Chamber and committees

The issue of the balance between naval and commercial contracts was considered by the Clyde Shipyards Task Force which my predecessor, Ms Wendy Alexander, chaired. The task force recognises, in its report published in February 2002, that "BAE SYSTEMS Marine is predominantly a warship builder ... the Govan, Scotstoun and Barrow yards employ approximately 80% of the UK's warship design, build and integration skills base. However, given BAE SYSTEMS Marine's current business strategy, the success of this nationally important business is almost completely dependent upon continued success in winning warship design and build contracts."The task force's report also includes a recommendation that "BAE SYSTEMS Marine should continue to pursue commercial work where this is compatible with warship capacity demands and a sound business case can be made."The Govan and Scotstoun yards now have a healthy order book for naval orders and are well placed to win a significant proportion of the work on the MoD's two future aircraft carriers.

My predecessor, Ms Wendy Alexander, was unable to give evidence at the committee due to Cabinet business. However, she provided the committee with comprehensive and relevant evidence in the form of the recently published report of the Clyde Shipyards Task Force. This has provided the basis for evidence by other witnesses, a significant number of whom were members of the task force.

Electronic monitoring does not have a direct effect on an offender's housing entitlement. The court is required to request a social work assessment of the suitability of the place of restriction and information as to the attitude of persons likely to be affected by the enforced presence of the offender. If the social work assessment shows that the offender does not have accommodation, it is likely that the court will consider imposing a different sentence.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26348.

The information requested is shown for financial years April 1997 to March 2001.Number of Patients Resident Outside the Greater Glasgow NHS Board Area Treated as an In-Patient or Daycase within the Board Area, April 1997 to March 2001.

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Number of patients1,2,3	38,439	38,862	37,534	37,576

Notes:1. These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.2. Probability matching methods have been used to link together individual SMR01 hospital discharges for each patient, thereby creating "linked" patient histories. Hence, if a patient has multiple hospital discharges in a year, they are counted once in the figure for that year.3. Figures exclude health board of residence "Unknown" or "No Fixed Abode".

The West of Scotland Chief Executives Group is currently considering a proposal for the regional planning and funding of neurosciences.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26348.

Adult neurosurgical services are currently provided at four centres in Scotland: Grampian University Hospital NHS Trust, Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust, Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Institute of Neurological Sciences, South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. Paediatric neurosurgery is provided at these four centres and at Yorkhill NHS Trust.

The Commission on the Private Rented Sector was set up by Shelter and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as an independent body to look at issues in respect of the private rented sector. The commission's remit did not extend to Scotland and the Scottish Executive did not provide any evidence to it. However, the Housing Improvement Task Force is currently looking at some of the issues that the commission has made recommendations on and the commissions report has been made available to the members of the task force sub-group working on the private rented sector.

Draft guidance dealing with the right to buy changes contained in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 - including the provisions pertaining to pressured areas - was issued for consultation in December 2001. Twenty-six responses from interested bodies were received by the end of the consultation period in March. These have been considered and we hope to issue the final guidance in July.