Chamber and committees

The Home Office is responsible for the Immigration Detention Centre at Dungavel House, Strathavon under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales is responsible for inspection. However, the Immigration Service have consulted with the host authority, South Lanarkshire Council and Social Work Services Inspectorate regarding the provision of services. It is anticipated that The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care will be consulted about arrangements for inspection.

No. The use of snares to control pest species of wild animal such as foxes and rabbits is legally permitted subject to certain conditions relating to their use. Snares set must be of an approved type and must, by law, be checked at least once a day.

The Scottish Executive is committed to safeguarding the capercaillie population in Scotland and a wide range of measures have already been applied to tackle the decline in capercaillie numbers. These include the implementation of actions set out in the Biodiversity Species Action Plan for Capercaillie. With funding from the Scottish Executive the Forestry Commission spent £700,000 from September 2001 to March 2002 on the removal and marking of deer fences in Scotland.The recent award of almost £2.5 million from the EU LIFE-Nature Fund supports a five year project directed at capercaillie conservation. An equal sum will be secured from a number of public and non public bodies including the Scottish Executive.

No. The use of snares to target pest species such as foxes and rabbits is a matter for individual landowners or their agents.

The Scottish Executive is aware of advice from the Capercaillie Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group, recommending release of captive-bred capercaillie, on condition that the trial site is south of the central belt. I understand that the purpose of this trial would be to assess the feasibility of a release project and to perfect methodologies and techniques. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, any trial could only go ahead on the basis of a licence approved by Scottish Natural Heritage.

No funding is planned for captive breeding programmes as part of the LIFE Project.

NHS staff organisations were invited to attend the recent Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Convention in Glasgow. Arrangements for further discussion of the issues including staff, patient and public involvement will be incorporated in the action plan following from the convention. This will be published later this year.

No. Guidance has been prepared by the Capercaillie Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group, which aims to reduce the accidental snaring of capercaillie.

The membership of the HAI Surveillance Steering Group, as co-ordinated by the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) is as follows:

Dr David Old	Dr Ahilya Noone
Chairman	Consultant Epidemiologist, SCIEH
Dr Ian Auchterlonie	Dr Rosie Hague
Consultant Paediatrician	Consultant in Infectious Diseases
Dr Frank Bone	Dr Anne Eastaway
Consultant Microbiologist	Consultant Microbiologist
Dr Dilip Nathwani	Professor David Rowley
Infection & Immodeficiency Unit	Prof. of Trauma & Orthopaedics
Dr Jim Millar	Dr J D Browning
Consultant in Public Health	(Medical Directors)
Mr Andrew McMahan	Dr Peter Wallace
Consultant in Colorectal Surgeon	Consultant Intensive Care & Anaesthesia
Mr Richard Carey	Mr Alex Cumming
Chief Executive, Highlands	Chief Executive, Grampian
Dr Andrew Riley	Dr Marion Bain / Mr Graeme Mitchell
Director of Public Health, Borders	ISD (Information & Statistics Division)
Mr John MacKenzie	Dr Rosalind Skinner
Scottish Association	Principal Medical Officer
Health Councils	Scottish Executive
Ms Jackie Stewart	Mrs Mary Henry
Infection Control Nurse	Consultant Nurse Epidemiologist
Dr Stephanie Dancer
Consultant Medical Microbiologist
SCIEH

The remit of the group is "to oversee and advise on the implementation of a national system of surveillance of HAI in Scotland and to monitor and report on progress."

Over the past 11 months there has been a thorough re-assessment of our preparedness to deal with nuclear incidents. Our preparedness for such incidents is tested during our participation in the programmes of exercises undertaken by the Ministry of Defence and by civil nuclear establishments. In addition the Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations 2001(REPPIR) came into force last year. These regulations implement the EURATOM Basic Safety Standards Directive (96/29) and replace the Public Information for Radiation Emergencies Regulations (PIRER) 1992.