Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive believes that all schools should be Health Promoting Schools which instil a sense of social responsibility, respect and care for self, tolerance and understanding and respect and care for others. The Executive also supports the Scottish School Ethos Network.

The new Health Education 5-14 guidelines for schools, which will be published soon, cover three interconnected themes. One of these, emotional health, explores emotions, feelings and mental health and how these affect us and our relationships.

I would refer you to the joint CoSLA/Scottish Executive Report It Pays to Pay and to my answer to question S1W-4296 to Des McNulty of 23 February. I would encourage anyone having difficulty with their council tax payments to discuss with their council what flexibilities are available.

I would refer you to the joint CoSLA/Scottish Executive Report It Pays to Pay and to my answer to question S1W-4296 to Des McNulty of 23 February. Individuals who are being pursued by different sheriff officers can arrange payment terms on the consolidated debt.

Initial data presented by the group, which concentrated on one specialty, has resulted in changes in transfusion policy and ordering practices. This has led to a reduction in the number of units of blood used. The programme is now being extended to other specialties and work is in hand to improve the quality of data collected with a view to providing routine clinical information on transfusion practices.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Clinical Audit and Resource Group are also jointly funding a three-year study to evaluate the role of the clinical nurse specialist in developing and implementing transfusion protocols and guidelines.

I refer Mr Kenneth Gibson to the answer I gave to question S1W-9407 on 15 September 2000.

We attach importance to the provision and availability of targeted access to capital as part of our enterprise review and our social inclusion strategies. A number of schemes of support are available from the Scottish Executive and through the Enterprise Network. These include, for example, the £12 million Business Growth Fund launched last year to provide loan finance to companies unable to access sufficient support from established sources, and the new Invest for Growth scheme replacing Regional Selective Assistance grant for grants below £100,000.

The Scottish Executive, in partnership with other organisations, also wishes to encourage the provision of and access to finance to enable social economy organisations in Scotland to develop, thereby stimulating enterprise and wealth creation in disadvantaged communities. The model to meet this aim is the Social Investment Scotland Fund.

The following table shows the number of available staffed beds in NHS Hospitals in each health board area per 1,000 population for the year ending 31 March 2000. The figures, which cover all specialties, are provisional.NHS Staffed Beds per 1,000 Population, Year Ending 31 March 2000

Health Board	Beds per 1,000 Population
Argyll & Clyde	7.62
Ayrshire & Arran	5.74
Borders	6.44
Dumfries & Galloway	6.70
Fife	5.66
Forth Valley	6.71
Grampian	6.82
Greater Glasgow	7.83
Highland	6.82
Lanarkshire	6.37
Lothian	5.80
Orkney	4.40
Shetland	5.20
Tayside	8.00
Western Isles	9.00
Scotland	6.77

Differences in the number of NHS staffed beds per 1,000 population between health boards reflect a number of factors including the healthcare needs of different populations and the fact that some hospitals provide treatment to patients from other health board areas.

For the period in question the information was not collected in the form requested.

I intend to issue for consultation a draft national planning policy guideline and draft planning legislation on telecommunications development. A planning advice note containing information and advice on siting and design will be issued to accompany the final version of the new legislation and policy guidance.

It was a condition of the settlement that the terms would not be disclosed and would remain confidential to the parties beyond that the actions had been settled out of court without any admission of liability by the defendants and each party had borne its own expenses.