Chamber and committees

I refer the member to S2W-14085, answered on 28 February 2005, 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/wa.search.

The Scottish Executive is committed to developing direct payments as a way of giving service users choice and control over the care services they receive. From April 2005, direct payments will be available to the first non disabled client group, those people aged 65 and over who are assessed as needing care services. It is also anticipated that concentrated effort will be made to increase uptake among current eligible groups such as disabled children, mental health service and learning disabled users from April 2005 onwards.

We note the UK Government’s report with interest. It has no specific recommendations for action by the Scottish Executive. We are continuing to pursue a range of activities to support disabled people and, where appropriate, to work with the UK Government.

Although the Scottish Executive has published guidance on School Estate Management Plans as part of the series of School Estate Strategy publications, it remains the statutory responsibility of education authorities to assess the needs and prioritise competing demands for investment in their school estates.

The Executive is promoting uptake of direct payments in a range of ways, including extending to include older people with effect from April 2005. While there are no performance indicators in place to monitor the promotion of direct payments by local authorities at present, consideration is being given to using performance indicators to monitor future uptake.

The information sought is contained in the following table:

Direct Payments Recipients and Value of Payments, Year to 31 March 2004

	Aged 0-15 Years			All
	No. of Clients	Value of Payments (£000)	Average Value (£000)	No. of Clients	Value of Payments (£000)	Average Value (£000)
Scotland	19	73	3.8	912	8,338	9.1

Source: SEHD annual survey ofdirect payments.

Training on the range of issues which arise in the prosecution of cases involving domestic abuse forms part of the core induction which is undertaken by all new prosecutors. This training, which includes input from Scottish Women’s Aid, is designed to equip prosecutors with a sound knowledge of the particular legal issues which arise frequently in these prosecutions as well as an awareness and understanding of the wider issues about victims experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland.

We are also currently working with Scottish Women’s Aid to develop advanced training for all staff within the prosecution service who work with victims and witnesses experiencing domestic abuse. This will build on the core training course to ensure that staff develop a high degree of proficiency in the preparation and prosecution of such cases

Offence aggravator codes for domestic abuse were incorporated into the Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS) data standards in 2002. In future it will therefore be possible separately to identify convictions where such an aggravator has been recorded against the offences involved, though the availability of complete data will depend upon the rollout of ISCJIS to cover all courts and on consistent recording practices being followed by the police, procurator fiscals and the courts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-12408, answered on 6 December 2004. 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/wa.search.

The Lomond and Argyll Division of NHS Argyll and Clyde spans the geographical area comprising Arygll and Bute, the Argyll and Clyde NHS Board section of West Dunbartonshire and a small part of Stirling. The following table shows the number of people from these combined areas that were admitted to psychiatric inpatient services.

Information on the use of community mental health services is not held centrally.

Patientsº from a Defined Part of NHS Argyll and Clyde (as Above) Admitted to Mental Illness Specialties¹, by Hospital

Location	Calendar Year of Admission
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003*
NHS Argyll and Clyde
Christie Ward, Vale of Leven Hospital²	156	166	186	153	148
Other wards, Vale²	51	47	37	30	8
Argyll and Bute Hospital, Lochgilphead	481	445	454	457	432
Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock	3	2	2	3	4
Dykebar Hospital, Paisley	3	3	2	-	1
Ravenscraig Hospital, Greenock	-	-	-	-	1
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley	-	-	-	-	2
Larkfield Unit, IRH	-	-	1	2	-
NHS Greater Glasgow³
Gartnavel Royal Hospital	16	7	12	5	-
Leverndale Hospital	13	5	4	-	-
Woodilee Hospital	2	-	-	-	-
Royal Hospital for Sick Children	1	1	-	-	1
Parkhead Hospital	-	2	1	-	-
Stobhill Hospital	-	1	-	1	-
NHS Ayrshire and Arran
Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock	1	-	-	-	2
Ailsa Hospital, Ayr	1	-	-	-	3
NHS Dumfries and Galloway
Ladyfield Hospital, Dumfries	2	1	-	-	-
NHS Fife
Stratheden Hospital, Cupar	-	2	-	2	-
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline	-	-	-	1	-
NHS Forth Valley³
Falkirk Royal Infirmary	1	-	-	-	-
Stirling Mental Health Unit	1	1	-	-	-
NHS Grampian³
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen	-	-	1	-	-
NHS Highland
Craig Dunain Hospital, Inverness	2	-	-	-	-
New Craigs, Inverness	-	-	2	1	1
NHS Tayside
Murray Royal Hospital, Perth	1	-	1	-	1
Sunnyside Royal Hospital, Montrose	1	-	-	-	-
Blairgowrie Community Hospital	-	-	-	-	1
Carseview Centre, Dundee	-	-	-	1	-

*Provisional.

Source: ISD Scotland SMR04 linked data set.

Notes:

ºPatients who have more than one admission to a specific hospital in a year are counted once in that year. Patients admitted to more than one hospital are counted once under each hospital they are admitted to. Patients with admissions in more than one year are counted once under each year of admission.

1. Defined as admissions to mental illness specialties (general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry and psychiatry of old age). Admissions to learning disability specialties are excluded.

2. The Christie Ward admits patients to general psychiatry at the Vale of Leven Hospital. Other psychiatry admissions to the Vale of Leven Hospital are to other wards.

3. Information on inpatient admissions to psychiatric specialties in hospitals in Scotland are incomplete for the following areas: Forth Valley, Lanarkshire and Lothian for years 2001 to 2003; Greater Glasgow and Grampian for the years 2002 to 2003.