Chamber and committees

I have asked Gillian Thompson, Chief Executive of the Accountant in Bankruptcy to respond. Her response is as follows:

Records of complaints are collated by financial year. The numbers of complaints made against the Accountant in Bankruptcy in each of the last five completed financial years are as follows:

1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Nil	1	1	2	2

 

The Scottish Executive has provided support to the production of biodiesel in Scotland by awarding a Regional Selective Assistance grant of £1.2 million to Argent Energy, which is building the nation’s first large scale biodiesel plant at its Scottish base near Newarthill, Motherwell. The grant will be payable in three instalments.

The plant, which is expected to be functional early in the new year, will produce around 50,000 litres of biodiesel per annum when operating at full productivity levels. The site will also be equipped with an electrical generator fuelled by waste product which is expected to generate between 2.75 and 3 megawatt of electricity per year. The electricity produced will be sold to the National Grid.

Whilst this information is not collected centrally, information on joiners can be gauged through annual censuses of the nursing and midwifery workforce, at 30 September, to establish annual flows of staff in and out of NHSScotland.

The following table shows the number of registered nurses working in paediatrics who joined NHSScotland between the September 2000 and September 2001 censuses, the September 2001 and September 2002 censuses and the  September 2002 and September 2003 censuses.

Joiners to NHSScotland - Registered Nurses working in Paediatrics

	Joiners
Joiners between September 2000 and September 2001	163
Joiners between September 2001 and September 2002	191
Joiners between September 2002 and September 2003	223

Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll.

At 31 March 2004, there were 47.4 whole time equivalent vacancies in paediatrics in NHSScotland. The vacancy rate, expressed as a percentage of the establishment, is 2.9%.

Planning authorities have a range of discretionary powers to deal with breaches of planning control. If unauthorised mining is taking place, it would be for the authority to decide, based on the severity of the breach, whether to invite the company to apply for retrospective consent, or whether to take enforcement action. If the unauthorised activity is causing serious harm to public amenity the authority can serve a stop notice or apply to the courts for an interdict to stop the unauthorised activity immediately. If that action fails, the authority can take the case to the courts and it is then for the courts to decide, on conviction for an offence, whether and what penalties should be imposed.

Reducing the proportion of 16 to 19-year-olds NEET (not in education, employment or training) is a priority for the Executive. Career Scotland (CS) has a key role both in identifying this group and promoting their employability. Career Scotland provides the Scottish Executive with information each year on the destinations of pupils leaving publicly funded schools. Where their destination is unknown, CS staff follow up young people through various means to provide them with information and advice on the opportunities available. Priority is given to those young people “at risk” of being “NEET” long-term. If appropriate, CS can provide one to one support through key workers who work in partnership with other agencies to ensure that their particular needs are addressed.

The first destination details of newly qualified nurses and midwives completing a three year diploma course are presented in the attached table for each of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003. This information covers the majority of nursing graduates. Information on newly qualified nurses and midwives completing other courses is not available centrally.

First Destination for Newly Qualified Nurses and Midwives Completing a Diploma Course

	2001	2002	2003
Total Number of New Qualifiers	1,951	2,185	2,274
NHSScotland	1,440	1,682	1,639
Independent Sector (Scotland)	101	74	108
Seeking Employment as Nurse	165	187	185
Further education - nursing	39	26	104
Further education - other	5	3	16
Leaving Scotland	168	164	160
Not Pursuing Nursing Career	19	24	50
Other	15	24	12

Source: ISD Scotland.

This application was considered at a public local inquiry and the Scottish ministers advised all parties, on 5 February 2004, that they were minded to accept the reporters’ recommendation that planning permission should be granted. Whilst every effort will be made to reach an early decision it is not possible to say, at this stage, when a final announcement will be made. This is dependent on the satisfactory conclusion of a legal agreement between the applicant and North Lanarkshire Council which requires the applicant to provide a bond covering the eventual removal of buildings and restoration of the site.

No. As an executive NDPB, Scottish Enterprise has full responsibility for conducting its pay negotiations within the terms of a pay remit agreed beforehand by Scottish ministers.

As an executive Non-Departmental Public Body, it is for Scottish Enterprise to determine how it conducts its pay negotiations with the unions. I understand that there is still scope for negotiation on several aspects of the pay award and I have encouraged all parties to continue discussion with a view to achieving a satisfactory outcome.

The first national audit of services for people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) in 2003 identified existing service provision, gaps and provided a basis for future planning. The statistical report of the audit findings can be found at http://sh45inta/Resource/Doc/1095/0001881.pdf. Information about diagnostic tools is provided at question 15, page 37. Some tools are given professional recognition, while others are not. The ASD Reference Diagnosis sub-group is currently considering training that would encourage standardisation of practice.