Chamber and committees

Animal health and welfare are devolved matters so the Scottish Executive has the lead role in the formulation of policy which is applied in Scotland. In doing so it must comply with European Union legislation on animal health issues and needs to take account of animal health position in other parts of Great Britain.

There are a total of 31 officials within the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department with responsibility for devising and implementing animal health policy. There are additionally 79 staff from the State Veterinary Service (SVS) based in Scotland, including six senior veterinary advisers in the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department head office. A total of 66 staff funded by the Scottish Executive provide administration support for the SVS veterinary staff and animal health officers.

We have no plans at present to alter the existing planning arrangements in this regard.A meeting or event may require planning permission, depending on the circumstances, in particular if a change in the use of land is involved. However, permitted development rights exist which grant a general planning permission across Scotland for, among other things, the temporary use of land (up to 28 days in total in any calendar year) for any purpose except caravan sites or open air markets.

The information requested is not held centrally. Speech and language therapists are employed by NHSScotland and it is the responsibility of NHS boards to assess the needs of their population and to determine the staffing levels appropriate to meet this need.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No. This is a matter for Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited.

Her Majesty has been pleased to appoint Very Rev Dr Andrew McLellan as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, in succession to Mr Clive Fairweather.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:In HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' last formal report he included 12 items of best practice at HM Prison Kilmarnock. The company operates a 50 category performance monitoring system superior to that elsewhere in SPS. They provide higher quality management information on the main outputs than we have for any of our other prisons.SPS Operating Standards are a key driver for improving performance. Nowhere in comparable establishments are prisoners out of their cells for as long as they are at Kilmarnock during which they are challenged on their offending behaviour and the need to work. In this respect Kilmarnock is in the forefront of correctional excellence which we intend to roll out through the service over the next few years. The flexibility and speed of response to changing requirements is generally faster than elsewhere in SPS.

In Scotland there are two higher education institutions providing pre-registration training which leads to professional qualification with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and state registration with the Health Professions Council. These are Strathclyde University and Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh. The courses include an academic component and clinical placements. The clinical placement component is arranged by NHS trusts throughout Scotland.

This information is not held centrally. The numbers of police stations may be obtained separately from each of the forces named or from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.

Police authorities and joint police boards, in consultation with chief constables, set budgets for individual forces. It is then a matter for chief constables to determine how they use the funds made available to them in this way to meet local needs and circumstances. In addition, Drug and Alcohol Action Teams, of which police forces are members, may bid for resources from national communications budgets to support local campaigns. For example, a total of £1.5 million is available for the Executive's anti-binge drinking campaign "How much is too much?" and £6.3 million, in total over three years, for the Executive's drugs communications strategy "Know the Score". In 2001, the Executive provided £150,000 to support communications aspects of the police Safer Scotland drugs campaign, also called "Know the Score".