Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is funding the Centre of Excellence in Epidemiology, Population Health and Infectious Disease Control at the Macaulay Institute, to study tick ecology to identify places most at risk of ticks, the effect of climate change and land use on ticks:

http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/lyme/.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council are funding a joint Aberdeen University-Macaulay Institute project on the ecology of Lyme disease to estimate the prevalence of Borrelia in ticks and link these with variables such as hosts, climate and habitat etc. The use of data from research on prevalence of Lyme ticks will be used in guidelines for infectious disease practitioners in order to establish when to give early antibiotic prophylaxis following exposure.

A Rural Economy and Land Use Programme-funded project Assessing and communicating animal disease risks for countryside users led by Dr Chris Quine at Forest Research, Roslin, will explore the most effective means of communicating Lyme disease risks to the public:

http://www.relu.ac.uk/research/projects/Third%20Call/Quine.htm.

Health Protection Scotland carry out a process of active enhanced surveillance and epidemiological analysis of cases for Scotland and an equivalent function is also carried out in England and Wales.

The UK is also involved in a European Union-sponsored collaboration on concerted action on Lyme Borreliosis.

The UK also participates in an international collaboration with the US on research on Lyme disease via the Centre for Disease Control.

We are not aware of any therapeutic trials currently underway in the UK.

Most work on Lyme disease is carried out on an international basis with the US authorities reportedly spending $340 million on research into Lyme disease in recent years.

There is currently a study on randomised trials on the treatment of people with neuroborreliousis, including both North American and European disease strains, being carried out in Maryland, USA.

The genesis of Homecoming 2009 was Robert Burns'' 250th anniversary and hence the programme starts with an Ayrshire flavour. The main objective of Homecoming is to attract additional visitors to Scotland next year, and thus yielding benefits to many businesses, including those providing accommodation, food, transport services and visitor attractions. VisitScotland and EventScotland, who are delivering the Homecoming Scotland programme on behalf of the Scottish Government, are actively engaging many tourism businesses in Ayrshire and across Scotland. In Ayrshire, for example, Stagecoach West have agreed to promote Homecoming.

The Homecoming theme has been incorporated into all of VisitScotland''s marketing, and its Business Tourism Unit is encouraging business leaders with Scottish connections to bring their conferences to Scotland in 2009. The unit is working with Scottish Development International on an e‘marketing campaign targeting top inward investors in Scotland to bring their business events here in 2009. One great success is the Forbes European CEO Conference which has been secured for Gleneagles in June 2009.

A number of local authorities are working with the Homecoming team to present, to businesses in their areas, information on the opportunities that will arise from Homecoming next year. VisitScotland business relationship managers are also briefing their account managed companies on the Homecoming programme, and working with them to consider how the programme may offer them business opportunities, including overseas marketing.

Techniques available to control ticks in particular areas of grazing include fencing of woodland and exclusion of wild animal tick hosts, application of acaricidal treatments to grazing livestock, control of bracken and traditional moorland burning. Ideally a combination of these techniques will be used if this is practical and in accordance with other land management objectives. Controlling ticks in particular areas will however only have a limited effect in controlling the general tick population in Scotland because of the widespread distribution of suitable tick habitat and wild animal hosts.

The Sheep - Codes of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock published by the Scottish Executive, February 2002, recommends that where ticks are likely to occur, sheep should be protected by dipping or the use of other effective treatments. Regular dipping or use of other effective treatments is therefore desirable. The effectiveness of regular dipping of sheep flocks in controlling the tick population in particular areas will depend on various other factors including the distribution of woodland or other suitable areas of tick habitat and the presence of other tick hosts including rodents, hare and deer.

The Scottish Government agrees with the ICES advice that there should be no directed fisheries on these species. However, a zero total allowable catch in a mixed fishery in which elasmobranches are an unavoidable bycatch will inevitably lead to discards. Therefore the Scottish Government supports the development of measures which will prevent the targeted fishing of these stocks from occurring whilst allowing small unavoidable bycatches to be landed.

The Scottish Government does not believe that targeted fisheries on vulnerable elasmobranches should be allowed. Equally the Scottish Government does not support measures that will inevitably lead to discarding. Therefore, the Scottish Government is looking for measures which will allow small unavoidable bycatches to be landed whilst preventing any targeted fishing from occurring.

The issue of co-payments for health care has been considered recently by the Petitions Committee. The Scottish Government responded to the Committee on 3 September 2008. Specifically, in relation to co-payments, the current guidance issued to NHS boards will be reviewed to ensure patient safety, clinical accountability and probity remain uppermost in decisions regarding the planning and provision of care.

The Scottish Government''s industry bluetongue stakeholder group has agreed that any vaccination campaign is best undertaken during the winter vector free period when the climate is less favourable to virus transmission. The precise timings of the vaccination campaign cannot yet be set. Any date will be based on the analysis of emerging information on the disease situation within Great Britain as well veterinary, entomological and meteorological advice which will allow the vector free period to be established.

The commencement date for any vaccination programme will be agreed in conjunction with stakeholder organisations. The Scottish Government will give stakeholders as much notice of any start date as possible to ensure that the timing of individual herd or flock vaccinations fits in with farm management decisions.

The key aim of Curriculum for Excellence is to help prepare all young people in Scotland to take their place in a modern society and economy by delivering opportunities to develop skills for life and skills for work. This includes options for young people to explore a range of issues and to participate in practical activities relating to particular sectors, including food and health.

As part of this investment in vocational learning opportunities, Skills for Work qualifications have been developed to encourage young people to develop knowledge and skills which will be important for employment and for life in general, and to provide a variety of practical experiences linked to particular careers. Hospitality Intermediate Levels 1 and 2 are two examples which offer specific vocational skills and experience of the food and drink sector. Such learning is often delivered in partnership with other providers, including colleges.

There is on-going engagement between Improve, the Sector Skills Council for the Food and Drink Industry, the careers arm of Skills Development Scotland and the Determined to Succeed teams to increase awareness of the food and drink sector and the career opportunities available within it.

As at Monday 14 July, a total of 1367 completed first stage first stage applications (Statements Of Intent) had been submitted under the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities mechanism of the Scotland Rural Development Programme.