Chamber and committees

Table 1 shows the number of nursingand midwifery staff in post for the years requested and table 2 shows the percentagechange for each time period. Figures for 2006 are not yet available.

Table 1

	1979	1990	1991	1997	2005*
All Nursing and Midwifery staff	53,815	63,144	64,189	61,961	65,816

 

Table 2

	1979-90	1991-97	1997-2005
All Nursing and Midwifery Staff	17.3%	- 3.5%	6.2%

Note: *Latest statistics

Information on nursing redundancies is not held centrally and is held by individual NHS boards in Scotland.

Information on nurses in NHSScotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under WorkforceStatistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

The exact number of districtnurse contacts in Scotland in each year since 1997, is not available centrally.However, national estimates of the number of district nurse contacts can be givenbased on data received from general practices participating in Practice Team Information(PTI).

PTIgathers information about face-to-face consultations between patients and membersof the general practice team (general medical practitioners (GPs), practice nurses,district nurses and health visitors) and has been collected since 1 April 2003. Priorto this date information was collected on GPs only; therefore district nurse contactsare not available before 1 April 2003 from this source.

Information on the estimatednumber of district nurse contacts in Scotland for the years ending 31 March 2004and 2005 is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under General Practicestatistics, at http://www.isdscotland.org/general_practice_info(click on “Contacts by staff discipline” under “Summary statistics”).

Legal aid debts arise underfour main headings: contributions payable by persons granted civil legal aid; moniespayable in respect of terminations of legal aid; expenses payable by opponents ofpersons granted civil legal aid, and payments to the Legal Aid Fund from winnings.

At 31 March 2006 there was an outstandingdebt of £10.265 million. This amount will fluctuate as some of it is repaid anddebts arise from the four main headings.

The Scottish Legal Aid Boardcan and does take any reasonable and necessary enforcement steps, by way of civildiligence or other available measures, to recover the sums owed to the Legal AidFund in respect of the costs of any legal aid.

We have no centrally-held reliabledata on breach rate of Antisocial Behaviour Orders. Research on the Use of AntisocialBehaviour Orders in Scotland attempted to examine this but current data recordingpractices mean that the data is incomplete. A survey of local authorities undertakenin the research suggests that, nationally, 26% of orders are allegedly breached.

The following table details thenumber of qualified criminal justice social workers in each local authority forthe requested period.

Local Authority	1999 Number	2000 Number	2001 Number	2002 Number	2003 Number	2004 Number	2005 Number
Aberdeen City	33	35	33	35	38	38	40
Aberdeenshire	21	28	32	35	32	38	31
Angus	13	13	15	13	15	15	17
Argyll and Bute	6	6	7	5	5	8	8
Clackmannanshire	11	11	12	11	11	14	14
Dumfries and Galloway	16	13	15	18	15	18	22
Dundee City	21	25	30	32	39	39	42
East Ayrshire	15	12	15	17	19	18	24
East Dunbartonshire	5	3	4	5	4	4	5
East Lothian	0	9	4	8	6	7	8
East Renfrewshire	7	4	4	4	7	10	14
Edinburgh	74	70	65	69	62	69	90
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Falkirk	17	15	14	17	15	15	20
Fife	48	48	55	54	58	58	57
Glasgow	109	131	115	113	122	92	131
Highland	16	16	16	16	16	16	17
Inverclyde	13	13	15	16	20	19	24
Midlothian	7	6	6	6	4	6	9
Moray	9	6	6	10	11	5	9
North Ayrshire	12	11	9	10	15	23	23
North Lanarkshire	40	35	38	41	46	47	53
Orkney Islands	2	2	2	2	2	3	3
Perth and Kinross	20	12	0	0	21	22	24
Renfrewshire	26	19	17	20	25	24	24
Scottish Borders	9	8	9	8	8	15	9
Shetland Islands	4	2	4	3	3	5	4
South Ayrshire	8	11	9	11	13	13	13
South Lanarkshire	25	26	26	25	30	41	50
Stirling	13	8	8	13	12	15	15
West Dunbartonshire	15	16	16	14	16	17	16
West Lothian	12	10	11	11	14	14	14
Total	627	624	612	642	704	729	831

 

These figuresrepresent the number of qualified social workers employed rather than full-timeequivalents.

The Fresh Talent: Working inScotland scheme was introduced on 22 June 2005. Since then, out of a total of over1,860 successful applicants, over 253 people have applied from overseas. The breakdownof applications by country is provided in the following table.

Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme:Successful Overseas Applicants by Country, 22 June 2005to 30 April 2006

Algeria	1	Malaysia	6
Armenia	1	Mauritius	1
Australia	1	Mexico	1
Bahrain	1	Nigeria	9
Bangladesh	1	Pakistan	5
Barbados	1	Russia	2
Bulgaria	1	Singapore	1
Cameroon	1	Sri Lanka	1
Canada	11	Sudan	1
China	58	Swaziland	1
Ecuador	1	Syria	1
Egypt	2	Taiwan	7
Hong Kong	1	Trinidad and Tobago	2
India	74	Uganda	1
Indonesia	1	United States	41
Israel	1	Venezuela	2
Japan	8	Yugoslavia	1
Jordan	2	Zambia	1
Lebanon	1
Libya	1

 

The Scottish Executive has beenworking closely with the Home Office to ensure that Scotland’s needsare reflected in the new points-based managed migration system. The arrangementsfor the system, which were announced by the then Home Secretary on 7 March 2006,include a reduced qualifying period for some tier 1 (highly-skilled migrants) andfor tier 2 migrants (skilled people with a job offer) who wish to settle in Scotland,meaning that people who show a commitment to Scotland will be able to settle permanentlymuch quicker than migrants elsewhere in the UK, and a Scottish shortage occupationlist which will allow us to bring in people with skills that are in short supplyin Scotland. The existing Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland schemewill continue under the points based system (following an evaluation of how it isworking in practice). Overall, the new arrangements are positive and should be hugelybeneficial in attracting the best talent to Scotland and keeping it here.

The Scottish Executive does notconsider applications for the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme,although it can provide advice on the requirements. All applications are made to,and considered by, either UKVisas (for those applying from abroad) or the Home Office’sImmigration and Nationality Directorate (for those applying within Scotland). Processingtimes are a matter for them.

The allocation of funding tothe Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI) since its inceptionby financial year is as follows:

Financial Year	Funding (£ Million)
2002-03	0.20
2003-04	2.00
2004-05	3.60
2005-06	2.45
2006-07	3.70
2007-08	3.70

 

In line with standard governmentpractice budgets are not allocated beyond 2007-08.

The information requested isnot held centrally. Every Scottish police force has access to at least one rapesuite. The number and location of rape suites in a force area is primarily a decisionfor the Chief Constable to make, taking into account operational priorities.