Chamber and committees

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.

The information requested is not centrally held.

The universities are responsible for managing the recruitment of nursing and midwifery students to their pre-registration programmes.

The advertising and promotion of medicines in the UK, as well as medicine safety issues, are subject matters of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and are currently reserved issues.

The promotion of a medicine for use outside the terms of its marketing authorisation is prohibited. Details are available in the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) guidance, The Blue Guide which is available at: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/pl-a/documents/publication/con2022589.pdf

The MHRA is also the UK wide licensing authority responsible for ensuring the safety, quality and efficacy of all UK licensed medicines. Side effects to medicines, including those relating to off-licence use, are monitored by the MHRA via the yellow card scheme.

Decisions on whether or not to prescribe a licensed medicinal product for use outside the terms of the marketing authorisation are for the clinical judgement of the prescriber concerned involving full consultation with the patient. There are currently no plans to introduce the routine collection and collation of data related to off licence prescribing.

The Cochrane Collaboration concluded that the evidence reviewed suggested that general health checks did not reduce morbidity or mortality, neither overall nor for cardiovascular or cancer causes.

The Scottish Government will continue to support interventions which are targeted, aimed at identifying and engaging those at increased risk of poorer health outcomes, including individuals living in socio-economically deprived areas.

To ensure there is a sufficient supply of registered nurses and midwives to meet NHS board’s future workforce requirements, trend information on the number of leavers over the last six years and the age profile of the nursing and midwifery establishment is factored into national modelling.

That model takes into account the workforce characteristics of the current nursing and midwifery supply and factors in the age profile, with a particular focus on the aged 55 years plus, and other trends in respect of currently employed staff.

NHS Scotland - Nursing and Midwifery Net Turnover Rates¹

Source: ISD Scotland National Statistics.

1. Net turnover is a measure of the rate at which staff are leaving NHS Scotland.

NHS Scotland – Nursing and Midwifery Staff percentage by age group as at 30 June 2012

Nursing and midwifery student intake numbers are informed by workforce projections provided by NHS boards and the views of a number of stakeholders, including those universities from whom we commission nursing and midwifery education.

The criteria used to determine which institutions should provide pre-registration midwifery education were agreed by all those involved, including the relevant universities.

When night time freight operations commenced in December 2008, the Stirling Alloa Kincardine project adopted the noise principles set by other projects approved by Parliament and set a night time noise mitigation criteria at 82dB, twice per hour. The application of these principles on SAK did not result in any properties qualifying for noise mitigation.

There has not been any action undertaken specifically to mitigate overnight noise along the Stirling Alloa Kincardine route.

Noise testing, both day and night, was undertaken at eleven sample properties, considered to be representative of other properties along the Stirling Alloa Kincardine route.

Four properties in total were tested for vibration levels.

During the design phase of the project, the decision was taken by the project board to delay the assessment of noise until freight trains were running, in order that the full effect of train operations on the route could be taken into account.