Chamber and committees

The assessment has not yet been completed.

Subsequent to my previous reply the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has clarified that the housing costs for supported housing which does not come within the definition of ‘exempt’ supported housing will be met via universal credit and the benefit cap will apply. In particular local authority owned supported housing will not fall within the definition of exempt supported accommodation and will be subject to the cap.

In May 2013 the Housing Support Enabling Unit together with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Homeless Action Scotland published a report of a survey of housing support across all sectors. The report can be accessed at:

http://www.ccpscotland.org/hseu/information/Welfare-Reform/supported-exempt-accommodation-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important.

The report showed, among other things, that:

A significant proportion of housing support providers thought that a significant proportion of their provision would fall outside the DWP definition of supported exempt housing;

Scottish Women’s Aid has calculated that local authorities are the landlords of some 30% of women’s refuge accommodation in Scotland. This equates to 152 accommodation places.

We are now considering with COSLA how best to gather information to identify the total number and types of supported accommodation which will fall outside the DWP exempt categories and which will therefore be subject to the benefit cap.

This information is not held centrally. However, the UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations (SMI) are endorsed by the Scottish Microbiology Forum (now superseded by the Scottish Microbiology and Virology Network) and each laboratory in Scotland uses these standards as the basis for developing and maintaining their own local standard operating procedures for laboratory investigations. The SMI standards are used as a basis for assessment Clinical Pathology Accreditation inspections and laboratory are therefore expected to adhere to standards recommended by the SMI.

There are no specific national educational initiatives commissioned by the Scottish Government about the suitability of different tests for group B streptococcal carriage.

Healthcare professionals will have to demonstrate knowledge, skills and competence relevant to their profession during their undergraduate and postgraduate training, including in areas of diagnosis and appropriate treatments. It is also a professional obligation that such staff participate in continuous professional development activities in order to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date.

In the absence of specific national educational initiatives, healthcare staff are expected to follow professional guidance from their respective Royal Colleges, such as the recently revised guidance “The Prevention of Early-onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease” from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, issued in June 2012.

The number of laboratory confirmed reports of invasive group B streptococcal infections in neonates with early and late onset (as defined below) infection for the period of 2009 to mid-June 2013 for Scotland are summarised in table 1. Figures for 2003-08 are unavailable due to comparable data not being available for these years.

Table 1: Number and incidence of confirmed laboratory reports of invasive Streptococcal Group B infections by year (2009-2013 up to mid-June) in those aged up to 90 days:

The following caveats should be borne in mind when considering this data:

1. Invasive illness in this situation is defined as any report in which blood or CSF has been taken for clinical diagnosis. This is the closest comparative we have in Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland (ECOSS) as information on the clinical diagnosis of individuals is incomplete and often not reported.

2. The date the first sample was taken from an individual has been used as a proxy for date of onset of illness as we do not have detailed information on date of onset of illness in ECOSS.

* Note that the figures for 2013 are provisional, based on reports received up to mid-June and will change as more data including retrospective reports are received throughout the year.

**Incidence estimated based on average birth cohort size from previous four years - assuming that by mid-June 5.5/12 of birth have occurred

As set out in the answer to question S4W-15628 on 26 June 2013, the number of laboratory confirmed reports of early onset invasive group B streptococcal infections has not changed significantly over the last four years (2009- 2012), for which data collection is complete. Figures for 2013 are provisional, based on reports received up to mid-June and will change as more data, including retrospective reports, are received throughout the year.

Current practice for testing for Group B Streptococcal (GBS) infection in Scotland is based on the current Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists ‘Green-top’ guideline updated in July 2012 and current testing methods in Scotland, as for the rest of the UK, are based on the culture of the organism as described in the Health Protection Agency’s document UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations-Processing Swabs for Group B Streptococcal Carriage.

The revised RCOG guideline looked at whether all pregnant women should be offered bacteriological screening for GBS. The guideline states that there is currently no conclusive evidence that routine antenatal screening would reduce mortality rates and that it could carry disadvantages for the mother and baby including: anaphylaxis; increased medicalisation of labour and the neonatal period; and possible infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms, particularly when broad-spectrum antibiotics such as amoxicillin are used for prophylaxis.

The approach recommended is on risk-factor basis only, therefore pregnant women in Scotland are not currently routinely offered testing for Streptococcal Group B infection as part of their antenatal care.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government is given independent advice by the UK National Screening Committee (NSC), the independent expert advisory group who advise ministers and the NHS in the four UK countries about all aspects of screening.

The NSC reviewed the policy for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in November 2012. This review considered all the available medical evidence regarding the risks and benefits of screening all pregnant women. The Committee recommended that a national screening programme for Group B Streptococcus should not be introduced. The NSC will continue to keep screening for Group B Streptococcus under review and will consider the policy again in 2015-16, or earlier, if significant new evidence emerges.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) issued revised guidelines, ‘The Prevention of Early-onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease’, in June 2012. This recommends an approach to antibiotics administration based on maternal risk factors. NHS boards in Scotland are expected to follow professional guidance issued by the RCOG to identify which women, based on maternal risk factors, should be screened for GBS during pregnacy.

The UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations: Processing Swabs for Group B Streptococcal Carriage (SMI B58) endorses and supports the recommendations that only those pregnant women assessed as being at high risk should be tested. The document provides a recommended method for such testing.

The Scottish Government hold regular discussions with CalMac Ferries Ltd regarding management of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract, sponsorship of the company as a public body and other matters of mutual interest.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government regulates the number of places available to Scots-domiciled and EU students. Where students from the rest of the UK are concerned, recruitment is a matter for each individual university and is determined on the basis of issues such as the number of applications and overall capacity.

The number of English and Welsh domiciled entrants to higher education in Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the last five academic years is provided in the following table. (Latest figures are for the academic year 2011-12.)

Entrants to higher education in Scottish HEIs by domicile, 2007-08 to 2011-12:

Source: Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA)

The table includes entrants to all levels of study in HEIs including: postgraduate, first degree and sub-degree.

Data rounded to nearest five.