Chamber and committees

The information available, which allows for comparison between September 2007 and February 2009, is given in the following table:

Comparison of Insulin Pump Allocation September 2007 to February 2009

NHS Board	September 2007	February 2009	Percentage Increase
Ayrshire and Arran	2*	6	200%
Borders	9	12	33%
Dumfries and Galloway	6	9	50%
Fife	33	47	42%
Forth Valley	12	22	83%
Grampian	22	46	109%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	30	47	56%
Highland	8	15	87.5%
Lanarkshire	7*	32	357%
Lothian	79	105	33%
Orkney	0	1	100%
Shetland**	-	-	-
Tayside	42*	73	74%
Western Isles	1	1	0%
Scotland	251	416	66%

Source: NHS Boards'' Diabetes Managed Clinical Networks, February 2009.

Notes:

*Estimated figure.

**NHS Shetland''s insulin pump provision is shared with NHS Grampian.

There are clearly very different and irreconcilable views about the potential introduction of Sunday sailings on the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry service. CalMac Ferries Ltd is best placed to consider that issue in the first instance. CalMac is keeping this issue under review pending its assessment of how the Scottish Government''s Road Equivalent Tariff pilot is impacting on ferry services to the Western Isles.

It is for the owners and managers of local island facilities, such as sports facilities, to make their own decisions on opening times.

No budget provision has been made because no such fees or charges are expected.

The meetings attended by ministers were held in Edinburgh. Officials attended meetings in Edinburgh and London. The visits to London also included other business. Therefore, there was no additional travel and accommodation costs for ministers and officials meeting representatives of Rothschild to discuss the national forest estate.

The national forest estate, managed by Forestry Commission Scotland, covers some 665,000 hectares.

The Cabinet Secretaries for Rural Affairs and the Environment, and Finance and Sustainable Growth each attended one meeting, the then Minister for the Environment attended two, the Scottish Government Director General Environment attended five, the Director Forestry Commission Scotland attended four, and the Director General Forestry Commission (GB) attended three.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0226-01.htm

The Victim Steering Group was instrumental in producing the Scottish Strategy for Victims. The main elements of the strategy have been implemented, including the extension of the Victim Notification Scheme and the introduction of the Victim Statement Scheme. The strategy is currently being reviewed and this is examining how best to engage victims and victims organisations in policy development and service delivery. Any future role for the Victim Steering Group will be considered as part of this examination.

The principal role of the Victim Steering Group was to oversee the implementation of Scottish Strategy for Victims and the related action plan. Since the key elements of the action plan have been implemented the function of the group has been fulfilled and consequently there have been no meetings of the group since May 2007.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 states that a roads authority shall take such steps as it considers reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads.

Each roads authority is responsible for identifying its own level of winter service and these vary between authorities. Most roads authorities publish winter maintenance plans which set out service levels. Transport Scotland, on behalf of Scottish ministers, is responsible for the winter service on trunk roads and motorways. The Operating Companies undertake the winter service according to procedures and specifications laid down in the trunk road maintenance term contracts and detailed in their winter service plans. This is monitored by the independent Performance Audit Group.