Chamber and committees

The available information on the numberof persons proceeded against for dog fouling and litter offences is given in thefollowing table. The number of fixed penalty notices for littering issued by policeand local authorities under their respective powers in Part IV of the EnvironmentalProtection Act 1990 is not held centrally. The information available on dog foulingfixed penalty notices was given in the answer to question S2W-14542 on 9 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Persons Proceeded Against in ScottishCourts for Dog Fouling and Littering Offences¹, by Police Force Area,2002-03 to 2004-05

Police Force Area	Dog fouling			Litter
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Central	-	-	-	2	-	3
Dumfries and Galloway	-	1	-	1	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	2	1	-	1	1	1
Lothian and Borders	1	2	-	3	1	3
Northern	1			1
Strathclyde	1	1	-	21	19	30
Tayside	5	4	1	7	7	2
Scotland	10	9	1	36	28	43

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Centrally held informationcan provide details for patients where malnutrition is identified on their hospitalrecords. These figures may represent an undercount of the true number of cases becausemalnutrition as an underlying reason for admission to hospital may not always berecorded, by clinicians or coded by coding staff. Furthermore, recent improvementsin the completeness of coding (the number of diagnoses that are recorded) may suggestan undercount of the number of cases of malnutrition recorded in earlier years.

The definition of malnutrition includes diagnoses of nutritionaldeficiencies (e.g. vitamin A, thiamine and calcium deficiencies), nutritional anaemiasand malnutrition related diabetes mellitus.

Table 1 shows the number of patients discharged from acutehospitals in Scotland with a diagnosis of malnutrition broken downby NHS board of residence and age group.

Table1: Number of Patients Discharged with Diagnosis of Malnutrition in NHS Scotland,by NHS Board of Residence; for Years Ending 31 March 1998-2006

All Ages	Year Ending 31 March
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland	1,755	1,808	1,784	1,627	1,586	1,731	1,752	1,821	1,909
Ayrshire and Arran	107	107	144	136	129	164	126	116	117
Borders	44	53	40	29	45	39	59	34	35
Dumfries and Galloway	86	101	117	104	90	98	91	81	85
Fife	43	49	75	74	93	98	107	123	125
Forth Valley	59	56	79	77	87	91	55	62	51
Grampian	62	69	70	67	53	55	83	96	95
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	578	620	499	450	386	426	440	511	503
Highland	72	68	84	75	86	92	87	97	137
Lanarkshire	261	287	275	268	187	200	172	157	145
Lothian	301	243	224	198	307	337	401	423	514
Orkney	5	2	3	1	2	3	5	5	8
Shetland	5	2	7	5	3	3	5	6	6
Tayside	124	131	157	134	113	116	118	103	82
Western Isles	8	20	10	9	5	9	3	7	6

 

Children (Aged 0-15 Years)	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland	50	49	41	39	33	31	38	31	38
Ayrshire and Arran	4	7	6	3	3	2	5	4	1
Borders	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-
Dumfries and Galloway	3	2	1	2	2	2	3	2	1
FIFE	5	2	3	2	-	6	2	1	-
Forth Valley	-	1	2	2	1	-	2	1	1
Grampian	4	8	6	4	4	2	2	3	2
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	10	14	10	5	9	3	9	5	10
Highland	8	5	3	7	7	5	2	1	2
Lanarkshire	6	3	1	6	2	3	1	4	5
Lothian	4	3	5	5	2	6	7	5	11
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Tayside	6	4	3	3	2	1	5	4	5
Western Isles	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

 

Adults (Aged 16 Years and Over)	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland	1,705	1,759	1,743	1,588	1,553	1,700	1,714	1,790	1,871
Ayrshire and Arran	103	100	138	133	126	162	121	112	116
Borders	44	53	40	29	45	38	59	33	35
Dumfries and Galloway	83	99	116	102	88	96	88	79	84
Fife	38	47	72	72	93	92	105	122	125
Forth Valley	59	55	77	75	86	91	53	61	50
Grampian	58	61	64	63	49	53	81	93	93
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	568	606	489	445	377	423	431	506	493
Highland	64	63	81	68	79	87	85	96	135
Lanarkshire	255	284	274	262	185	197	171	153	140
Lothian	297	240	219	193	305	331	394	418	503
Orkney	5	2	3	1	2	3	5	5	8
Shetland	5	2	7	5	2	3	5	6	6
Tayside	118	127	154	131	111	115	113	99	77
Western Isles	8	20	9	9	5	9	3	7	6

Notes:

1. These statistics are derivedfrom the linked database containing linked discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatrichospitals (SMR01) records in Scotland.

2. Up to six diagnoses (one principal,5five secondary) are recorded on the SMR01 return. All diagnostic positions havebeen used to select malnutrition.

3. There is not one single, specificInternational Classification of Disease (ICD), tenth revision, code for malnutritionand this analysis is based on the following ICD10 codes: E40-E46, E50-E64, E12,O25, D51.3, D52.0, D53.2, D53.8, D53.9, M83.3, O24.2, F50.0, F50.1 and T73.0.

4. Age group and NHS board ofresidence is assigned on the first discharge for each patient.

5. Patients with more than one discharge in the year areonly counted once but may be counted more than once across years.

There are no policecommunity support officers in Scottish police forces.

There is no limit oncontingent liabilities as such – it is the nature of a contingent liabilitythat its actual liability or its extent or its timing is uncertain. the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) does, however, set out a procedure tofollow where the Executive proposes to enter into legally enforceable undertakingswhich could give rise to a contingent liability: the prior approval of the Parliament (via the Finance Committee) must be secured before entering into anyspecific guarantee, indemnity, or letter or statement of comfort unless thereis a specific statutory authority, it arises in the normal course of businessor the sum at risk is of £1 million or less. The Executive’s annual accountsreport contingent liabilities at the relevant Balance Sheet date in accordancewith the Government Financial Reporting Manual. The relevant section of theSPFM can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/contingentliabs.

No Scottish Executive staffhave been disciplined for racist behaviour in the last five years.

I have obtained the figures shownbelow from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Number of Students Applying forand being Accepted for Entry in 2005

Subject	Applications	Accepted Applicants
Law	8,153	1,536
Medicine	9,467	937
Engineering	13,677	2,653
Veterinary Studies*	1,847	255

Note: *Veterinary and agriculturalstudies and related, at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The number of applications andacceptances in Accountancy is not being made available separately by UCAS.

A copy of a table Applicationsand Acceptances through UCAS to Scottish Higher Education Institution bysocio economic group has been placed in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 41697). That table contains a breakdown by socio-economic groupof all applications and acceptances to Scottish Higher ducation Institutions byinstitution and year.

The Scottish Executive is seekingto reduce the distance travelled by food through working with the industry to ensurethat more Scottish food is processed in Scotland, by encouraging localised food distribution systems andby supporting local marketing schemes. For example, we have provided over £60 millionsince 2001 to support investments that add value to Scottish primary produce withinScotland. We also welcome recent initiatives by Marks and Spencer, and by Tesco,to reduce their food miles and label food imported by air.

The Scottish Executive is seekingto ensure that more Scottish food is processed and consumed in Scotland, byencouraging localised food distribution systems and by supporting local marketingschemes. For example, we have provided over £60 million since 2001 enabling a totalinvestment of £308 million in Scotland to support improvements in the processing and marketingof Scottish primary produce.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31209 on 2 February 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

This level of detailed informationis not collected, and the distance that these commodities travel will vary, as willthe definition of “local Scottish shop”.