Chamber and committees

This information is not collected centrally.

The number and percentage of eligible men and women taking part in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme is provided in the following tables.

The Scottish Bowel Screening Programme commenced a phased roll out in June 2007, with all NHS Boards participating by December 2009. All eligible men and women in Scotland received at least one invitation to participate in the programme by December 2011.

Number and Percentage of Individuals Participating in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme by Year, Sex and NHS Board

Number and Percentage of Individuals Participating in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme by Year, Sex and NHS Board

Notes:

*Includes published data to October 2011.

X = Not applicable, as NHS board had not rolled out.

Scarlet Fever

Surveillance of Scarlet Fever in Scotland

In Scotland, surveillance of cases of scarlet fever is based on clinical notifications. Clinical notifications are based on the clinical diagnosis of scarlet fever by a GP or other doctor and do not require the infection to be laboratory confirmed. Since Part 2 (Notifiable Diseases, Organisms and Health Risk States) of the Public Health etc.(Scotland) Act 2008 came into effect on 1 January 2010, registered medical practitioners are no longer required to notify clinical cases of scarlet fever. There is therefore no surveillance data on clinical cases of scarlet fever available for 2010 and 2011.

Table 5: Clinical Notifications of Scarlet Fever 2007-09 in Scotland by NHS Board.

Mumps

Surveillance of Mumps in Scotland

Mumps cases are reported to Health Protection Scotland (HPS) by one of two method:

1. Notification of disease by clinicians – this is based on clinical suspicion of disease and does not require laboratory confirmation. As a general trend, notification rates have fallen over the last few years.

2. Laboratory confirmed cases of disease – these are cases for which there is a positive laboratory test, these are now identified automatically from the ECOSS system and in the case of mumps is augments by oral fluid testing done at the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Table 3: Notified Case of Mumps

Table 4: Laboratory Confirmed Cases of Mumps

Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

Surveillance of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) in Scotland

In Scotland there are two means by which the number of cases of whooping cough (pertussis) are counted:

1. Clinical notifications based on the clinical diagnosis of pertussis by a GP or other doctor and do not require the infection to be laboratory confirmed.

2. Laboratory reports based on the laboratory isolation of the bacteria, its detection by molecular methods or the detection of an immune response in a blood sample from the patient.

A patient can be either clinical notified or laboratory confirmed or both.

Table 1: Clinical Notifications of Pertussis 2007-11 by NHS Board

Table 2: Laboratory Confirmed Cases of Pertussis 2007-11 by NHS Board

Notes:

*LN laboratory undertake the serology testing in Scotland, samples from other NHS boards will have been tested in the LN and are currently recorded in the database as LN as this is where the sample was tested, this creates an artificial picture of the true incidence of pertussis in NHS Lanarkshire. HPS is undertaking work to resolve this problem for 2012.

**Some samples tested at the Health Protection Agency, not possible from data extract to determine original submitting board.

The Scottish Government through its trade and investment arm, Scottish Development International (SDI), is committed to supporting and working with any Scottish business that wants to trade internationally. In doing so it provides a range of products and services that can be accessed by businesses at all stages of growth, development and international ambition.

SDI provides direct advice and services to business for example, international strategy, preparedness and mentoring support through to market entry assistance and help for companies establishing overseas market presence.

SDI also works closely with Business Gateway (and local authorities) to provide export support to their clients.

Companies at an early stage of development, who are yet to be in a position to engage in international markets, can access a comprehensive catalogue of services and information via both SDI and Business Gateway (which links direct to the SDI website). This includes online self-help tools, practical guides to exporting, industry overviews, regulations and the Smart Exporter skills programme.

This information is not held centrally but may be collected by local education authorities.

The Scottish Government is acting on a number of fronts to tackle food waste in schools in line with our Zero Waste Plan approach of managing resources to support a low-carbon economy in which organisations, including schools, and businesses make efficient use of materials.

Our delivery programme, Zero Waste Scotland, has recently launched a voluntary agreement, targeting reductions in food and packaging waste from the hospitality and food service industries, including schools and their contract catering service providers. In addition, Zero Waste Scotland promotes the Love Food Hate Waste campaign through a network of regional partners and community organisations, helping to raise awareness of the issue of food waste, including frequent engagement in schools.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 will, from January 2014, require schools involved in the processing, distribution or preparation of food to take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of food waste, with the exception of schools in rural areas.

In 2011 the Scottish Government published new guidance on Catering for Change – Buying food sustainably in the public sector and Catering Services (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/01/12154555/0) to ensure that public bodies are guided to create contracts with the maximum opportunity for the public sector to transact with small and medium-sized enterprises and promote the achievement of sustainable development.

Sustainable development is an important theme in Curriculum for Excellence and nearly all schools in Scotland are taking part in the Eco-Schools Scotland programme which is supported by the Scottish Government. Local authorities and partners support schools working to minimise waste and a range of initiatives are taken to help schools reduce, re-use and recycle.

We are also taking forward our manifesto commitment to develop the concept of One Planet Schools which reinforces the importance of whole-school approaches to sustainability, including waste minimisation. Education Scotland has been working in partnership with the Sustainable Scotland Network, Eco Schools, WWF and other partner organisations to support Schools Global Footprinting initiatives in schools.