Chamber and committees

The 1999 regulations also provide for certain exceptions to the 30 pupil maximum, excepted pupils, who are not counted for the purposes of ascertaining whether the limit is exceeded. The normal class size maximum for P4 to P7 is 33 pupils.

Number of Single Stage Classes with 30 or Fewer Pupils and Composite Classes with 25 or Fewer Pupils, September 2004 (Given as a Percentage of All Classes)

The data was collected as part of the September 2004 School Census.

Number of Single Stage Classes with More than 30 Pupils and More than One Teacher, September 2004

The data was collected as part of the September 2004 school census.

There is a range of disciplinary penalties which the Executive can impose depending upon the seriousness of the breach. A verbal warning was given in the majority of these cases. Seventy-four resulted in more serious disciplinary action mainly in the form of a written warning.

There have been changes in recording practices which have affected the number of recorded crimes and offences involving air weapons in recent years. In Strathclyde, prior to 2001, and Lothian and Borders, prior to 2002, if a weapon was not seen or seen but not established, an assumption was made about what type of weapon this was. It was usually assumed that it was an air weapon and was recorded as such in the statistical return. However, this recording practice was changed, and if a weapon was not seen or seen but not established, it is now recorded as such and no assumption is made about what the weapon was. This had the effect of decreasing the number of incidents involving an air weapon and increasing those involving an unidentified weapon.

In 2003 Lothian and Borders police began recording details of incidents using crime reports from members of the public. The complainants may identify the firearm involved as an air weapon, based on the type of damage caused, even if they have not seen the firearm. This has led to an increase in the alleged use of air weapons and a decrease in the alleged use of unidentified firearms.

Crimes And Offences Recorded By The Police In Which An Air Weapon Or Unidentified Weapon Was Alleged To Have Been Used; By Age Of Main Accused Where Known

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Home Office on a wide range of issues including firearms and air weapons. Scottish ministers also continue to ensure that Scottish views and interests are recognised, through direct contact with Home Office Ministers.

Deaths fromIntentional Self-Harm and Events of Undetermined Intent, Scotland

1999-2003

In terms of NHS Expenditure, mental illness is equated with the specialities of general psychiatry, adolescent psychiatry, child psychiatry and general psychiatry.

The figures for the years up to and including 2003-04 are provided in the publication Scottish Health Service Costs for each of the years. Figures relating to expenditure by health boards are not yet available for 2004-05.

The following table sets out net expenditure by local authority social work departments on services for adults with mental health needs.

Table 1 – Net Expenditure on Adults with Mental Health Needs (£000)

Source – as reported by councils on the statistical return Local Financial Returns for Social Work (LFR3).

Notes:

1. Excludes loan charges.

2. Prior to 2002-03, the figures exclude home care.

3. The high increase from 2002-03 to 2003-04 is attributable to Glasgow City, the council changed its accounting methodology, resulting in increased expenditure of £18 million.

Percentage of Total Available Hours Lost to Sickness Absence

Source: ISD Scotland

Data on time lost to absenteeism in the NHS is not held centrally.

Absenteeism is very difficult to record on a consistent and rigorous basis as it can be extremely difficult to discriminate between absenteeism and other reasons for absence. The Managing Health at Work PIN guidelines recommend that employers adopt trigger points for reporting absence linked to: Frequent short-term sickness absence; absence that is not satisfactorily explained; absence linked to certain shift patterns, and absence linked to certain days or times.

Information on cancelled admissions to hospital is collected but does not specifically identify cancelled operations prior to or during a hospital stay, or the reasons for cancellation. Table 1 shows information on the number of cancellations made by hospitals prior to in-patient and day case admission for the years ending March 1999-2005.

Table 1: Cancellation of Planned Admissions for In-Patient or Day Case Treatment;

By NHS Hospital: Years Ending 31 March 1999-2005

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1. Data for Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary for year 2002 and the Southern General for years 2001, 2003 and 2005 is not available. Data for previous years has been used as estimates.

2. Cancellations previously included with the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Source: ISD Scotland [From ISD(S)1]

Planned admissions, for an operation or for any other reason, can be cancelled due to various unforeseen pressures. Some examples of these are; an influx of emergency admissions, widespread staff sickness, theatre equipment failure, infection in wards.

On occasions, some patients may be sent home, following admission, when a planned procedure/operation has not been carried out. Some reasons for this include; patient being unfit for treatment due to illness (e.g. chest infection), having omitted to fast before admission, failing to follow pre-admission advice on medication or where theatre time is unavailable due to unexpected complications arising in earlier theatre cases.

The figures in Table 1 include cancelled admissions where no operation was planned, e.g. to non-surgical specialties.

Limited information is available centrally on the number of in-patient/day case episodes where operations/procedures were not carried out following admission. Table 2 shows information on the number of in-patient and day case episodes where operations/procedures were cancelled following admission for contraindication for the years ending March 1999-2005. It is not possible to identify operations/procedures cancelled due to a lack of beds from national information.

Table 2: Number of in-Patient/Day Case Discharges for Cancelled Operations due to Contraindication^1,2,3 by NHS Hospital: Years Ending 31 March 1999-2005

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01). Date: 26/05/2005

Notes:

These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

Cases where the patient was not admitted to hospital are not included.

Up to six diagnoses (one principal, five secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses have been used to identify operations cancelled due to contraindication. The following code was used from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Other Health Related Problems, tenth revision (ICD10): Z53.0 ; Procedure not carried out because of contraindication. However it should be noted that the use of this code may vary from hospital to hospital.

Complete data for 2004/2005 are not yet available. The currently available record counts have been grossed up to provide an estimate for the actual values.

In some hospitals, the ICD10 code Z53.0 has been used to indicate a planned procedure has been cancelled due to medical reasons. Although coding guidelines indicate that no procedure code should be recorded with an ICD10 code of Z53.0, there is a small number of instances where this rule appears to have been broken. For a high proportion of these, it is believed that the procedure code refers to a procedure other than the one that was cancelled. The majority of these include; scans, blood withdrawal and infusion of therapeutic substance. For completeness these are included in the above table.

The completeness of recording cancelled operations/procedures across Scotland cannot be fully ascertained, and it is considered that there is, in certain hospitals, some degree of under-recording.

The information in table 2 does not include operations/procedures cancelled prior to admission.

Please note that figures in table 2 include all procedures (i.e. include minor procedures that will be carried out-with a theatre setting) and not just major operations.

Information on the numbers of cancelled operations/procedures that had been planned on an out-patient basis is not centrally available.

Data for 2004-05 should be regarded as provisional and may contain estimates.

Table 1

Data Source : SMR03 (quarterly waiting times census)

Table 2 presents the median waiting times for patients recorded as available for treatment for year ending December 2004, and the median for all patients (including those with an ASC) for both year ending June 1999 and year ending December 2004.

Table 2

Data Source : SMR01

The rise in median wait recorded between June 1999 and December 2004 is to be expected due to the emphasis on treating those patients who have been waiting longest. The fall in the number of long waiters is demonstrated clearly in table 1. The nine month maximum wait was met at end 2003 and very few patients have breached this since then. The six month maximum wait is to be achieved by end 2005.

Information on cancelled admissions to hospital is collected but does not specifically identify cancelled operations prior to or during a hospital stay. Table 1 shows information on the number of cancellations made by hospitals prior to inpatient and day case admission for the years ending March 2004 and March 2005.

Table 1: NHSis – Cancellation of Planned Admissions for In-Patient or Day Case Treatment; By Health Board Area: Years Ending 31 March 2004-05

Source: ISD Scotland [Form ISD(S)1].

^PProvisional.

Note: 1. Data for Dumfries and Galloway and the Southern General Hospital are not available for 2005. The 2004 data have been used as an estimate of the 2005 numbers.

Planned admissions, for an operation or for any other reason, can be cancelled due to various unforeseen pressures. Some examples of these are; an influx of emergency admissions, widespread staff sickness, theatre equipment failure, infection in wards.

On occasions, some patients may be sent home, following admission, when a planned procedure/operation has not been carried out. Some reasons for this include; patient being unfit for treatment due to illness (e.g. chest infection), having omitted to fast before admission, failing to follow pre-admission advice on medication or where theatre time is unavailable due to unexpected complications arising in earlier theatre cases.