Chamber and committees

On 30 June 2006, the number of patientswaiting for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant following referralfrom a general medical/dental practitioner was 192,465. On the same date, the waitinglist per 100,000 population was 3,778.

The information requested couldonly be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The total cost of procurementof goods and services for the Executive and its agencies is not held centrally andcould be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The information requested couldonly be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Information is not held centrallyon the number of dentists found in breach of their terms of service under NHS generaldental services (GDS) by NHS Discipline Committees.

The NHS tribunal has directedthe national disqualification from NHS board dental lists of one dentist in thelast 10 years on the ground that his remaining listed and therefore able to provideNHS general dental services would prejudice the efficiency of these services.

Dentists may be referred to theGeneral Dental Council for unfitness to practise the profession of dentistry. Mattersrelating to the council are reserved.

We do not monitor centrally thecompliance of rotas with the Working Time Regulations (WTR) since this is the responsibilityof NHS boards as employers. However, the rotas for doctors in training are monitoredtwice a year to ensure compliance with the New Deal contract and data are availablecentrally from that source.Information on compliance rateswith the New Deal is published by specialty and by NHS board on the Scottish HealthStatistics website under Workforce Statistics at www.isdscotland.org/wf_medical.Section B gives details of medical posts in NHS Scotland with tables B13 to 17 providingsummaries of compliance rates for doctors in training with the New Deal.

The latest figures reported forrota period August 2005 to January 2006 show the compliance rate for Scotland was97.2%. Based only on the hours worked, 99.4% of doctors in training do not exceedthe maximum New Deal average of 56 contracted hours a week.

The current limit for averageworking time for junior doctors under the WTR is 58 hours a week (57 hours from2007 and 48 hours from 2009).

The Scottish Executive regularlymonitors employment, costs and earnings of the fishing industry in Scotland. Theresults of these studies are published, for example in the annual Sea FisheriesStatistical Bulletin, with accompanying commentary. The most important factor since1999 affecting the size of the Scottish fleet, and consequently employment in the Scottish fishing industry, has been the dramatic reduction in the cod biomass whichnecessitated fleet restructuring, supported by £56.2 million of public funding.

Details of all Scottish basedvessels which have been deregistered in each of the years since 1999 are asfollows:

1999	156
2000	136
2001	93
2002	176
2003	186
2004	90
2005	157
2006	98 (to 31 August)

 

Two decommissioning schemes havebeen applied by the Environment and Rural Affairs Department since 1999 and a totalof 165 over 10m vessels have left the fleet under these arrangements. On decommissioning,these vessels were deregistered and are, therefore, reflected in the above figures,depending on the year of deregistration.

Criteria already exist for thepayment of certain allowances such as the higher rate of general dental practiceallowance where an additional 6% is payable, making a total payment of 12% of NHSearnings to those dental practices which (a) treat all categories of patients underNHS arrangements (b) have an average of 500 registered NHS patients per dentist,of which 100 must be fee-paying adults and (c) have average gross NHS earnings of£50,000 or more per dentist.

This information is not heldcentrally.