Chamber and committees

NHS boards have been given a formula capital allocation of £279 million for 2010‘11.

Details of NHS boards formula allocations together with Special Board minor works allocations for the period 2010-11 are as follows:

NHS Board	2010-11 £ Million
Ayrshire and Arran	18.472
Borders	5.196
Dumfries and Galloway	7.769
Fife	15.655
Forth Valley	12.515
Grampian	25.256
Greater Glasgow	83.887
Highland	16.014
Lanarkshire	25.398
Lothian	44.331
Orkney	0.770
Shetland	0.873
Tayside	21.226
Western Isles	1.638
Total	279.000

 

Special Health Board	£ Million
Scottish Ambulance Service	19.338
National Services Scotland	6.308
NHS 24	1.319
The State Hospitals Board for Scotland	39.181
National Waiting Times Centre	7.054
NHS Education for Scotland	0.000
NHS Health Scotland	0.290
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland	0.250
Total	=SUM(ABOVE) 73.740

 

In addition boards will receive allocations for initiatives such as primary care modernisation, medical equipment and radiotherapy equipment.

The total health net capital budget for 2010-11 is £557.4 million.

The Office of Rail Regulation is the independent safety and economic regulator for the rail network across Great Britain.

Scottish Government officials are in contact with HM Revenue and Customs as a matter of routine. The most recent ministerial meeting at which HMRC was represented was a meeting involving the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism held on 22 February 2010.

As part of the recently announced £740 million three year funding package for the Scottish bus industry, incentives will be provided for Low Carbon Vehicles (LCVs), including hybrid buses, within the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG). These vehicles will receive grant at twice the normal rate. The Scottish Government has also provided grant of £1 million to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) for the purchase of low carbon vehicles. This is currently out to tender.

We will shortly be asking Parliament to approve the draft Census (Scotland) Order which will set out the proposed 2011 census questions. In line with Scotland''s Census 2011: A Government Statement, laid before Parliament in December 2008 (Bib. number 47152), we will be recommending that the census asks the same two questions as the last census about an individual''s health (health over the last 12 months and long-term illness, health problem or disability which limits daily activities or work). We will also be recommending a new question about whether an individual has a long-term health condition (such as deafness) and a question about the total income of the household (but not individual incomes).

Information relating to general health provides a good indication of the demand for health services, while also contributing to the monitoring of delivery of health care and the assessment of progress towards better population health. It is also an important variable in analyses of deprivation. The question on long-term health problems or disabilities provides the only measure of disability in small areas and contributes to policy development on improving healthy life expectancy. It also helps allocate resources for the care of elderly people. The new question on health conditions will enable more specific policy and service planning and provision than has been previously been possible in relation not only to health services but also to social justice and housing. It will potentially be used in the development and monitoring of policies for tackling inequality and social exclusion, as well as in analyses of the effect of different conditions on the likelihood of economic activity. It also has potential for use in matching reported conditions with take up of services. Household income information will provide a measure of deprivation and affluence for small geographic areas. This in turn will provide a useful indication of living standards and allow identification of areas of poverty. Such data will inform decisions about resource allocation and service delivery as well as identifying areas in need of investment. Analysis of income data alongside other census information will allow better understanding of the characteristics of people with differing levels of income. It may also provide a more detailed insight into the need for affordable housing, the relationship between disability and poverty, the reasons for differences in financial welfare across Scotland and the links between take up of benefits and social inclusion.

An automatic fire suppression system such as a sprinkler system is required in new enclosed shopping centres and as a result of the Building Regulation changes which were introduced on 1 May 2005, in all new residential care buildings; sheltered housing complexes, and high rise domestic buildings. Over and above this level of provision, it is proposed to require all new school buildings in Scotland to have sprinkler systems installed from October 2010.

There are currently no proposals to make sprinklers compulsory in existing buildings.

As part of its inspection procedures NHS boards check to ensure that relevant patient information is displayed within practices.

Checks are also undertaken by Practitioner Services of NHS National Services Scotland, which is responsible for processing and paying dental payment claims, on successive claims submitted within a short timescale for payment for separate courses of treatment in respect of the same patient. Such successive courses of treatment can also be picked up by Practitioner Services as part of checks they undertake on patient record cards and at Scottish Dental Reference Service examinations.

Guidance has not yet issued. This will be included in the next Memorandum which issues to dentists.

To confirm that the Scottish Government will consult on extending the coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act to the following bodies:

Contractors who build and maintain schools

Contractors who build and maintain hospitals

Contractors who operate and maintain trunk roads under private finance contracts

Contractors who run privately managed prisons and provide prisoner escort and court custodial services

Leisure, sport and cultural trusts and bodies established by local authorities

Glasgow Housing Association

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.

A consultation paper will be published in due course. It will seek the views of any interested persons, as well as the bodies themselves (or their representative bodies). In particular the government is mindful of the impact of the economic downturn and will examine any potential negative impact on the bodies proposed before reaching its conclusions on extending coverage.

Additionally, the government will explore options for ensuring that Registered Social Landlords increase their transparency and accountability through the proposed Housing (Scotland) Bill.

The Scottish Government is currently carrying out a review of the Blue Badge scheme in Scotland, in order to ensure that it is up to date and relevant to those who need to use it. We have established a working group with representation from local authorities, the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland, NHS Scotland and the British Parking Association to take this work forward. As part of these discussions, we will consider whether the qualification criteria are still relevant.

Local authorities already have discretion when making a decision on whether or not to award a Blue Badge. While badges are issued automatically to applicants in receipt of the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance or a War Pensioner''s Mobility Supplement, local authorities can also use separate legislative criteria to decide whether or not to award a badge to an individual with a mobility impairment who does not qualify for either of these benefits.