Chamber and committees

The inquiry''s investigations are ongoing and I understand that they are currently investigating the treatment of 60 patients at the Vale of Leven Hospital, including 38 deaths. That does not mean that the inquiry has concluded that the outbreak caused 38 deaths. The terms of reference provided the inquiry with a wide discretion to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The Parliament voted on 2 February 2011 that nothing further be done under the regulations that would have introduced the large retail property supplement.

The allocation of the baselined ring-fenced Supporting People funding of £383.620 million for 2007-08, broken down by local authority, is provided in the following table. It should be noted that an additional £17.276 million in respect of Supporting People funding was also distributed in 2007-08 as one-off, non-baselined, payments.

With effect from 1 April 2008 the baselined former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12, although the distribution of the baselined provision of £383.620 million has been retained within the needs-based formula.

The distribution of this provision for the years 2008-11 was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, at COSLA''s request, and as agreed at the Council Leaders'' meeting on 19 November 2010, updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18 per cent of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it''s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations.

Supporting People Baselined Allocations for 2007-08

Local Authority	2007-08
Aberdeen City	11.370
Aberdeenshire	9.289
Angus	6.400
Argyll and Bute	11.695
Clackmannanshire	3.685
Dumfries and Galloway	11.835
Dundee City	11.536
East Ayrshire	7.281
East Dunbartonshire	5.012
East Lothian	7.352
East Renfrewshire	4.913
Edinburgh, City of	35.081
Eilean Siar	0.567
Falkirk	8.716
Fife	23.503
Glasgow City	75.454
Highland	11.223
Inverclyde	7.354
Midlothian	4.766
Moray	5.432
North Ayrshire	11.546
North Lanarkshire	24.748
Orkney	0.659
Perth and Kinross	6.781
Renfrewshire	14.400
Scottish Borders	5.503
Shetland	0.886
South Ayrshire	7.631
South Lanarkshire	21.371
Stirling	4.449
West Dunbartonshire	13.736
West Lothian	9.446
Scotland	383.620

 

With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for 2011-12 although the distribution of this funding has been retained within the needs-based formula.

The distribution of this former ring-fenced funding was based on a number of needs-based indicators agreed in 2004. These indicators were, as agreed at COSLA''s leaders meeting held on 19 November 2010 updated for the 2011-12 distribution. The effects of using the 2004 indicators were dampened by an interim adjustment, introduced for the period 2005-08, which ensured that no local authority would lose more than 18 per cent of its funding over the period 2005-08 compared with it''s allocation in 2004-05. This adjustment was not retained in the 2011-12 calculations. In recognition of the impact that the dampening had on individual local authority funding allocation for 2011-12 I announced as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011 that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to tackling the problem and have invited COSLA to match that amount. The distribution, once agreed with COSLA, will be included in the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Amendment Order 2011 to be tabled March 2011.

I did not refuse to meet West Dunbartonshire Council. Following a request from the council, my office notified it that I would not be able to meet before the requested date of 27 January 2011 due to my other diary commitments.

With effect from 1 April 2008 the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding was rolled-up into the general local government finance settlement and distributed as part of the block grant which the Scottish Government provides to local authorities. There are, therefore, no separate Supporting People allocations of funding for the years 2008-12 although the distribution of this provision, including the updating of the indicators for 2011-12 as agreed at the Council Leaders meeting on 19 November 2010, has been retained within the needs-based formula.

I announced as part of the debate on the 2011-12 Scottish Budget on 9 February 2011 that I intend to allocate an additional £5 million to help smooth the impact of the redistribution of the former ring-fenced Supporting People funding within the distribution formula as a result of updating the needs-based indicators for 2011-12. I have also invited COSLA to match that amount. The distribution of these extra funds has still to be agreed but I fully expect that both Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire Councils will receive additional allocations of money given that they were the two local authorities that lost out most, proportionately, from the updating of the indicators.

Information on the number of general practitioners that have gained Completed Certificate of Training is only available from the year 2000, as detailed in the following table:

Year	Total
2000	221
2001	235
2002	228
2003	232
2004	245
2005	222
2006	241
2007	268
2008	248
2009	258
2010	247

Source: NHS Education for Scotland.

Based on current projected figures, 331 general practitioners will complete their training in 2011.

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) do not collate and categorise sickness absence figures into those relating to purely work-related stress. NSS do however collate sickness absence figures for employees absent for the following reasons - anxiety, stress, depression, other psychological illness. The figures provided below represent the number of NSS employees absent from work due to those reasons:

2007-08	67
2008-09	143
2009-10	189
2010-11	(to date)109

NHS NSS have indicated that the increase in recorded cases is due to improved reason for absence recording rather than an upward trend in actual cases. It is also important to note that the 2007-08 figure relates to stress only.

In the period from 31 March 2007 to 31 March 2010 the number of dentists working in NHS general dental services has increased from 2,474 to 2,847.

Access to NHS general dental services in Scotland has increased, and 85% of general dental practices are regarded as NHS committed.

The substantial increase in the number of dentists working in NHS general dental services in Scotland has been achieved by the significant steps taken by the Scottish Government to address dental service recruitment and retention problems since 2007.

The Scottish Government has:

Invested £368.2 million in 2009-10 in NHS general dental services in Scotland;

Provided funding of £82 million, over two years, for the Primary and Community Care Premises Modernisation programme. The top priority for this funding is the development of new dental centres for general dental practitioners working in the NHS;

Delivered on a manifesto commitment to re-introduce the school based dental service, through the Childsmile programme currently being rolled out across Scotland; and

Delivered on a commitment to establish a third dental school in Scotland when the Aberdeen Dental School opened in October 2008.

The dental bursary (introduced in 2006) continues to be available to students studying in the three dental schools in Scotland.  Students can apply for a bursary of £4,000 per year on condition that they undertake to work in NHS dentistry in Scotland for up to five years following qualification. Approximately 580 students are currently in receipt of the bursary.

Financial assistance is also available through the revised Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) scheme to help dentists to establish or expand practices.

Significant financial incentives aimed at encouraging dentists to join NHS boards'' dental lists continue to be available. These include:

Remote Areas Allowance;

Vocational trainees payments;

Payments to dentists joining NHS board dental lists;

Commitment payments;

Grants to establish new or improve existing vocational training practices;

Reimbursement of either full or partial practice rental costs; and

Deprived areas enhancements.