Chamber and committees

We have made good progresswith the relocation policy. Lifelong learning staff were relocated to Glasgow;the Food Standards Agency has been set up in Aberdeen; the Public Guardian'sOffice in Falkirk; the National Office of the Scottish Commission for theRegulation of Care and the Offices of the Scottish Social Services Council inDundee; Scottish Public Pensions Agency in Galashiels; Scottish Water inDunfermline; the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage will be set up inInverness, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator will be set up inDundee, the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters' Unit will move to Falkirk, the headquartersof Forestry Enterprise Scotland will be located in Inverness, the headquartersof Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education will be located in Livingston, theRisk Management Authority will be located in Paisley, the Accountant inBankruptcy in Ayrshire, and there will be a significant movement of jobs in theCommon Services Agency of the National Health Service in Scotland fromEdinburgh initially to Aberdeen and to Glasgow, and some VisitScotland headquartersposts will be identified for dispersal from Edinburgh in due course.

The Executive is committedto ensuring that government in Scotland is efficient and decentralised as part of the widervision of more accessible, open and responsive government. Relocation policy ispart of this vision. It can also help us to address particular problems incertain parts of the country.

Relocation can provide morecost effective solutions for service delivery by allowing organisations tooperate away from some of the pressures of the Edinburgh market. It can assistareas with particular social and economic needs. The impact of a relocationsuch as the Accountant in Bankruptcy on communities in Ayrshire can besignificant. Our small units policy also addresses this issue though with thefocus on smaller and more remote communities. The final main objective ofrelocation policy relates to our vision of a decentralised Scotland. Wedo not wish to see devolution mean a concentration of all things in Edinburgh orindeed in the central belt.

We will continue to look atrelocation opportunities on a case-by-case basis, considering both theparticular circumstances of the body concerned and its fit with our relocationobjectives. In examining the value of relocating organisations to particularparts of the country we will take into account indicators of social andeconomic need and the wider issues of promoting a decentralised Scotland. Importantconsiderations will continue to include the operational effectiveness of theorganisation, the level of investment required and the position of staffconcerned.

Headquarters functions of the Scottish Executive departments are currently based in Edinburgh andGlasgow because of the frequent meetings with ministers and the Scottish Parliament. There are, however, a wide range of other organisations covered bythe policy where relocation reviews will be carried out.

Decisions are expectedduring 2004 on reviews of NHS Health Scotland, NHS Education Scotland, the Mental Health TribunalService , the Scottish Building Standards Agency, the Scottish Arts Council, sportscotland,NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and Registers of Scotland, and the MentalWelfare Commission in 2005.

Rolling this relocationprogramme forward, I can announce today that we will examine a relocationoption for the following bodies:

Scottish Further and HigherEducation Funding Councils, decision, during 2004

Royal Fine Arts Commissionfor Scotland (Architecture and Design Scotland), decision,end 2004.

Consideration is being givento setting up the following bodies:

Proposed SingleAgency for the Administration of Custodial and non-Custodial Sentences

Proposed National TransportAgency.

If the Executive decides toproceed in setting up both the above bodies, and subject as appropriate to parliamentaryapproval, their location and that of theRoyal Fine Arts Commission for Scotland (Architecture and Design Scotland),will be determined in accordance with the relocation policy with thepresumption against an Edinburgh location. The Scottish Further and Higher EducationFunding Councils have come into the programme following lease breaks. They willconduct a location review in which options outwith Edinburghmust be considered.

These organisations will beexamined on a case-by-case basis, with the aim of finding the best location foreach organisation, within the context of relocation policy. As part of theprocess the organisations concerned will continue to consider how mostefficiently to conduct their work in line with the most up-to-date practicesand the use of technology. There will be opportunities for representations tobe made about different locations and full consultation with the organisationsconcerned and relevant trade unions.

In 1999 the UK Governmentformally ratified the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement, which included anobligation to phase out the use of lead shot over wetlands. The ScottishExecutive intends to legislate to restrict the use of lead shot over wetlandareas in Scotland. It is intended that such legislation will be inplace in advance of the open season, which begins in autumn 2004.

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

Schedule 7 to the Housing (Scotland)Act 2001 prohibits any registered social landlord (RSL) from granting benefits.Specifically, a benefit cannot be granted to a business trading for profitwhere either the principal proprietor of that business or a person directlyconcerned in the management of that business:

(a) is, or has been during the preceding 12 months,an officer or employee of the RSL; or

(b) is a close relative ofany such person.

For these purposes, theaward of a contract would be treated as the grant of a benefit.

The Scottish ministers havein effect approved certain exceptions to those restrictions. These include, forexample, where the choice of contractors is severely limited in a very remoterural community. Even in those cases the RSL’s governing body must approve thepayment and be able to demonstrate that the business concerned was able tooffer better value for money than any alternative.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4594 on 18 December 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

As you will appreciate,these claims are being litigated in the Employment Tribunal. However, Scottish ministersare considering their position in light of recent developments south of theborder. I will confirm the position to you as soon as a final decision has beenreached.

We provide carbon monoxidedetectors, smoke detectors and cold alarms free to all recipients of the centralheating programme. We do not have any plans at present to extend this beyondthe scope of the programme.

The following NHS boardsprovide specialist nursing services to patients with multiple sclerosis: NHSAyrshire and Arran; NHS Fife; NHS Forth Valley; NHS Grampian; NHS GreaterGlasgow; NHS Highland; NHS Lanarkshire; NHS Lothian; NHS Tayside.

No specific funding is madeavailable for the provision of specialist MS nurses. However, the Executive hascommitted some £10 million to a number of nursing recruitment and retentioninitiatives over the financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04, and some £1.75 millionadditional funding has been allocated for the continuous professionaldevelopment of nurses. This is on top of NHS boards receiving an averageincrease in their financial allocations for 2003-04 of 7.8%.

I have asked my officials toraise the issue of provision of specialist MS nurse capacity with the relevant boards.

The information is notavailable centrally in the form requested. Information from samples of GPrecords in practices across Scotland whose population is nationally representativesuggests that approximately 5,900 patients with multiple sclerosis were seen byGPs in the year ended March 2003. However, the Executive recognises that thismay be an underestimate. People with the relapsing/remitting form of MS may notneed to visit their GPs in the course of any given year. The MS Society Scotlandestimates that there are over 10,000 people with MS in Scotland.

The Executive issuedguidance to NHS boards in 2002 about the risk sharing scheme, which makes availabledisease-modifying drugs to MS patients, assessed as suitable for treatment.There has been good progress in implementing this scheme. We are also fundingthe development of a managed care network in Forth Valley forpeople with MS, which includes standards for services in primary care and inhospital, endorsed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. We wish to see these MSnetworks developed across Scotland.

Enterprise Networks are responsible forsupporting cluster development and details of support are an operational matterfor the networks. The information requested is not held centrally.

However,Forestry Commission Scotland also contributes to many of the Scottish forest industriescluster's initiatives such as events, publications, conferences and working groupssuch as the timber transport forum. In addition, Forestry Commission Scotlandcurrently has a project officer on secondment in Scottish DevelopmentInternational within the Enterprise Transport and Lifelong Learning Department.This officer assists colleagues in Scottish Enterprise in supporting the forestindustries cluster. The initiative fosters good relations and a widerunderstanding between the two organisations and is also a staff developmentopportunity. The secondment exercise has been running for just over four yearsand the total annual pay bill for the officer is £45,000.