Chamber and committees

(a) Information on the number of deaths attributed to intentional self-harm and events of undetermined Intentional for the years 1992 to 2001 are shown in the following Table 1.Table 1: Number of Deaths Attributed to Intentional Self-Harm and Events of Undetermined Intent, Scotland, 1992-2001

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
(i) Gender
Males	576	679	611	625	620	655	650	663	674	646
Females	217	233	223	211	226	219	228	211	204	241
	793	912	834	836	846	874	878	874	878	887
(ii) Age Group
Under 15	1	14	5	9	9	8	5	6	8	3
15-24	123	132	121	106	115	127	114	127	143	126
25-34	200	224	193	195	207	222	221	222	197	177
35-44	157	182	174	166	148	169	191	180	201	228
45-54	121	141	137	150	147	150	131	126	146	149
55-64	88	100	91	92	76	80	84	91	80	101
65-74	51	76	62	66	81	69	86	72	56	61
75+	52	43	51	52	63	49	46	50	47	42
All Ages	793	912	834	836	846	874	878	874	878	887
(iii) Social Class
Professional	25	28	31	28	17	29	29	23	31	-
Executive	113	120	127	117	118	128	117	103	101	-
Skilled-manual	201	244	206	222	220	197	216	221	231	-
Semi-skilled	116	174	134	154	151	174	159	147	166	-
Unskilled	116	116	125	106	108	101	96	89	102	-
Skilled non-manual	63	61	60	60	67	52	77	93	64	-
Inadequately described	6	11	9	11	4	5	2	1	2	-
None or not stated	153	158	142	138	161	188	182	197	181	-
All Classes	793	912	834	836	846	874	878	874	878	-
(vi) Method
Poisoning	394	439	362	337	353	371	314	311	294	325
Hanging, strangulation and suffocation	174	174	207	224	212	223	301	308	330	295
Drowning and submersion	103	105	107	92	90	108	98	88	89	98
Firearms and explosives	18	29	19	34	15	15	24	18	16	9
Jumping from a high place	50	66	61	59	57	70	55	64	58	69
Other and unspecified means	54	99	78	90	119	87	86	85	91	91
All Methods	793	912	834	836	846	874	878	874	878	887

Source: General Register Office for Scotland.Notes:1. The figures above include deaths from intentional self-harm (suicides) and events of undetermined Intentional (undetermined deaths). It is believed that the majority of undetermined deaths are hidden suicides, though this is less likely to be the case for the small numbers of cases aged under 15.2. The information presented on Social Class (based on occupation) has been restricted to the period 1992 to 2000, as a new classification (the National Statistics socio-economic NS-SEC) was introduced in 2001.3. As a very wide range of occupations was recorded, it is not possible to present data for individual occupations.4. Death registration forms do not include information on ethnicity.5. Years 1992-99: ICD9 Codes E950-E959 and E980-E989.6. Years 2000 and 2001: ICD10 Codes X60-X84, Y87.0 and Y10-Y34, Y87.2.(b) Information on the number of attempted suicides in the community is not available centrally. However, an estimate of the number of attempted suicides can be obtained from hospital discharge records. Information is presented in the following Table 2 for patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of "suicide/self-inflicted injury" in the period April 1992 to March 2001:Table 2: Number of Patients Discharged from Hospital with a Diagnosis of Suicide/Self-inflicted Injury

	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
(i) Gender
Males	4,552	4,425	4,951	4,901	5,247	5,708	5,606	5,446	4,874
Females	5,468	5,581	5,827	6,226	6,673	7,485	6,831	6,891	6,346
Total	10,020	10,006	10,778	11,127	11,920	13,193	12,437	12,337	11,220
(ii) Age group
Under 20	1,899	1,896	2,042	2,087	2,209	2,373	2,072	2,040	1,945
20-29	3,203	3,105	3,369	3,409	3,579	3,649	3,433	3,269	2,911
30-39	2,307	2,376	2,636	2,800	2,997	3,497	3,325	3,355	2,983
40-49	1,470	1,461	1,607	1,635	1,779	2,146	2,108	2,170	2,012
50-59	620	666	621	699	808	915	896	921	851
60-69	287	265	281	300	307	349	357	340	295
70+	234	237	222	197	241	264	246	242	223
All ages	10,020	10,006	10,778	11,127	11,920	13,193	12,437	12,337	11,220
(iii) Deprivation category
1 Least Deprived	289	262	296	295	302	339	267	331	277
2	873	840	924	946	972	1,126	1,024	1,011	980
3	1,593	1,620	1,658	1,792	1,861	2,045	1,948	1,966	1,811
4	2,469	2,444	2,614	2,780	3,093	3,336	3,153	3,131	2,897
5	2,020	2,046	2,205	2,206	2,333	2,667	2,531	2,499	2,221
6	1,444	1,506	1,627	1,642	1,783	1,943	1,928	1,926	1,816
7 Most deprived	1,078	1,043	1,252	1,268	1,369	1,517	1,408	1,257	1,072
Unknown	254	245	202	198	207	220	178	216	146
Total	10,020	10,006	10,778	11,127	11,920	13,193	12,437	12,337	11,220
(vi) Diagnosis
Suicide and self-inflicted poisoning by solid or liquid substances	9,504	9,555	10,295	10,638	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted poisoning by gases in domestic use	15	6	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted poisoning by other gases and vapours	55	58	63	39	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injury by hanging, strangulation and suffocation	20	34	25	34	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injury by submersion (drowning)	12	21	12	25	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injury by firearms and explosives	4	6	3	4	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injury by cutting and piercing instruments	312	247	265	285	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injuries by jumping from high place	30	21	35	43	-	-	-	-	-
Suicide and self-inflicted injury by other and unspecified means	59	53	72	50	-	-	-	-	-
Late effects of self-inflicted injury	9	5	5	7	-	-	-	-	-
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to nonopioid analgesics antipyretics and antirheumatics	-	-	-	-	4,959	5,619	4,999	4,312	3,689
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to antiepileptic sedative-hypnotic, anti parkinsonism and psychotropic drugs not elsewhere classified	-	-	-	-	3,967	4,455	4,405	4,571	4,069
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics (hallucinogens) not elsewhere classified	-	-	-	-	769	731	675	1,035	1,343
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to other drugs acting on the autonomic nervous system	-	-	-	-	187	233	237	266	242
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances	-	-	-	-	1,266	1,308	1,224	1,221	971
Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to alcohol	-	-	-	-	155	169	182	158	158
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to organic solvents and halogenated hydrocarbons and their vapours	-	-	-	-	16	17	13	16	9
Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to other gases and vapours	-	-	-	-	53	41	50	51	33
Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to pesticides	-	-	-	-	10	13	13	11	5
Intentional self-poisoning/exposure to other and unspecified chemicals and noxious substances	-	-	-	-	53	56	60	55	61
Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation	-	-	-	-	43	55	74	70	64
Intentional self-harm by drowning and submersion	-	-	-	19	24	29	32	19
Intentional self-harm by handgun, shotgun or larger firearm discharge	-	-	-	-	6	1	4	7	6
Intentional self-harm by explosive material	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Intentional self-harm by smoke fire and flames, hot vapours and hot objects	-	-	-	-	3	14	8	14	13
Intentional self-harm by sharp object	-	-	-	325	360	344	398	426
Intentional self-harm by blunt object	-	-	-	4	3	4	5	6
Intentional self-harm by jumping from a high place	-	-	-	43	39	37	35	39
Intentional self-harm by jumping or lying before moving object	-	-	-	-	7	6	7	7	5
Intentional self-harm by crashing of motor vehicle	-	-	-	3	3	4	6	2
Intentional self-harm by other specified means	-	-	-	12	17	19	22	12
Intentional self-harm by unspecified means	-	-	-	20	29	48	45	48
Total	10,006	10,778	11,127	11,920	13,193	12,437	12,337	11,220

Source: ISD Linked dataset.Notes:1. Information on socio-economic class is not available. However, Carstairs' deprivation indices provide an estimate of this.2. Information on occupation and ethnicity is not available.

The methodology for identifying and assessing groundwater monitoring sites is given in BGS report reference CR/02/139 titled "Additional groundwater nitrate monitoring sites for Scotland", which is publicly available through the Executive website. In establishing the area to be designated as a nitrate vulnerable zone, data from 952 sites were originally considered in the Banffshire and Aberdeenshire area. The boundaries were subsequently refined and the area proposed for designation contained 809 sampling sites. These included nine North of Scotland Water (now Scottish Water) sites, 23 Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) sites and 777 private water supplies. Private water supply data were compiled from a Scotland-wide database containing Local Authority Environmental Health Officers reports. These records were compiled from data collected since 1990. The interval between samples in which nitrate was analysed varies from area to area.The sites now operated by Scottish Water are sampled on a range of timescales, depending on operations.The SEPA sites were established in 2000 and are sampled for nitrate on a quarterly basis.Natural levels of nitrate vary from area to area, depending on local geological conditions. In those areas considered unaffected by enhanced nitrate levels, the range of median nitrate levels in Scotland is 2.4-13.8mg/l. SEPA are responsible for monitoring nitrate levels within the NVZs. The results of their sampling since the designation of the NVZ in June 2002 are listed in the following table.Groundwater Monitoring Sites within NVZ - Aberdeenshire and Banffshire

NGR	Date	Result	Date	Result
NJ67165266	23-Jul-02	42	22-Oct-02	44
NJ61635470	23-Jul-02	28	22-Oct-02	29
NJ61355194	23-Jul-02	2	22-Oct-02	3
NJ63456076	08-Jul-02	68	23-Oct-02	59
NJ72721192	25-Jul-02	1	22-Oct-02	35
NJ12286801	11-Jul-02	11	22-Oct-02	11
NK10204815	21-Oct-02	7	24-Jul-02	0
NJ85701493	23-Jul-02	27	21-Oct-02	27
NK06534659	21-Oct-02	8	24-Jul-02	27
NJ58693008	23-Jul-02	9	22-Oct-02	11
NJ77411925	29-Jul-02	37	24-Oct-02	48
NJ83502842	24-Jul-02	22	21-Oct-02	21
NJ88301733	29-Jul-02	1	24-Oct-02	7
NJ54505540	23-Jul-02	0	22-Oct-02	1
NJ66691855	23-Jul-02	2	22-Oct-02	2
NJ58542689	23-Jul-02	33	22-Oct-02	38
NJ44856270	08-Jul-02	20	23-Oct-02	19
NJ98536050	24-Jul-02	0	21-Oct-02	1
NJ12106532	11-Jul-02	0	22-Oct-02	1
NJ73101951	23-Jul-02	23	21-Oct-02	23
NJ33406084	09-Jul-02	10	24-Oct-02	15
NJ92645658	24-Jul-02	1	21-Oct-02	3
NJ97674228	24-Jul-02	57	21-Oct-02	56
NJ77252245	23-Jul-02	13	21-Oct-02	11
NJ67966250	08-Jul-02	6	NS	-

Notes:All results in mg/l nitrate.NS = not sampled.Results are rounded to nearest whole number.

Funding for the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone Grant Scheme is £6.8 million in 2003-04, £4.8 million in 2004-05 and £5.8 million in 2005-06.

The level of detail requested is not held centrally.

The A90 Hatton Bends Improvement scheme has been delayed because there were insufficient contractors on the final tender list to constitute a competitive tender process. The scheme is presently programmed to start before the end of 2003 and to take approximately a year to complete.

Existing flood prevention legislation does not preclude local authorities using their powers to act where only one property is affected by flooding. Accordingly, no amendment to the legislation is required.

Copies of this report have been delivered to the Parliament's Reference Centre.

We intend to issue revised guidance early next year.

A copy of the research was sent to a named official at the Parliament's Reference Centre during the afternoon of 15 November. It was sent after my officials checked the procedure for placing material in the Parliament's Reference Centre, contained on page 25 of the parliamentary questions guidance, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. An e-mail from the Scottish Executive's Media and Communications Group, timed at 14.49 and dated 15 November confirming that a copy of the research was about to be sent, has since been forwarded to my office. Furthermore, the copy of the research was seen to be placed in the Executive's internal post by a senior official.When the Executive was notified on 22 November that a copy of the research had not arrived, a second copy was immediately dispatched to the same address after checking that it was correct.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Year	Grade	Permission Granted
1999	Nil	N/A
2000	1 x B21 x A3	YesYes
2001	1 x B2	Yes
2002	1 x Fast Stream	Yes