Chamber and committees

SIGN Guideline 108, on the management of patients with stroke or TIA: assessment, investigation, immediate management and secondary prevention, published on 16 December 2008 deals with the early management of stroke or TIA, and focuses on aspects of immediate management, such as early assessment and imaging, thrombolysis and access to a stroke unit. It includes guidance on vision assessment immediately after stroke. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is currently consulting on bringing its clinical standards for stroke services into line with SIGN guideline 108.

We are also in the process of revising our CHD and stroke strategy, and received a number of consultation comments dealing with sensory impairments. There has been a particular emphasis on all aspects of rehabilitation following stroke, and the services people need to support them through the process of recovery once they are back in the community. We are considering how best to reflect these concerns in the revised strategy, which is due for publication in early this year.

SIGN Guideline 64, on stroke rehabilitation, prevention and management of complications, and discharge planning, is being updated and is due to be published in November 2009. Guidance on vision rehabilitation is expected to be included and the evidence is currently being considered by the guideline development group.

The revision of SIGN Guideline 46, on the early management of head injury, which is expected to be published in May 2009, does not include guidance on vision rehabilitation. A proposal for a SIGN guideline on rehabilitation after head injury has been accepted, but SIGN has not allocated a start date yet.

Every journey has at least either a day return or period return as well as a single fare depending on the nature of the journey and typical journey pattern. There are no plans to change this general arrangement.

A review of the Scotland-wide Free Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People is currently underway. I expect to receive a final report of the review this month and shall consider its recommendations regarding any possible changes.

Community pharmacists have already requested that they are given the authority to access their patient''s electronic emergency care summary records. Work is underway to give careful consideration to the possibilities around extending both the users of this system, and the information it contains. While community pharmacists will be considered within this exercise, it should be pointed out that there is already a facility in place for when patients are not known to a community pharmacy and therefore have no medication record to hand. An example would be a patient on holiday who has forgotten to bring their medication. The facility involves a special phone line to NHS 24 pharmacists, who are already authorised to consult the emergency care summary and are able to discuss the case with their community pharmacist colleagues.

There are no plans to give community pharmacists access to patient records beyond what is described above.

Full-time higher education lone parent students currently have an entitlement to apply for Higher Education Lone Parent Grant and Higher Education Lone Parent Child care Grant.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to make other child care funding available through the discretionary funds a legal right for college and university students.

The Scottish Government published, on 15 December 2008, a consultation on student support for higher education. The consultation will consider the current support arrangements for higher education students and seek views on a number of proposals in connection with that.

The Scottish Government published on 10 December 2008 its Early Years and Early Intervention Framework which recognises that the cost and accessibility of child care is a major concern for parents in Scotland. At present, child care support for parents is a reserved matter, and is provided via the child care vouchers and child tax credit schemes. In the framework, we set out a desire for a single, accessible and more progressive system of supporting the costs of child care.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Scheme of Assistance) Regulations 2008 were approved by the Parliament in November 2008. Statutory guidance for local authorities on those regulations and related duties under part 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 is expected to be issued shortly, with guidance on other aspects of part 2 and on local authority powers and duties in part 1 of the act expected to follow soon thereafter. All the relevant provisions in parts 1 and 2 of the act come into force on 1 April 2009, with the powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 that they replace being repealed at 31 March 2010 so that local authorities have a transitional year in which they can choose the point at which they adopt the new powers.

There are currently no plans to review the arrangements for paying travel allowances to students. Travel arrangements for higher education students will be considered within the wider context of the Scottish Government''s consultation on student support: Supporting a Smarter Scotland: A consultation on supporting learners in higher education:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/12121638/0.

This consultation was launched on 15 December 2008 and is considering the current support arrangements for higher education students and seeking views on a number of proposals in connection with that. Responses are due by 30 April 2009.

Homicide victims, by main method of killing and financial year recorded, 1990-91 to 2007-08

Year	Shooting	Sharp Instrument	Blunt Instrument	Hitting and Kicking	Strangulation Asphyxiation Drowning	Fire	Other Known or Unknown	Total Victims
1990-91	3	27	4	16	13	0	0	63
1991-92	9	51	14	12	8	5	5	104
1992-93	3	64	19	36	6	5	9	142
1993-94	12	41	15	19	6	3	7	103
1994-95	10	55	12	13	8	5	11	114
1995-96	261	69	10	25	11	0	9	150
1996-97	8	49	14	18	4	6	11	110
1997-98	7	39	9	17	11	5	9	97
1998-99	7	39	14	15	6	4	8	93
1999-2000	4	67	9	16	14	0	13	123
2000-01	3	48	11	17	10	3	15	107
2001-02	5	56	9	18	9	3	13	113
2002-03	3	60	15	17	7	0	23	125
2003-04	2	55	5	22	5	3	16	108
2004-05	8	72	8	14	11	1	23	137
2005-06	8	34	4	24	4	3	17	94
2006-07	8	54	15	16	3	3	20	119
2007-08	4	55	8	15	8	1	23	114

Note: 1. Includes 17 victims of the Dunblane incident.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Aged Under 18 with a charge proved for Carrying Knives or Offensive Weapons¹ in Scottish courts 1990-91 to 2006-07

Year	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point2	Possession of an Offensive Weapon3	Total
1990-91	-	205	205
1991-92	-	205	205
1992-93	-	239	239
1993-94	25	162	187
1994-95	70	134	204
1995-96	123	137	260
1996-97	167	181	348
1997-98	151	157	308
1998-99	128	153	281
1999-2000	143	180	323
2000-01	138	179	317
2001-02	138	208	346
2002-03	141	198	339
2003-04	145	196	341
2004-05	161	267	428
2005-06	216	290	506
2006-07	183	304	487

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Crime category introduced following implementation of the Carrying of Knives etc (Scotland) Act 1993. Previously such offences were included under possession of an offensive weapon.

3. Knives cannot be identified separately from other types of offensive weapon in the data held for this crime.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, the answer will depend on many variables including the type of camera, the technology employed, the location of the camera, and other factors.