Chamber and committees

It is our intention to publisha social enterprise strategy in the near future.

Enterprise, Transport and LifelongLearning Department

 Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive howmuch it will save as a result of changes it has made to the way in which it administersEuropean structural funds for projects operated and supported by the voluntary sector.

(S2W-31652)

Allan Wilson One of the key principle fordeveloping future programmes has been a desire to reduce the administrative costsfor all project sponsors. However, it is not possible to quantify the extent ofany savings for projects operated by any individual sector. This will depend onthe final agreed changes in the eligibility criteria for projects, the scope ofeligible activity and final allocations, and other changes in the administrationof projects. Until the Operational Programmes have been finalised and agreed withthe European Commission, these changes cannot be specified.

One set of costs that will notincur to partners in the 2007-13 period is the voluntary management subscription.At present, all projects are invited to make such subscriptions towards paying halfthe costs of the Programme Management Executives. In the new period, the Executivewill pay this share of the costs of the new Intermediate Administration Bodies ratherthan partners. The cost to all partners of such subscriptions was £16.2 millionfor 2000-06.

Extensive consultation has takenplace with the voluntary sector (as well as with other Scottish partners) on thedevelopment of the new Structural Funds programmes. In addition to representationon the European Structural Funds Forum which has met to discuss future programmedevelopment twice in the period in question, the voluntary sector has been invitedto discuss new programme proposals through several sets of consultations. At thestart of 2006, a series of partner meetings were held across Scotland, settingout the Executive’s proposals. During the second quarter of 2006, Scottish partnerswere invited to respond to the DTI’s consultation on the National Strategic ReferenceFramework, the overarching strategic document on future Structural Funds in theUK,which has a dedicated chapter on Scotland. Lastly, in the last quarter of 2006, the sector hadthe opportunity to respond to the public consultation on the draft Operational Programmesfor Scotland (the consultation finished on 8 January 2007). As part of this publicconsultation, workshops were held on each of the priorities in the different programmes– members of the voluntary sector took part in each workshop.

In addition, my officials andI had several bilateral meetings with key representatives of the sector, particularlythe Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, throughout 2006.

Discrimination on the groundsof religion or belief is now unlawful in employment and training and in the provisionof goods, facilities and services. The Executive’s Equality Strategy published in2000 made clear our commitment to promoting equality for all and tackling prejudiceand discrimination. Among other things, we have mechanisms in place to allow forregular dialogue with all Scotland’s faith communities, and as part of the Executive’smainstreaming equality programme, departments must assess the impact of their policiesor proposed policies on faith/religious groups and the results must be published.

The figures requested are listedin the following table. The Scottish Ambulance Service rolled out a priority baseddispatch system during 2002-04, so the figures from 2000-03 relate to all 999 emergencycalls and the figures from 2003-06 relate to Category A (life-threatening) and CategoryB (serious but not life-threatening) calls. In 2005-06, the ambulance service respondedto all Category A calls in an average of 8.4 minutes.

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	6	0.03%	5	0.02%	8	0.03%
North West	9	0.10%	11	0.12%	11	0.11%
East Central	14	0.02%	9	0.02%	27	0.05%
West Central	10	0.01%	62	0.06%	56	0.06%
South East	9	0.02%	3	0.01%	31	0.06%
South West	23	0.04%	9	0.02%	15	0.03%

 

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2003-04		2004-05		2005-06
	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	5	0.02%	3	0.01%	1	0.04%
North West	13	0.13%	15	0.15%	14	0.12%
East Central	11	0.02%	13	0.02%	17	0.02%
West Central	51	0.05%	41	0.04%	96	0.09%
South East	18	0.04%	9	0.02%	27	0.04%
South West	33	0.06%	30	0.06%	34	0.06%

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

This information is not available.

The whole-time equivalent numberof paramedics and technicians employed in each Scottish Ambulance Service divisionfrom 2000 is listed in this table:

Division	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
North East	184.0	185.0	185.0	216.3	215.3	216.3
North West	203.4	205.8	205.8	217.8	199.1	199.1
East Central	311.5	321.5	321.5	348.7	350.7	372.0
West Central	384.5	408.5	406.5	464.0	458.0	468.0
South East	284.5	288.5	288.5	310.0	310.0	317.0
South West	399.0	398.0	393.0	434.0	445.0	481.0

 

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

The following table givesdetails of claims paid by NHSScotland, by financial year. It is not howeverpossible to distinguish between payments for clinical and non-clinical claims.Non-clinical claims against the NHS include claims under, for example,employer’s liability, industrial injury, employment law and third partyliability.

NHS Board	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)
Argyll and Clyde	265,519	2,558,831	270,041	1,219,640	1,019,142
Ayrshire and Arran	828,865	671,398	230,560	234,702	152,750
Borders	5,000	20,111	13,650	157,580	85,500
Dumfries and Galloway	701,116	362,018	219,096	65,927	198,171
Fife	51,693	125,346	492,449	320,806	106,000
Forth Valley	292,525	112,954	2,518,400	553,359	288,023
Grampian	175,375	77,250	199,313	912,877	413,810
Greater Glasgow	2,894,856	2,078,799	1,419,508	1,441,834	2,737,011
Highland	220,276	197,581	1,324,739	159,490	1,798,121
Lanarkshire	51,480	406,282	569,846	275,250	197,500
Lothian	815,557	1,933,644	879,506	437,323	182,931
Orkney	5,500	0	0	29,120	6,332
Shetland	7,700	78,345	10,200	2,000	0
Tayside	138,353	98,150	105,163	2,460,004	603,380
Western Isles	5,500	0	0	1,500	0
State Hospitals	0	0	0	0	0
Common Services Agency	0	0	55,000	49,000	40,000
Scottish Ambulance Service	3,000	0	0	0	0
Totals	6,462,315	8,720,709	8,307,471	8,320,412	7,810,671

 

We would expect all hospitalsto record falls suffered by any patient, but information to the level of detailsought is not held centrally.

We would expect allhospitals to record any injury suffered by any patient, but information to thelevel of detail sought is not held centrally.