over had this as a diagnosis as at March 2006. 85.7% of this group had apparently received pneumococcal vaccine, but there is a caveat with these particular figures as the numbers are small and it is possible that some of the individuals had previously received pneumococcal vaccine either in hospital post splenectomy or in general practice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11606 on 18 April 2008. 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.