Chamber and committees

Capital grants at the rate of 40% are currently available to assist farmers in designated nitrate vulnerable zones to install or upgrade storage and handling facilities for slurry, manure and silage effluent. The maximum grant payable to any one business is £34,000. The current application period ends on 31 August 2004, and no decision has yet been made on whether there will be a further tranche.

We do not break expenditure down into a communications heading. In the last five years the costs of staff in our Communications and Information Services Division and Press Office, Media and Communications are:

	Communications and Information Services (£000)	Press Office, Media and Communications (£000)
1999-2000	6,985	1,870
2000-01	7,431	2,291
2001-02	8,606	3,108
2002-03	9,438	3,726
2003-04	8,258	4.127

In 2004-05 the estimated figures are 9,456 and 4,099.

The number of staff in Communications and Information Services, and Press and Publicity are:

As at 1 April for each year	Communications and Information Services	Press and Publicity	Special Advisors
1999	175	43	3
2000	275	51	10
2001	227	52	14
2002	251	66	8
2003	281	84	8
2004	288	89	11

The figures provided for staff numbers and costs in relation to Information and Communication Technology are for the Communications and Information Services Division of the Scottish Executive. The range of functions and activities supported by this Division has changed over the period in question. However, the key functions of this area currently include: internal ICT system development and support; internal ICT project planning and implementation; internal ICT application development and support; ICT security for the Executive'sinternal systems; support for the Executive's telephony network; radio spectrum management and emergency systems; library, information and records management advisory and support services for the Executive and its agencies; the Executive's centralenquiry team; development and support services for the Executive's website, andadministration and financial management support services for the division.

The management of thediagnosis and treatment of myasthenia gravis lies with NHS boards and involvesa number of different medical specialties.

The number and skill mix ofstaff that will be required in the future is a matter for the individual NHS boardsto decide and relates to the way in which the service will be provided withinthe geographical area of their responsibility.

The treatment of myasthenia gravis is undertaken mainly in primary care and hospital outpatient settings,and in a small number of cases inpatient and day case treatment is performed. Information on waiting times is available centrallyfor first outpatient appointments with a consultant, following GP referral, atspecialty level only, and for inpatient and day case treatment. Provisionalinformation for the year ended 31 March 2004, indicates that 18 patients wereadmitted from the waiting list for myasthenia gravis inpatient and day casetreatment, and the median waiting time was 17.5 days.

Since 1999, there have been 166 recorded breaches of the Scottish Executive IT Code of Conduct in core departments. They are broken down by department as follows:

Corporate Services	23
Development	20
Education	14
Environment & Rural Affairs	33
Enterprise Tourism & Lifelong Learning	26
Finance and Central Services	17
Health	12
Justice	21
Total	166

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. 68 resulted in more serious disciplinary action mainly in the form of a formal written warning.

Support services for people with myasthenia gravis and other chronic illnesses, and for their families, are in general for NHS boards and local authority social services departments to plan, based on their assessments of local needs. The Executive takes the view that support services should be appropriate to the needs of patients and carers.

General practitioners are expected to identify their own personal learning needs to better provide for  the health needs of their patients and to seek training accordingly. Guidance and assistance is available to GPs from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) via the Postgraduate Directors of General Practice Education.

Guidance and assistance on training programmes is also available to hospital doctors from NHS Education for Scotland (NES), via Postgraduate Deans and Tutors.

The management of myasthenia gravis, and other chronic illnesses, is in general a matter for NHS boards to plan based on their assessment of local needs. The Executive would expect NHS boards to provide suitable services for people with myasthenia gravis, the symptoms of which can often be treated successfully. The treatment adopted in any individual case is a matter for clinical judgement.

The information requested is not held centrally.

However, the following table contains the total number of redundancy notices that the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry was notified of in Scotland since 1997.

Year	Number of Redundancy Notices Issued
1997	25,705
1998	28,962
1999	35,360
2000	25,509
2001	54,065
2002	27,641
2003	28,817

The information is supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry and information prior to 1997 is not available.

The number of new businesses that have been registered for VAT in the last four years in each of Scotland’s local authorities is shown in the following Table 1. This data is produced by the Department of Trade and Industry and 2002 is the most recent year for which data is available.

Table 1: VAT Registrations by Local Authority 1999-2002

	1999	2000	2001	2002
Aberdeen City	580	595	525	610
Aberdeenshire	555	635	580	540
Angus	205	200	195	160
Argyll and Bute	225	195	225	230
Clackmannanshire	85	70	80	75
Dumfries and Galloway	310	280	310	320
Dundee City	250	280	270	230
East Ayrshire	250	200	225	220
East Dunbartonshire	205	205	205	180
East Lothian	190	185	170	185
East Renfrewshire	190	170	160	160
Edinburgh City of	1,420	1,490	1,400	1,250
Eilean Siar	70	45	50	55
Falkirk	255	240	240	270
Fife	650	615	585	625
Glasgow City	1,640	1,560	1,545	1,425
Highland	565	530	530	555
Inverclyde	100	120	110	120
Midlothian	145	160	140	155
Moray	150	170	145	150
North Ayrshire	240	235	205	225
North Lanarkshire	520	540	545	545
Orkney Islands	60	70	55	60
Perth and Kinross	380	385	380	375
Renfrewshire	355	315	330	325
Scottish Borders The	335	280	265	290
Shetland Islands	80	75	45	65
South Ayrshire	235	250	250	255
South Lanarkshire	590	610	655	655
Stirling	270	265	225	260
West Dunbartonshire	140	130	115	100
West Lothian	345	325	350	305

Source: DTI 2003.