Chamber and committees

At present this information is not collected or held centrally.

However, through our Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic (KCND) programme, we are working in partnership with all NHS boards to offer women early, seamless access to maternity services through attending a midwife as their first professional contact in pregnancy. We have also recently introduced pathways for maternity care, which facilitate robust risk assessment in early pregnancy and timely intervention for women and families. These pathways outline the usual schedule of antenatal visits for healthy women who are first-time and previous mothers across NHS Scotland. Also, through evaluation of KCND we will be collecting data on the number of antenatal visits for all women within every NHS board.

Our national maternity policy, A Framework for Maternity Services in Scotland, outlines our commitment to offering women choice in relation to place of birth. Principles 10 and 11 of this framework make specific reference to our expectations that services offer one-to-one care in established labour and support women''s right to choice around birth options. We expect all NHS boards to plan maternity services to meet the needs of their local population and ensure that care is in line with evidence around best practice guidance and our national pathways. There are currently 22 community maternity units and 18 consultant-led units across NHS Scotland. In addition, many of our consultant-led units have alongside midwife-led birthing facilities and all NHS boards offer women the option of home birth.

Our Nursing and Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning Programme collected data across Scotland between June 2007 and August 2008, using Birthrate Plus and Professional Judgement. Although limitations were noted in the tools, this data collection demonstrated a good relationship between current budget whole-time equivalents of midwives and the output of the tools. This data is being used by NHS boards to inform local workforce planning and one of our key aims is to ensure that provision of one-to-one care in established labour.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29347 on 7 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations made by Lord Cullen in his report on the Review of the Fatal Accident Inquiry Legislation.

Many of Lord Cullen''s recommendations have practical implications for the Scottish Court Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and the government will liaise closely with these bodies in identifying how the recommendations should be implemented.

The contract structure selected by the board for the procurement of the new hospitals is the New Engineering Contract (NEC) and the option selected within this suite of documents is option C. This option is a target cost contract with an activity schedule where the outturn financial risks are shared between the client and the contractor in an agreed proportion (pain/gain) as set out in the tender submission. The contract was amended to incorporate a pre-determined cap, referred to as the maximum price.

In order to protect the affordability position of the board, and to provide a strong incentive for cost control throughout the contract period, bidders were also required to provide a maximum price, above which NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde would not be required to make any further payment. In summary, once this maximum price has been exceeded the overspend risk is borne 100% by the contractor.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29188 on 2 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The following table details the information requested.

NHS Scotland	Headcount as at 30 September 2007	Whole-time Equivalent as at 30 September 2007	Headcount as at 30 September 2008	Whole-time Equivalent as at 30 September 2008
Midwives1	3,148	2,531.9	3,321	2,670.1

Source: National Services Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland

Note: For 2008 data on the Agenda for Change bands 5 to 9 are shown as band 1 to 4 include midwifery support.

Information as at 30 September 2009 is due to be published on 15 December 2009 and will be available from the National Services Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland website link http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/796.html.

The Scottish Capital Investment Manual guidance makes clear that contingencies and optimism bias should be provided for. In the outline business case, these were appropriately calculated and incorporated in to the health board''s affordability envelope. The maximum price received from the successful bidder is within the board''s budget estimates and allows for an adequate contingency provision within the overall affordability envelope.

The procuring authority is NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (the board) and therefore the Scottish Government has not taken any advice from the European Commission.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29069 on 1 December 2009. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.