Chamber and committees

It is for every Scottishpublic authority to adopt its own system for monitoring requests it receives forinformation. It is for each public authority to determine what information canmost effectively be recorded, and there is no requirement to monitor requestsin any particular way, for example by reference to any particular circumstanceof the requester. Further the Executive is not party to the detailed informationheld by any other public authority as a result of that authority’s monitoringsystem. It is therefore not possible for the Executive to answer this question.

The evidence on the leachingof nitrate to groundwater as a result of the spreading of manure is summarised inAnnex B of the Executive’s consultation paper on proposed amendments to the ActionProgramme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, issued on 16 November.

We have put in place a rangeof measures to enable local agencies to address antisocial behaviour (ASB) drivenby addiction. For example:

We are providing £2 million fundingbetween 2006 and 2008 to three local authorities for Breaking the Cycle projects,testing intensive supervision and intervention models aimed at encouraging behaviouralchange in the small number of families, many of whom have addiction problems, whoare responsible for much of the most serious ASB in each community.

We have provided the police withpowers under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 to disperse groupsengaged in persistent ASB, including street drinking, and to close premises beingused as drug or drinking dens.

We are supporting local authorityproposals to introduce byelaws prohibiting drinking of alcohol in designated publicplaces under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

These measures are in additionto the £120 million funding which is supporting local authorities between 2004 and2008 to develop a full range of ASB services appropriate to local circumstances.We require local authorities to show how local action to tackle ASB is co-ordinatedwith that to tackle alcohol and drug addictions.

The Executive has a broad rangeof interventions in place which ensure that individuals are offered access to treatmentat each stage in the criminal justice system. The range includes arrest referralschemes, mandatory drug treatment for arrestees, diversion from prosecution, pilotingof drug treatment and testing as a condition of bail, drug treatment as a conditionof probation order, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, drug treatment throughoutprisons sentences and upon release from prison through the Throughcare addictionservice. In addition, the Glasgow and Fife Drug Courts focus specifically on offendersdriven by addiction and the 218 centre in Glasgow provides services for women offenders.The aim of this wide-ranging strategy is to reduce levels of addiction and to reduceor eliminate associated levels of crime.

A budget allowance of £2,000has been allocated for indoor plants and a further £36,300 for grounds maintenanceincluding outdoor plants but also including winter gritting and the maintenanceof grass areas.

Health Protection Scotland publishedthe latest figures on MRSA bacteraemia (blood infection) rates on 16 January 2007. A copyof this report is available from: http://www.documents.hps.scot.nhs.uk/hai/sshaip/publications/mrsa-quarterly-reports/jan-2003-to-sept-2006.pdf

Hospital specific informationis not held centrally.

MRSA bacteraemia rates have remainedstable in Scotland as a whole since national mandatory reporting began in2003.

As part of our drive to improvesurveillance, compulsory reporting of all Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias (whichincludes MSSA and MRSA) was introduced in July 2006. As expected, this has increasedreporting of MSSA infections (which was previously voluntary), but this will enablemore effective targeting of measures to reduce these infections.

Wide-ranging measures to addresshealthcare associated infection (HAI), set in place by the HAI Task Force, includea national campaign to raise awareness amongst NHS staff, patients, visitors andthe public of the benefits of improved hand hygiene to public health. localhealth board co-ordinators are being appointed to help implement and monitor compliancein hospitals. Additional training courses for NHS staff, and robust monitoring of the standards of cleaning in Scotland’s hospitals are also part of the Task Force’s DeliveryPlan.

Tables presenting theinformation available have been placed in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 41596).

The information requested isnot collected centrally.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS does not hold theseestimates. However, from August 2005 till July 2006, 1,211 prisoners accessedthe National Throughcare Addiction Service on release from prison.

Available information on thenumber of teachers who were (a) recruited by and (b) retired from each local authoritysince 1997 is set out in the following tables. Up to 2002-03 the data representsall teachers in the workforce, excluding supply and part-time temporary staff.

From 2003-04 the recruitmentdata is obtained by comparing all those in schools on census day, with those inschools on census day of the previous year, excluding supply teachers covering absenceand centrally employed teachers. It will also therefore exclude teachers who wererecruited during the year but who left before the census day. While informationon those leaving is therefore also available, information on why they left, andtherefore how many have retired, is incomplete.

Teachers Recruited	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen City	127	114	129	96	73	125	240	237
Aberdeenshire	189	166	193	234	210	54	470	441
Angus	99	101	139	68	99	111	121	158
Argyll and Bute	72	129	80	50	70	78	169	110
Clackmannanshire	27	10	16	16	26	19	59	60
Dumfries and Galloway	115	123	140	90	139	130	239	195
Dundee City	62	69	73	69	89	107	168	121
East Ayrshire	20	35		78	1	72	137	146
East Dunbartonshire	90	84	69	43	65	85	175	140
East Lothian	34	18	52	11	75	39	156	153
East Renfrewshire	45	38	36	38	133	92	151	176
Edinburgh, City of	247	210	387	244	273	203	443	462
Eilean Siar	27	29	51	37	32	34	81	83
Falkirk	56	28	80	37	108	128	159	206
Fife	78	89	189	167	85	145	368	363
Glasgow City	140	49	155	134	123	96	636	587
Highland	74	88	155	84	52	61	316	342
Inverclyde	35	43	50	63	51	46	71	94
Midlothian	32	30	42	33	19	54	106	133
Moray	57	61	73	76	120	83	144	125
North Ayrshire	31	19	35	47	27	12	162	242
North Lanarkshire	149	182	275	172	120	116	463	625
Orkney Islands	16	6	6	4	15	21	48	47
Perth and Kinross	92	31	37	31	10	33	178	153
Renfrewshire	28	61	38	114	100	11	173	127
Scottish Borders	55	65	75	44	76	44	147	142
Shetland Islands	27	21	76	26	27	45	62	62
South Ayrshire	10	2	17	4	45	17	154	118
South Lanarkshire	33	106	216	140	78	195	336	370
Stirling	67	45	129	44	95	98	140	152
West Dunbartonshire	100	32	127	71	62	77	155	136
West Lothian	91	63	129	74	112	136	118	275

Source: Up to 2002-03, TeacherFlow Survey, From 2003-04 Teacher Census.

Notes:

1. Teacher Census data is notcomparable with the Teacher Flow Survey as it includes all temporary staff.

2. Data does not include thoserecruited during the year but not present at the census.

3. Numbers are Headcounts

Teachers Retired	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	33	21	39	26	33	51
Aberdeenshire	32	29	109	20	28	44
Angus	29	18	27	22	26	43
Argyll and Bute	6	6	7	6	14	20
Clackmannanshire	6	6	11	7	16	9
Dumfries and Galloway	15	21	23	17	37	28
Dundee City	28	33	16	17	36	33
East Ayrshire	28	28	37	23	33	51
East Dunbartonshire	7	18	19	9	14	8
East Lothian	3	11	14	18	15	4
East Renfrewshire	12	14	11	15	19	16
Edinburgh, City of	52	46	55	45	47	56
Eilean Siar	10	10	6	9	5	16
Falkirk	15	15	21	18	27	53
Fife	33	34	87	87	110	95
Glasgow City	37	30	32	29	109	40
Highland	20	40	39	35	50	52
Inverclyde	1	5	8	7		6
Midlothian	19	6	8	5	10	24
Moray	18	16	23	14	24	24
North Ayrshire	20	29	28	13	37	18
North Lanarkshire	60	51	87	53	71	97
Orkney Islands	4	2		1	3	12
Perth and Kinross	23	13	21	18	5	25
Renfrewshire	23	18	24	29	77	17
Scottish Borders	9	2	16	11	12	23
Shetland Islands	4	6	15	8	8	16
South Ayrshire	18	22	16	18	19	12
South Lanarkshire	30	36	75	35	44	246
Stirling	23	11	29	17	6	19
West Dunbartonshire	8	10	21	21	22	19
West Lothian	17	18	30	16	31	56

Source: Teacher Flow Survey.

Note: 1. Numbers are Headcounts.