Chamber and committees

There is no specialist NHS clinicallaboratory facility in Scotland for anthrax testing. Any NHS bacteriology laboratorycould potentially make a provisional diagnosis of anthrax where this was not clinicallysuspected, but confirmation of the diagnosis or handling of specimens where anthraxis clinically suspected is carried out by arrangement with the Category 4 facilitiesat Porton Down.

We have not made these calculationsand it would be impractical to do so.

Officials met with representativesof each of the main suppliers in December 2003 to discuss debt and disconnectionsand fuel price rises. I met with Ian Marchant Chief Executive of Scottish and SouthernEnergy on 17 January 2005 and on 14 September 2006; with Jim Needham, Director,Scottish Gas on 7 September 2005 and 14 Septembr 2006, and with Charles Berry, thenExecutive Director UK, Scottish Power on 23 February 2004 and on 9 December 2004,and will meet with Philip Bowman Chief Executive of Scottish Power on 22 November2006.

This information is not heldby the Scottish Executive. The regulationof health and safety at work in Great Britain, including within the construction industry, and thepublication of related statistics, is a matter for the Health and Safety Commissionand Executive. However, my officials havebeen able to obtain the following information from the Health and Safety Executiveshowing accidents reported in the construction industry since 1999.

Scottish Borders

Year	Fatal Injuries	Major Injuries*	Over-3-Day Injuries**
1999	0	8	14
2000	0	5	17
2001	0	7	9
2002	0	5	21
2003	0	6	9
2004	0	7	9
2005	0	12	6

 

Scotland

Year	Fatal Injuries	Major Injuries	Over-3-Day Injuries
1999	7	594	1,347
2000	13	549	1,393
2001	13	647	1,343
2002	13	537	1,116
2003	11	512	1,047
2004	4	498	876
2005	11	486	802

Notes:

*Reportable “major injuries” include: fracture other thanto fingers, thumbs or toes; amputation; temporary or permanent loss of sight; injuryresulting from an electrical shock or burn leading to unconciousness or requiringresuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours, and any other injuryleading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconciousness; or requiring resuscitation;or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours.

**An “over-three-day injury” is one which is not major butresults in the injured person being away from work or unable to do the full rangeof their normal duties for more than three days, not counting the day of the injuryitself.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Revocations¹of Shotgun Certificates by Police Force Area, 1999 to 2005

Police Force	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Central	14	11	7	13	14	4	6
Dumfries and Galloway	7	9	8	8	7	6	4
Fife2	19	12	16	9	6	6	na
Grampian	27	7	10	4	5	12	5
Lothian and Borders	16	13	15	9	15	11	12
Northern	18	13	11	6	16	10	4
Strathclyde	50	26	5	12	9	20	17
Tayside	24	11	9	6	6	14	6
Total	175	102	81	67	78	83	54

Notes:

1. Revocations are at theauthority of the chief constable in instances where it is believed the holder shouldno longer be allowed to possess a shotgun.

2. Fife wereunable to supply data for 2005; total for 2005 excludes Fife.

The deployment of firearms isan operational matter for chief constables. The following table gives informationprovided by forces for the number of incidents where firearms have been discharged.

Police Force	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central Scotland	3	3	2	4	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	1	2	0	1	1	0
Fife	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lothian and Borders	0	0	2	1	1	1	1
Northern	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Strathclyde	0	0	0	0	3	1	5
Tayside	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: Her Majesty’s Inspectorateof Constabulary.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Revocations¹ ofFirearms Certificates by Police Force Area, 1999 to 2005

Police Force	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Central	5	3	2	6	4	2	4
Dumfries and Galloway	1	4	0	3	4	5	3
Fife2	7	7	10	7	3	2	na
Grampian	14	4	8	4	2	4	2
Lothian and Borders	6	7	9	7	7	5	4
Northern	14	9	10	4	9	7	5
Strathclyde	17	9	1	6	2	6	9
Tayside	10	5	4	11	3	6	3
Total	74	48	44	48	34	37	30

Notes:

1. Revocations are at theauthority of the chief constable in instances where it is believed the holdershould no longer be allowed to possess a firearm.

2. Fife wereunable to supply data for 2005; total for 2005 excludes Fife.

Data held centrally on patientstreated in accident and emergency units does not allow the identification of theplace where the injury occurred.

However, information is availablefor patients who are subsequently admitted to hospital as an emergency inpatientas a result of their injury. This is shown in the following table for years ending31 March 1999 to 31 March 2005.

Table 1: Emergency HospitalAdmissions^1,2 as a Result of an Unintentional Injury, which hasOccurred in the Home³ - All Ages, by Area of Residence, Year Ending31 March

Numbers	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	19,869	18,809	17,962	17,968	17,325	16,807	16,632
NHS Borders	423	523	553	517	442	461	493
Standardised Discharge Rate4
Scotland	341.0	326.4	312.5	311.0	296.2	286.2	279.3
NHS Borders	308.4	384.5	381.9	366.8	300.8	307.5	321.5

Notes:

1. SMR01 data are derived fromin-patient and day case discharge summaries from non-obstetric, non-psychiatricspecialties in general acute NHS hospitals in Scotland.

2. Figures are based on episodesof care. Each episode is initiated by an admission and is ended by a discharge.A patient with more than one episode of care in any one year or across years willbe counted each time he/she receives an episode of care.

3. SMR01 admission type code33 – “Patient Injury - Home Accident (including accidental poisoning in the home)”.

4. Directly standardised usingthe European standard population.

The information requested isnot held centrally.

This information is not heldby the Scottish Executive. The regulationof health and safety at work in Great Britain, including within the construction industry, and thepublication of related statistics, is a matter for the Health and Safety Commissionand Executive. However, my officials havebeen able to obtain the following information from the Health and Safety Executiveshowing accidents recorded in the construction industry in East Lothian since 1999.

East Lothian

Year	Fatal Injuries	Major Injuries*	Over-3-Day Injuries**
1999	0	9	18
2000	0	6	29
2001	1	5	22
2002	0	4	17
2003	0	4	16
2004	0	11	14
2005	0	11	14

Notes:

*Reportable “major injuries” include: fracture other thanto fingers, thumbs or toes; amputation; temporary or permanent loss of sight; injuryresulting from an electrical shock or burn leading to unconciousness or requiringresuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours, and any other injuryleading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconciousness; or requiring resuscitation;or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours.

**An “over-three-day injury” is one which is not major butresults in the injured person being away from work or unable to do the full rangeof their normal duties for more than three days, not counting the day of the injuryitself.