Chamber and committees

The appointment of salaried dentistsis a matter for NHS boards. The most up-to-date information on appointments is notheld centrally but will be available from NHS boards. The number of salaried dentistposts approved by Scottish ministers prior to 1 April 2005 isin answer to question S2W-17734, answered on 8 July 2005.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/wa.search.

It is not generally possibleto specify the costs of the response to the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreakto a particular area of Scotland as many of the resources used were mobile orformed part of the wider British disease control response. The National AuditOffice report, The 2001 Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (HC 939) estimatedthe Central Government costs of the outbreak in Scotland to be £334 million.

A list of total values of compensationpayments made in Scotland for animals compulsory slaughtered as part of the2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak will be published on the ScottishExecutive website by the end of July.

The defects which haveappeared on the surfacing scheme carried out by Amey at Skippers Bridge,south of Langholm, are programmed to be repaired overnight on 10 and 11 July.This work will be carried out at no cost to the Executive.

The circumstances of thisaccident have been investigated and discussed with Dumfries andGalloway Police. It has been established that this accident was not caused byany physical characteristic of the trunk road. Therefore the Executive, astrunk road authority, has no plans to take any action.

Each case has to be considered on its own facts and circumstances. It is for local authorities to take legal and other advice in the light of the particular circumstances.

We are making good progress with a more strategic implementation of the relocation policy. As ministers have discussed with the Parliament’s Finance Committee, we are determined to speed up the implementation process and to make it more transparent and consistent. A website has been launched, which gives up-to- date lists of bodies under review as well as new central guidance on the relocation process. The website also contains a list of potential location opportunities identified in partnership with local authorities and local enterprise companies. We are also committed to introducing a new more strategic trigger for location reviews, making a more explicit connection between relocation policy, efficient government and best value, partly as a result of the recommendations made by the Finance Committee.

Approval for salaried dentist posts was devolved to NHS boards with effect from 1 April 2005. NHS boards are required to advise the Executive of posts approved locally.

The number of salaried dentist posts approved by Scottish ministers prior to 1 April 2005 in each NHS board area is provided in the table.

NHS Board	No of Approved Posts1.
Argyll and Clyde	18
Ayrshire and Arran	8
Borders	9
Dumfries and Galloway	7
Fife	11
Forth Valley	12
Grampian	15
Greater Glasgow	11
Highland	39
Lanarkshire	2
Lothian	16
Orkney	8
Shetland	6
Tayside	2
Western Isles	4
Scotland	168

Note: 1. Salaried dentist posts range from 0.1 whole-time equivalent (WTE) to 1WTE.

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2000 sets down the minimum welfare standards for farmed animals including poultry. Additional requirements for the welfare of laying hens are set out in the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002.

The draft Animal Health and Welfare Bill will not provide any additional protection for intensively farmed chickens. However, a draft EU Council Directive based on the EU Report The Welfare of Chickens kept for Meat Production (Broilers), proposes to set down additional minimum standards for the protection of chickens kept for meat production. This proposal is currently being examined by a European Council Working Group.