Chamber and committees

There has been a welcome growthin support for young people at risk of being abused through prostitution. The Executive has provided financialsupport to a number of organisations and projects working in this important aspectof child protection, such as ChildLine, Aberlour - Running Other Choices refuge,Barnardo’s - Nae Danger, and Who Cares? It has also funded the developmentof alternatives to secure accommodation by £1.8 million a year through the IntensiveSupport Fund.

The secure accommodationcensus details that in 2002-03 and 2004-05 there were 96 secure unit places andin 2005-06 there were 92 places. On 24 March 2003, plans were announced toincrease the number of secure unit places by 29 to 125, this redevelopment of the secure estate is on track to be completed by 2007.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26157 on 8 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The redevelopment of the secureestate will mean an increase in secure unit places to 125. Kerelaw had agreed toprovide 12 places in the redeveloped estate but announced their intention to withdrawfrom the redevelopment scheme in October 2004. The resulting difference in the numberof secure places was accommodated by the building of the Good Shepherd Centre, Bishoptonand St Philip’s School Airdrie. St Philip’s school opened on 6 March 2006 and theGood Shepherd is on track to open in summer 2006.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

As at 31 May 2006, there areno under-16-year olds placed in young offenders institutions.

The are currently five secureunits consisting of 90 places and are located as follows:

St Mary’s Kenmure – Glasgow –31 places

St Philip’s – Airdrie – 18 places

Rossie – Montrose – 25 places

Howdenhall/St Katharine’s – Edinburgh– 12 places

The Elms – Dundee – four places.

It is vital that Scotland’s emergencyservices and other organisations with responsibilities for dealing with civil contingenciesare properly prepared to deal with such incidents. A great deal of work has alreadybeen done, flowing from the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to ensure that appropriateprocedures are in place to respond to a range of risks and I commend the contributionmade by the emergency planning community. But in the light of the terrorist attackson London in July 2005 and other recent emergencies, it is right that we should takestock of Scotland’s ability to respond to simultaneous major incidents,particularly those which occur across administrative borders or require a multi-agencyresponse.

The review will be conductedby officials from my department and HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services Jeff Ord.It will be consultative and wide-ranging: the review team will hold discussionswith all key stakeholders over the coming months and report to ministers in thesummer of 2007. In the context of assessing overall preparedness, the review willconsider the potential for increased collaboration between the emergency servicesand other responders, the lessons learned from the London bombingsof July 2005, and the future of fire control rooms. I am today publishing two documentswhich stakeholders will be asked to consider and discuss with the review team: areport by HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services on the preparedness of the Fire andRescue Service to deal with simultaneous terrorist attacks like those in London,and an analysis by my officials of the main concerns expressed by respondents toour 2004 consultation exercise on the future of fire control rooms. Both documentsare available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 39661and 39662) and on the Scottish Executive website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/18155955and www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/18155521.

The Action Plan for improvingoral health and modernising NHS DentalServices in Scotland was published in March 2005. This document outlined themain preventive actions towards improving oral health of children in Scotland, includingdiet, oral care and toothbrushing with a fluoride toothpaste.

A range of preventive programmesare in place to address tooth decay among primary school children in Glasgow, includingtooth brushing in nursery and primary schools and the distribution of preventivepacks to children on starting school.

Dental programmes are linkedto health promoting programmes such as Hungry for Success, Health Promoting Schools and pre-schoolpromotion of healthy foods and drinks.

Towards Better Oral Healthin Children, a consultation publishedby the Scottish Executive in September 2002, set out the main determinants of oralhealth of children in Scotland. The consultation identified the main cause of dentaldecay as the high sugar diet consumed by Scottish children. It also sought viewson how to enhance preventive treatments, the promotion and practice of healthy eatingand ways of using fluoride.