Chamber and committees

The admissionrate for males under the Mental Health Act has been consistently higher thanfor females in the years 2000–05 (the latest years for which we have completedata). There is also a much greater tendency for men to be subject to mentalhealth orders following a criminal order. This is a complex area and it is notpossible to ascertain whether this reflects differential need between males andfemales or whether there is any systematic bias in the system.

Once admitted tothe psychiatric unit, there is no evidence of any significant difference inlength of hospitalisation between males and females.

Regular meetingstake place with NHS boards and local authorities to discuss a wide range ofmental health issues. Most recently, meetings with NHS board chief executiveson 20 June, and NHS board chairs on 23 July included a progress report on themental health agenda.

Other meetingsinclude the NHS board annual reviews which take place over July to December,and the twice yearly implementation reviews with NHS boards, Local Authorities andother partners as part of the on-going monitoring process for the commitmentsand targets around Delivering for Mental Health (Bib. number 41410); the Mental Health of Children and Young PeopleFramework (Bib. number38415); and implementation ofRights, Relationships and Recovery, the national review of mental healthnursing (Bib. number: 43282).Following visits earlier inApril/May these will continue in October/November this year and beyond.

Since theimplementation of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, (the 2003 Act), the Executive hasencouraged better use of short-term detention certificates which are intendedfor assessment and/or treatment of people in hospital. TheMental Welfare Commission for Scotland, who have a duty to monitor theoperation of the 2003 have reported that the rate of emergency detentionremains much lower that it was before the 2003 Act was implemented. Short-termdetention is now the usual route into compulsory treatment during normalworking hours and 70% of emergency orders aregranted outside normal working hours.

Takentogether, the 2000 Act, the 2003 Act and the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007, (the 2007 Act)provide a comprehensive framework for supporting, protecting and safeguardingthe interests of vulnerable adults in Scotland. Each piece of legislation has a different focus. The 2003 Actcomprehensively reforms and modernises the legal framework for treatment anddetention of people with mental disorder. The 2000 Act ensures that measuresare in place to safeguard and have decisions made on behalf of adults who lackcapacity to make the decisions themselves, including decisions relating tomedical treatment. The 2007 Act introduces measures to better protect adults atrisk of abuse.

Somepeople who are unable to give informed consent to treatment may be subject tomore than one piece of legislation, depending on the circumstances and care andtreatment required. The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has produced guidance on consent totreatment and the codes of practice for the Acts will contain helpful guidance.

I refer the memberto the answers to questions S3W-2593 and S3W-2595 on 21 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The rolling stockprocurement plan continues to be developed by Transport Scotland alongside the wider procurement plan to address the requirementsof both the Major Projects, including Airdrie to Bathgate, and the increasing demandsfor rail services. Transport Scotland is confident that it can successfully procurethe rolling stock needed to continue growing Scotland’s railways, and the procurement plan is on schedule to meet the deliverydeadline for the Airdrie to Bathgate project of December 2010. No decision has beenmade on the type of rolling stock that will be deployed on the route.

Both I and my officials have met with bodies such as the Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland and the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, as well as relevant non-governmental organisations to discuss international development and that will continue as required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-3292 on 27 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The information requested is shown in the following table.

	Grant Aided Expenditure Allocations (£ Million)	Revenue Expenditure (£ Million)
1999-2000	11.630	5.056
2000-01	11.802	6.297
2001-02	13.197	7.119
2002-03	19.070	16.885
2003-04	21.955	17.514
2004-05	22.215	18.447
2005-06	22.874	19.562
2006-07	25.158	not yet available
2007-08	26.592	not yet available

Notes:

1. Grant aided expenditure (GAE) allocations are derived from aggregating a number of sub-categories which together make up the older people’s services GAE line.

2. Revenue expenditure is sourced from Local Financial Return (LFR) 3, completed by local authorities, which covers social work services.

3. Revenue spending may differ from the GAE allocation for a number of reasons. Firstly, the GAE allocations given are neither budgets nor spending targets for older people’s services. They are components used in distributing the total block grant that the Executive provides to local authorities. Secondly, it is for each local authority to decide how best to allocate the resulting overall block grant across all its services, based on local needs and priorities.

4. The LFR3 return was revised in 2002-03 as part of a review of all LFRs. Due to the changes, pre 2002-03 figures are not directly comparable with those for 2002-03 onwards.

The Electoral Commission’srecommendation is fair under the terms of the legislation by which it is bound.Nevertheless, on behalf of Scottish ministers I have written to both the ElectoralCommission and the Secretary of State for Justice stating our opposition to theterms of an act which does not properly reflect the devolved and political contextin which the MEPs representing Scotland operate.