Chamber and committees

No specific allocations are made for staff budgets. Staff costs are met from the overall sums allocated to NHS boards to enable them to meet the health care needs of their resident populations. Therefore, information on funding allocation by workforce group is not available centrally.

Separation distances are in place around the GM crops to minimise the dispersal of pollen to adjacent crops. The distances deployed in the farm-scale evaluations are based upon decades of experience in conventional agriculture where they have proved extremely effective at delivering high levels of seed purity.

No. Such tests do not form part of the protocols applicable to the farm-scale evaluations and would only serve to confirm what is already known about the behaviour of pollen from these crops. The possibility of tiny quantities of pollen from the GM crop travelling outwith the trial crop is recognised and the potential consequences are addressed as part of the risk assessment process which is undertaken prior to the granting of approval. Our expert advisers are clear that pollen from the GM crops that have approval for release poses no greater safety threat than pollen from the equivalent conventional crop. Experience of the operation of separation distances suggests that any GM presence beyond this distance will be extremely small.

In the farm scale evaluations, the same ecological research is conducted on the non-GM crops grown as a control crop as is conducted on the adjacent GM crop. Those tests involve the collection of information on the following indicators:soil seed bank; arable plant diversity, biomass and estimated seed return; field margin and boundary vegetation, noting species in flower and signs of spray drift; Gastropods (slugs and snails): abundance, activity and diversity measures; Arthropods on vegetation, concentrating on plant bugs (Heteroptera), spring tails (Collembola), and the caterpillars of butterflies, moths, (Lepidoptera) and sawflies: diversity and biomass measures; Carabid beetles and other ground dwelling arthropods: abundance and diversity measures; bees and butterflies: observational studies, andbirds and small mammals: observational studies. The purpose of these trials is to establish whether the agricultural practices required to grow herbicide-tolerant GM crops has a different environmental impact than the practices used on conventional crops. The evaluations are not attempting to study other aspects of GM cultivation such as gene flow which has been the subject of many other scientific studies.

Crops grown outwith the separation distance around a GM crop do not come within the scope of the legislation regulating GM releases. Growers, whether they are the farmer involved in the trial or neighbouring landowners, are at liberty to do what they wish with these crops. Before a GM crop is approved for release, the possible consequences of pollen flow from the crop is assessed carefully. Approval would not be granted if there was considered to be a safety threat to neighbouring crops or to human health.

The development of specialist nurses is primarily a matter for individual NHS trusts to determine in light of their clinical needs and service developments. Information on the numbers of specialist nurses is not centrally available.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The four UK administrations are currently undertaking a review of the Blue Badge Scheme and have received a report from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) - the UK Government's statutory adviser on the transport needs of disabled people.The scheme, however, is a wholly devolved matter and the Executive is therefore currently considering how any changes to the scheme recommended on an UK-wide basis by DPTAC should be addressed. I hope to be able to announce, along with the other administrations, the way ahead for the Blue Badge Scheme later this year.It is for DPTAC to consider whether and, if so, when to publish its report.

In Scotland, all new building work, including alterations and extensions, which is covered by building regulations must comply with the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990, as amended. The issues of parking provision and access for disabled people are covered by Part S of the Technical Standards (Access to and movement within buildings, and protective barriers).National Planning Policy Guidance 17, paragraph 48, sets out guidance to local authorities and developers on access for disabled people and also considers the needs of older people and those travelling with children. It also mentions the special design requirements for wheelchair use. Paragraph 16 of the recently published draft addendum to National Planning Policy Guidance 17, which sets out maximum parking standards for new developments, also requires that councils continue to make provision for disabled parking and that the amount, location and design of this should be discussed with local disability groups. Comments and objections received to the draft are currently being analysed including those who have commented on the issue of meeting disabled parking requirements within the new maximum parking regime. The finalised addendum will be published towards the end of the year.

Disabled people who hold a valid disabled persons blue or orange parking badge are exempt from payment of tolls at the Erskine, Forth Road and Tay Road Bridges. Disabled people who are exempt from payment of vehicle excise duty are exempt from payment of tolls at Skye Bridge. The details are set out in the relevant legislation for each bridge. Toll charges and entitlement to toll exemptions are displayed at the tollbooths of each bridge. It is a matter for the authority at each bridge to ensure that charges and exemptions are applied correctly. The Executive monitors statistics on the number of exempt crossings on a regular basis for the Skye and Erskine Bridges. For the Forth Road and Tay Road Bridges this is a matter for the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, respectively. Exemptions from road user charges under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 will be the subject of regulations, a draft of which will be issued for consultation within the next few months.