Chamber and committees

Patients who receive paramedic-led thrombolysis from the rapid response unit are transferred by the specialist paramedic crew to the CCU at Ninewells for further specialist supervision and care. At present, information on the 30-day survival rate for these patients is not available.

The introduction of a levy on plastic shopping bags would be a reserved matter for Her Majesty's Treasury.

This is a matter for local authorities who are responsible for making concessionary travel schemes under the Transport Act 1985. There are currently 16 single and joint concessionary travel schemes operating in Scotland and many of these schemes provide some form of concessionary fare arrangement for companions of blind people.

This is a matter for local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally. However, the organisation RECOUP carried out a study into plastics recycling which showed that 12 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland had a plastics collection in 2001.The Executive distributed £3 million in March 2001 to allow local authorities to establish or expand recycling schemes including the collection of plastics. This funding has allowed a number of local authorities to provide separate kerbside collections, which include plastics as well as plastic bottle banks at recycling centres and plastic balers.

The information requested is not held centrally. Figures for the composition of household waste can be found in tables 2 and 3, page 4 of Waste Data Digest 2001, published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22559) or on SEPA's website (www.sepa.org.uk/publications/wds/data_digest.pdf).

Four objections were lodged against the draft orders published in 1997. Three remain unresolved.

We are actively pursuing the recommendations from the Scottish Diet Action Plan aimed at reducing salt intake by more than a third by 2005. Guidelines have been produced for the improvement of nutritional standards in schools, hospitals and catering establishments which encourage the adoption of healthier practices into all aspects of catering, including reduction in usage of salt. At a UK level, the Food Standards Agency is pursuing a number of initiatives involving major retailers and manufacturers to reduce the level of salt in processed foods.

The relationship between salt and blood pressure was considered by the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) in its 1994 report, Nutritional Aspects of Cardiovascular Disease, which recommended a reduction in the average intake of salt by the adult population from 9g per day, the levels current at the time, to 6g per day (5g per day in women and 7g per day in men). A similar proportionate reduction in the salt content of children's diets was recommended but insufficient data were available to enable quantification.

Information on salt intake is available from the National Diet and Nutrition Surveys, the National Food Survey and the Scottish Health Survey.

Scientific evidence suggests the main health risk associated with high salt intakes relates to elevated blood pressure or hypertension, which is an important contributory factor to coronary heart disease and stroke. The majority of evidence is derived from studies on adults; there is very little evidence available regarding the effect of high salt intake on children.