Chamber and committees

There has been no reduction in teacher numbers.

NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Council are working in partnership and are committed to developing an approach that supports timely intervention. This will ensure that children and young people access the support they need at the earliest opportunity. Both organisations have commenced looking at new ways of working in the next school term.

The information requested, as returned to the Scottish Government by Aberdeen City Council, is set out in the following table. The figures provided represent the final audited amounts for each of the years in question.

Non-domestic rates collected by Aberdeen City Council.

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/BuyingSelling/help-to-buy/MonthlyStats

The number of applications under the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme for Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Scotland in 2014-15 are set out in the following table:

Data on sales at local authority level are published quarterly, in arrears, at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/BuyingSelling/help-to-buy/MonthlyStats

Recruitment of staff, including allied health professionals, is a matter for each NHSScotland board as an employer. NHSScotland boards are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service and ensure high quality patient care. The Scottish Government works closely with boards to support their staff recruitment efforts.

Fuel poverty is measured each year using the Scottish House Conditions Survey (SHCS). Results for 2014 will be reported in December 2015.

The definition of fuel poverty was laid out in the Scottish Executive’s Fuel Poverty Statement 2002:

“A household is in fuel poverty if, in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime, it would be required to spend more than 10% of its income… on all household fuel use.”

Fuel poverty is measured in the SHCS according to this definition based on:

1. The energy required to heat each dwelling in the survey to a satisfactory level and meet other essential needs.

2. The income of the highest income householder and their spouse net of tax and benefits and before housing costs.

3. The fixed and unit prices of domestic fuels.

A satisfactory heating regime is defined as:

For elderly and infirm occupants, 23°C in the living room (zone 1) and 18°C in other rooms (zone 2) for 16 hours in every 24.

For other households, this is 21°C in the living room (zone 1) and 18°C in other rooms (zone 2) for nine hours a day during the week and 16 during the weekend.

The energy required to provide this level of heating is calculated from the characteristics and the heating system of each dwelling using a standard methodology, the BRE Domestic Energy Model (BREDEM) 2012. Further details of the application of this model are provided in the Methodology Notes published alongside the SHCS 2013 Key Findings Report.

The survey is designed to provide estimates of fuel poverty for Scotland as a whole. Measuring fuel poverty at the level of local authorities requires that three years of survey data are combined to achieve an adequate sample size.

The Scottish Government provides an annual budget to the Scottish Ambulance Service, which in 2015-16, at £212 million, is the highest amount the service has received.

Spending decisions are an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

(i) The service confirms that £1,237,889 and £1,485,760 was invested in new emergency and patient transport vehicles in the Grampian area during 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. These costs include installation of including mobile technology, response bags and other operational equipment.

(ii) As part of its ongoing Ambulance Telehealth Programme, the Scottish Ambulance Service is looking to upgrade and improve its current emergency ambulance technology across the whole of Scotland to provide a better user and patient experience.

The most recent available figures from the Scottish House Condition Survey show that between 2011 and 2013 there was an average of a) 31,000 households in fuel poverty in Aberdeen, and b) 46,000 households in fuel poverty in Aberdeenshire.

The required information is included within Information Services Division (ISD) monthly publication on the ISD website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Publications/index.asp