We are discussing the independentreview into local government finance with COSLA. The timing, remit and format of the review will be decided in the light of those discussions.

Information on recorded waitingtimes for a first out-patient appointment with a Consultant, following referralby a general medical or dental practitioner, is collected centrally andpublished quarterly by ISD Scotland on the NHSScotland Acute Activity, WaitingTimes and Waiting Lists website at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/acute_activity/quarterly.asp

Information aboutprospective waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultantin a selected range of specialties, reflecting the typical experience of apatient being referred by a General Medical Practitioner for a routineappointment, is available on the National Waiting Times Database to all GPs,and through them to patients.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

We do not collect informationon the specific drug involved in any drug offence. We also do not have any informationavailable on the number of prisoners finishing a sentence for illegal drug offences.However, we do hold information on sentenced prisoners entering prison where themain crime was a drugs offence. This information is provided in the following table.

Direct Sentenced ReceptionsWhere the Main Crime was a Drug Offence by Supply/Possession, 1999-2002

	1999	2000	2001	2002
Possession of drugs	181	112	132	145
Drug supply/trafficking	758	677	801	769
Unknown type of drugs offence	1	4	0	0
Total	940	793	933	914

 

Yes.

The Scottish Executive fund the enforcement of animal welfare on-farm and in abattoirs. I haveno plans for additional funding of animal welfare.

Scottish Water’s operatingand capital costs are met from a combination of revenue and borrowing. For thethree former water authorities and Scottish Water, the information is availablefrom the audited accounts as laid before the Scottish Parliament. Bib. numbers forthe Parliament’s Reference Centre are as follows:

Water Authorities’ Published Accounts	Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre – Bib. numbers
SW	NoSWA	ESWA	WoSWA
1998-99	-	4005	12835	4004
1999-2000	-	8790	7898	7925
2000-01	-	16464	17792	16463
2001-02	-	24607	24610	24612
2002-03	028754	-	-	-

 

Further information oncapital expenditure undertaken by the three water authorities is also availablein the Water Industry Commissioner’s Investment and Asset Management Report2000-02, which may be found on the internet at http://www.watercommissioner.co.uk/NRs&Publications.htm.

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign(SRSC), funded by the Executive, runs publicity campaigns on both drink and drugdriving and works closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland(ACPOS). The SRSC’s next planned activity in relation to drink-driving will coincidewith an ACPOS’ festive safety campaign. The next phase of the SRSC’s drug-drivingcampaign will take place from October 2003, when an advert will highlight the useof field impairment testing by police officers in the detection of drug-impaireddrivers. Screenings of this advert on television and in cinemas, together with radioadvertising, will take place in October and November. A leaflet highlighting thefacts about drug-driving will also be distributed to drug action teams to coincidewith the campaign.

In addition to the range of policieswe are taking forward to tackle alcohol and drug misuse generally, specific actionon drug-driving includes new powers in the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003to provide the police with specific roadside testing powers; material distributedas part of the Know the Score campaign to explain the risks of driving under theinfluence of drugs, and since 2001-02, an additional annual amount of £125,000 madeavailable by the Executive to police forces in Scotland to facilitate analysis ofdrug-driving samples. Following the Plan for Action on alcohol problems,published in January 2002, which set out a range of action on culture change, preventionand education, services and protection and controls, there has been high profileadvertising to tackle binge drinking and action on a national framework for thedelivery of services, including those to rehabilitate drink drivers.

I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-989 on 14 July 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa

In order to teach in educationauthority primary schools, it is necessary to hold a teaching qualification andbe registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Basedon the final point of the unpromoted teachers scale, the annual salary costs associatedwith a physical education teacher in every publicly funded primary school wouldbe approximately £80 million. However, due to the size of some primary schools,the provision of a single teacher in each school would be insufficient to provide60 minutes of physical education a day for each pupil.

 Health-related levels of physical activity for childrenand young people mean being active for an hour a day on most days of the week. TheSchool Improvement Framework encourages primary schools to provide a range of activitiesthat enable children and young people to be physically active for at least an houra day. These activities are not necessarily provided exclusively through physicaleducation teachers.

At 1 July 2003, the Scottish Executive, its agencies and associated departments employed 15,632 full-time equivalent permanent staff. Information on numbers of jobs and salary structures for non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) is primarily a matter for individual NDPBs and relevant information can be found in each organisation's annual report and accounts. In addition, the Scottish Executive's public bodies website at www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies provides details of staffing levels and Chief Executive remuneration for each NDPB. Detailed information on salaries over £50,000 is not held centrally.