Chamber and committees

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:

Information is held by mainpost code area. From September 2001 to end of April 2006, 1,842 pensionerhouseholds in the DG postcode area have benefited from the central heating programme.

Across Scotland theprogramme has funded 47,000 central heating systems in pensioner householdsduring the same period.

The review was published on theExecutive’s website on 18 May.

The report of the review waspublished on the Scottish Executive’s website on 18 May 2006 and printed copieswere circulated to local authorities during the week beginning 22 May.

The latest published figures,for July to September 2005 show that:

There were 1,384 older peoplein Dumfries and Galloway receiving personal care services for free in their ownhomes. In addition, 12 older people in Dumfries and Galloway received direct payments to purchase and manage the personalcare services they assessed as needing.

There were around 800 older peoplesupported by Dumfries and Galloway council in Care Homes. Of these, 296 were self-fundersreceiving £145 per week for personal care services.

No dentist whose name appearson an NHS board dental list and who has accepted a patient for care and treatmentunder NHS general dental services (GDS) may charge that patient a fee for a dentalexamination. To do so would breach their GDS terms of service. The NHS disciplinaryroutes open to NHS boards are referral of dentists to an NHS Discipline Committeeor the NHS Tribunal, depending on the seriousness of the relevant action or actions.Where an NHS Discipline Committee finds a dentist in breach of the GDS terms ofservice, it may recommend that a withholding be made from the dentist’s remunerationor that a warning be given to the dentist that he or she should comply more closelywith the terms of service. The sanctions open to the NHS tribunal are national disqualificationwhich means that the dentist’s name may not appear on any dental list in Scotlandand conditional disqualification which means that the dentist may continue to belisted but must act in accordance with conditions laid down by the tribunal.

Yes. A route following the corridorof the A709 was assessed in 1996. It was not taken forward on cost and environmentalgrounds. That decision was confirmed by a recent STAG Appraisal carried out by Dumfries and GallowayCouncil.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Draft Orders for the A7Auchenrivock scheme were published on 12 May. Subject to these being wellreceived and no objections being returned by 23 June, the earliest thatconstruction could start would be summer of 2007, with completion in summer2008.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.

The Student Awards Agencyfor Scotland does not provide funding for such vaccinations as itis a “course related” cost and not one to be met from the student supportbudget.

In general, if a student isfacing particular financial hardship then it is possible for them to apply totheir institution directly for assistance from the hardship funds. However,there is no guarantee that the institution would provide funds for thispurpose. Such decisions are a matter for the individual institution.

I will be writing shortly tothe Parliament’s Petitions Committee with the findings of the Review of Urban Gullsand their Management in Scotland. I also propose to make available copies of the reportto local authorities and to publish the report on the Executive’s website. I willbe open to views from the committee or from local authority representatives whetherin light of the findings of the review there are issues on which further guidancefrom the Executive would be helpful.

We are currently consideringthe evidence for a change in the level of payments.