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Information on how many pain consultants there are in multidisciplinary chronic pain teams in each NHS board area for (a) adult and (b) children services, is not held centrally. However, I would like to refer the member to the Benchmarking Report published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland on 26 October 2012:

http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/programmes/long_term_conditions/chronic_pain/chronic_pain_update_report.aspx.

The audit has identified the current resources available in relation to NHS Board populations and provides up to date information on the provision of pain management services in each NHS Board area. This information will assist NHS Boards to identify any gaps and variation in local services and provides recommendations to inform planning and assist in the implementation of the Scottish Service Model for Chronic Pain.

It is for each Partnership to decide how to disburse Early Years and Reshaping Care Change Fund resources locally.

The Scottish Government is providing £900k over the period 2012-2015 to support the third sector to play a key role in the Reshaping care Change Fund programme. The Joint Improvement Team (JIT) has undertaken a mid-year review of 2012-13 Reshaping Care Change Plans, and will report its findings to the Delivery Group on Health and Community Care in due course.

The third sector is also a key partner in the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund - providing £272m over the period of the spending review. They are members of the Early Years Taskforce and partners in the Early Years Collaborative, launched on the 1 October, a multi-agency, local, quality improvement programme at a national scale.

Whilst all allocations of Early Years Change Fund resources will have some impact on the third sector, £15m for PlayTalkRead, Bookbug, Play and Communities and Families Fund between 2012-2015 will be allocated solely to the third sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05615 on 9 March 2012. 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.

I am advised that, as at 7 November, four patients have been treated by the national transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) service in Edinburgh. Patients have been referred by three NHS boards.

The national TAVI service expects to carry out around 50 TAVI procedures each year, and will continue to consider referrals from across Scotland.

The 2010 NHSScotland Staff Survey results reveal that, of the 273 NHS Health Scotland members of staff who responded to the survey (91% response rate), 19% reported experiencing bullying and harassment in the workplace during the previous 12 months. Of that figure, 58% indicated that they had experienced bullying and harassment from a manager or team leader and 64% indicated that that they had experienced bullying and harassment from colleagues. The staff survey respondents indicate that 40% of these incidences were reported.

The bullying and harassment of any member of staff is unacceptable. The Scottish Government is encouraging a performance culture in which NHS employees in Scotland are clear about the need to deliver results and where managers are clear about the boundaries between effective management and inappropriate behaviour.

We have provided advice and guidance to NHS boards on dealing effectively with bullying and harassment in the NHS in the form of the Preventing & Dealing with Bullying and Harassment in NHSScotland PIN Policy, which was published in November 2011.

I have been assured by NHS Health Scotland the bullying and harassment issues highlighted in the 2010 staff survey are being addressed. The focus of their activity has been to ensure that the policy of zero tolerance is explicit within the culture of NHS Health Scotland and they will be conducting a staff survey in December 2012 to measure improvement.

Lothian and Borders Police have confirmed that they are in the final stages of completing their report for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to the Elsie Inglis Care Home Inquiry. It is anticipated that this will be complete within the next fortnight.

Earlier this year, NHS Health Scotland merged five posts into two resulting in annual savings of £126,311.

The Head of People and Performance is a new post. It has a far wider ranging remit than the previous post of Head of HR, and now encompasses HR responsibility, organisational staff development, and organisational planning and performance.

The starting salary for Head of People and Performance is £54,454. The former position of Head of HR had a starting salary of £45,254.

As I announced on 11 September, I have taken the decision to introduce a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) service in Scotland. This decision was based on the advice of the TAVI Short Life Group, who recommended that there should be a single centre providing TAVI for patients across Scotland, and that centre should be in Edinburgh.

The new service will be closely monitored over the next six to 12 months, and consideration will be given to expanding the provision of TAVI elsewhere in Scotland, as required.

The Care Inspectorate carried out 7,489 inspections in 2011-12 and 3,451 between 1 April and 30 September 2012, across the range of services for which it has responsibility.

The Care Inspectorate has responsibility for inspecting, regulating and supporting improvement of care and social work and child protection services across Scotland.

The Care Inspectorate has powers under section 62 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 to serve an improvement notice on a care service, specifying the improvements required to bring a care service up to the standards required and the timescale for meeting these standards.

The total number of improvement notices issued by the Care Inspectorate in the period (a) between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 was 74 and (b) between 1 April and 30 September 2012 was 31.