Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government receive management information from NHS boards on the cost of their use of the independent healthcare sector. The information from Grampian shows that the cost of treating patients from within the NHS Grampian area in the independent healthcare sector was £1.5 million in 2009-10; £1.6 million in 2010-11 and £2.5 million in 2011-12.

It should be borne in mind that some of this cost will relate to equipment such as a mobile MRI scanner or a mobile theatre, but the treatment of patients continue to be undertaken by NHS staff.

The Scottish Government’s policy is that NHS boards should use NHS funding to build sustainable capacity. The use of the independent healthcare sector should only be used in the margins to deal with short-term capacity issues.

Promotion of cycling tourism initiatives in NE Scotland by VisitScotland takes place through regional and national marketing.

Cycling opportunities are featured in relevant regional “What to See and Do” guides and are also promoted regionally through sales promotion activity with partners such as Tredz for Perthshire.

At a national level, cycling and mountain biking messages are included in postal mailings sent to the VisitScotland contact database twice annually, where relevant to the target market. The latest “Year of Natural Scotland” television advertisement includes a mountain biking message.

There is a dedicated cycling section on the VisitScotland website which includes cycling routes and activity providers. Cycling and mountain biking is heavily promoted through the “Active in Scotland” guide (including front cover) and distributed via VisitScotland Information Centres, and at key consumer and travel trade shows. E-versions are also available online.

The Scottish Government also supports improvements to the general cycling infrastructure through grant funding. Funding to Sustrans over this and the next two financial years is almost £30 million. I would encourage all local authorities to submit bids into Sustrans for match funding for local cycling projects. Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grants to local authorities over this and the next two financial years will total £20 million.

This information is not held centrally.

As set out in my response to question S4W-12698 the aggregate forecast for all Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) and hub projects, including colleges and schools, in a graph in the 2012-13 Draft Budget, was a high level estimate, and not based on agreed, detailed project milestones. As projects were subsequently developed, milestones have in many cases been refined in discussion with the relevant procuring authorities, and this was the basis for the aggregate forecast used in the graph for the 2013-14 Draft Budget.

The level of investment and milestones will continue to be estimates until projects have completed procurement, reached financial close and started construction. The most up to date estimated capital values and milestones for these projects are provided on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/IIP.

It should be noted that these NPD estimates were used for context, to provide an overall picture of capital investment, and did not feed into the detailed budget figures for either year that Parliament was scrutinising, as NPD projects are funded by Government through future revenue rather than current capital expenditure.

Regionalisation has had no impact on planned college estates projects or their progress. These continue to be delivered by individual colleges within their recently established regions.

The three NPD projects at Inverness College, City of Glasgow College and Kilmarnock College are currently in procurement and are expected to be approved within expected timescales.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Information on the average number of available staffed beds in NHS Grampian for all specialties and all acute specialties for financial years 2007-08 to 2011-12 is provided in the following table.

Average number of available staffed beds¹ in NHS Grampian for all specialties and acute specialties; financial years 2007-08 to 2011-12.

Notes:

1. Includes beds for use by NHS patients that are located in non-NHS locations e.g. joint-user and contractual hospitals.

2. Incomplete data, includes estimates.

Source: ISD, ISD(S)1.

The number of consultant staff in post in NHS Grampian as at 30 September from 2006 to 2012 is presented in the following table:

Table 1 shows the total whole time equivalent (WTE) of consultants in NHS Grampian from September 2006 to September 2012

Source: ISD Scotland National Statistics.

Since September 2006 there has been an increase of 91.1 WTE consultants in NHS Grampian, up 24.2%.

Information on the number of consultants employed by NHS Grampian can be found in the Consultant staff in post table on the NHS Information Services Division (ISD) website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2012-11-27/Consultant_Staff_In_Post_S2012.xls?5085.

The term special educational needs does not apply in Scotland. In Scotland we have a broader, more inclusive system which refers to additional support needs. A child or young person can have an additional support need for any reason, short or long term. Consequently, there are no Statements of Special Educational Need in Scotland.