Chamber and committees

There are a number of reasons, why patients may require treatment outwith their own health board area, for example when a service is provided on a regional or national basis. These patients will be required to be seen or treated within national maximum waiting times standards.

Guidance to NHS boards, issued in preparation for the introduction of New Ways of defining and measuring waiting times on 1 January 2008, makes clear that when treatment cannot be provided locally and a patient needs to travel elsewhere, the patient should be made aware of this as early as possible, preferably when the decision to refer or treat is made. This helps ensure that the patient is part of the decision-making process. The guidance also states that when a patient has to travel, appropriate transport arrangements for the patient (and relative/carer if necessary), should be resourced by the patient''s health board.

The most relevant information which is held centrally is the data on the availability of staffed beds by speciality and hospital, including cardiology and coronary care units. This information can be found on the website of the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=Costs_Hospital_Profile_2008.xls&pContentDispositionType=inline.

The most recent data are from 25 November 2008, but do not allow for identification of the cardiology activity which is also delivered under the heading of general medicine.

Additional Information on coronary heart disease is available on ISD''s Coronary Heart Disease website www.isdscotland.org/isd/2123.html.

Rail services between London and Scotland on Cross Border routes are operated by Virgin Trains and National Express East Coast (NXEC) under franchises awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT). The exception is the Caledonian Sleeper services which are provided under the franchise awarded to First ScotRail by the Scottish Government.

The number of services operated is specified in the Service Level Commitments agreed by train operating companies and DfT. I understand that there are 32 daily services connecting Scotland and London on Monday to Thursday (with three more NXEC services on the East Coast on Fridays).

Full and updated details of weekend services can be found at the National Rail Enquiries website http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

The information requested is not held in the format requested and the information that is held on sleeper passenger numbers is from 2004-05 and not 1999 as requested. This is due to the fact that First ScotRail has operated the current Franchise since October 2004 and rail powers transferred to Scottish ministers from October 2005.

The table gives the total sleeper journeys (thousands) for each four week period, each year, from 1 April 2004. The figures are given in rail industry periods. This gives the total for all Caledonian Sleeper routes which consist of the Highlander routes (operating between London and Fort William/Inverness/Aberdeen) and the Lowlander routes (operating between London and Glasgow/ Edinburgh).

Year/ Period	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2004-05	1,838	1,701	1,695	1,669	1,849	1,784	1,796	1,837	1,922	1,470	1,612	1,799	1,651
2005-06	1,881	1,804	1,791	1,779	1,900	1,931	1,889	1,924	2,024	1,575	1,731	1,879	1,773
2006-07	1,872	1,823	1,814	1,752	2,047	2,013	1,951	1,991	2,093	1,584	1,767	1,927	1,829
2007-08	1,885	1,907	1,913	1,898	2,082	2,085	2,064	2,066	2,154	1,693	1,850	2,085	2,171
2008-09	1,923	2,088	2,073	1,913	2,171	2,109	2,012	2,100	2,217	1,753

 

Volume 5 of the Scottish Energy Study, published in November 2008, contains a set of predictions for possible energy related supply and demand trends up to 2020. In particular, table 12 of the report shows the overall demand projections disaggregated by fuel type up to 2020.

The report can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following location:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/11/14093227/0.

Each local authority determines its own criteria and rates for the payment of fostering allowances to its approved foster carers.

Information on the fostering allowances paid by each local authority is not held centrally.

Information on the number of direct flights connecting London and Scotland each day is set out in the following table:

Information for week 9-15 February 2009 in Current Timetables

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
London to Scotland	75	88	117	103	109	111	115
Scotland to London	78	87	118	103	107	111	111
Total flights London/Scotland/London	153	175	235	206	216	222	226

 

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0212-01.htm

No. Decisions on remand are for the courts, not for the Scottish ministers.

The test in relation to dual criminality is, in essence, encompassed in the definitions of extradition offence as provided for in sections 64 and 65 (in relation to category 1 territories) and sections 137 and 138 (in relation to category 2 territories) of the Extradition Act 2003. The same definitions apply with one exception. In relation to category 1 requests, an extradition request also includes an alleged offence (or conviction) which is certified by the requesting state as falling within the European framework list and attracts the necessary minimum periods of detention. In respect of those European framework list offences (which are applicable in category one cases only) there is no requirement for dual criminality.