Chamber and committees

The Race Equality Statement covers the period 2008-11. A progress report on the Race Equality Statement is due later this year.

Under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, to meet the charity test, a body must be established only for charitable purposes and demonstrate it provides, or intend to provides, public benefit. When determining whether a body provides public benefit the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) must have regard to how the benefit to the public compares to any private benefit or any disbenefit that may result from the activities of the particular body. OSCR must also have regard to whether there are unduly restrictive conditions, including fees or charges, on obtaining the benefit the body provides.

The interpretation of these statutory provisions in the discharge of its regulatory duty is entirely a matter for OSCR, as an independent regulator. OSCR has produced guidance on Meeting the Charity Test which includes information on how they will assess public benefit. This is available on their website www.oscr.org.uk.

The 2009 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2009, recorded that 17.4% of primary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/22104701/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2007 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2007, recorded that 18.6% of primary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/06/04134749/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2007 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2007, recorded that 14.2% of secondary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/06/04134749/0.

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The 2009 School Meals Survey, which took place in January/February 2009, recorded that 12.9% of secondary school pupils were entitled to a free school lunch.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/22104701/0 .

Since August 2009, when we extended entitlement to a further category of tax credit recipients, approximately an additional 44,000 pupils (secondary and primary combined) are now entitled to a nutritious healthy free school lunch. This brings the total number of pupils eligible to 147,000 which represents an increase of 42%.

The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds was last discussed by Scottish ministers in April 2008 prior to the publication of the latest version of the guide.

The Scottish Ambulance Service offered comments in September 2007 during the last review of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds. These were fed into the review process through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The Scottish Ambulance Service recruits and trains to allow for traditional accident and emergency ambulances to be staffed by a paramedic and a technician. In circumstances where this is not possible, due for example to sickness absence, the emergence medical dispatch centre (EMDC) will endeavour to provide paramedic support by sending a backup paramedic response unit to appropriate cases or by providing professional advice or support from the paramedic advisor in the EMDC.

Since 2002 the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has operated a system of priority based dispatch. The principles of priority-based dispatch are that calls should receive a speed and type of response that is appropriate to their clinical condition, and that the dispatching of response resources should therefore be prioritised on the basis of information received from callers. The processes that support the operation of this system have remained largely unchanged since they were introduced.

Paramedic response units (formally referred to as rapid response vehicles or fast response vehicles) have been a feature of the service''s response to emergency calls since 2002 when priority-based dispatch was introduced in Scotland. As a rule, where the service sends a paramedic response unit (PRU) it will automatically be backed up by a traditional accident and emergency ambulance. This back up resource can be stood down should the first paramedic on scene consider that it is not required.

Since late 2007, paramedic response units have been deployed to all categories of call, previously they had only been sent to category A calls. Since that time, and only for a small number of clinically appropriate conditions, the paramedic response unit is not automatically backed up. Should the first paramedic on scene require it, they can request a back up crew.

Any revisions to the way the service operates are, and will continue to be, subject to close clinical scrutiny by Scottish Ambulance Service clinical and staff governance structures.

Ambulance response times are continually monitored by the Scottish Ambulance Service at all levels of the organisation, including regular performance reporting to the SAS board.