Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26157 on 8 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The redevelopment of the secureestate will mean an increase in secure unit places to 125. Kerelaw had agreed toprovide 12 places in the redeveloped estate but announced their intention to withdrawfrom the redevelopment scheme in October 2004. The resulting difference in the numberof secure places was accommodated by the building of the Good Shepherd Centre, Bishoptonand St Philip’s School Airdrie. St Philip’s school opened on 6 March 2006 and theGood Shepherd is on track to open in summer 2006.

The are currently five secureunits consisting of 90 places and are located as follows:

St Mary’s Kenmure – Glasgow –31 places

St Philip’s – Airdrie – 18 places

Rossie – Montrose – 25 places

Howdenhall/St Katharine’s – Edinburgh– 12 places

The Elms – Dundee – four places.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

As at 31 May 2006, there areno under-16-year olds placed in young offenders institutions.

It is vital that Scotland’s emergencyservices and other organisations with responsibilities for dealing with civil contingenciesare properly prepared to deal with such incidents. A great deal of work has alreadybeen done, flowing from the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to ensure that appropriateprocedures are in place to respond to a range of risks and I commend the contributionmade by the emergency planning community. But in the light of the terrorist attackson London in July 2005 and other recent emergencies, it is right that we should takestock of Scotland’s ability to respond to simultaneous major incidents,particularly those which occur across administrative borders or require a multi-agencyresponse.

The review will be conductedby officials from my department and HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services Jeff Ord.It will be consultative and wide-ranging: the review team will hold discussionswith all key stakeholders over the coming months and report to ministers in thesummer of 2007. In the context of assessing overall preparedness, the review willconsider the potential for increased collaboration between the emergency servicesand other responders, the lessons learned from the London bombingsof July 2005, and the future of fire control rooms. I am today publishing two documentswhich stakeholders will be asked to consider and discuss with the review team: areport by HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services on the preparedness of the Fire andRescue Service to deal with simultaneous terrorist attacks like those in London,and an analysis by my officials of the main concerns expressed by respondents toour 2004 consultation exercise on the future of fire control rooms. Both documentsare available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 39661and 39662) and on the Scottish Executive website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/18155955and www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/18155521.

The Action Plan for improvingoral health and modernising NHS DentalServices in Scotland was published in March 2005. This document outlined themain preventive actions towards improving oral health of children in Scotland, includingdiet, oral care and toothbrushing with a fluoride toothpaste.

A range of preventive programmesare in place to address tooth decay among primary school children in Glasgow, includingtooth brushing in nursery and primary schools and the distribution of preventivepacks to children on starting school.

Dental programmes are linkedto health promoting programmes such as Hungry for Success, Health Promoting Schools and pre-schoolpromotion of healthy foods and drinks.

The Executive has put in placea range of measures to address tooth decay in young children through An ActionPlan for improving oral health and modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotlandlaunched in March 2005.

Initiatives include: the distributionof preventive dental packs to every child under 12 months, to infants aged oneto three years in areas of deprivation and to every child starting nursery and primaryschool, and a programme of daily toothbrushing with a fluoride toothpaste in nurseriesand targeted primary schools.

We also support a range of healthyeating and healthy drinks initiatives targeted at children and parents.

These measures are further complementedby two national demonstration programmes in the East and West of Scotland, whichprovide more intensive support for children at highest risk of dental decay.

Towards Better Oral Healthin Children, a consultation publishedby the Scottish Executive in September 2002, set out the main determinants of oralhealth of children in Scotland. The consultation identified the main cause of dentaldecay as the high sugar diet consumed by Scottish children. It also sought viewson how to enhance preventive treatments, the promotion and practice of healthy eatingand ways of using fluoride.

The creation of a new streetprostitution related offence is only one aspect of the Executive’s policy onstreet prostitution.

The new offence will focuson the nuisance or offence caused by street prostitution related activity,whether caused by the purchaser or the seller.

In addition, we havecommitted to produce guidance for local authorities and their communityplanning partners on how they should address street prostitution within thecontext of an overarching approach to tackling violence against women and ofbuilding safer stronger communities. The guidance will outline how they shouldtackle the demand for prostitution, prevent vulnerable individuals frombecoming involved in prostitution, reduce the harm to those who are involved,assist those ready to leave prostitution to do so, and ensure the safety oflocal communities.