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(a) The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body advises on all ministerial and MSP salary matters and performs all necessary payroll administration, as required under the Scotland Act. The Scottish Government has no responsibility in this regard and consequently does not hold the information requested.

(b) The budget for the private offices in 2011-12 is £3,654,000 which is a reduction of £281,000 on the 2010-11 budget which was £3,935,000.

(c) The costs of the government car service in 2010-11 were £974,678 which is a reduction of £20,990 on 2009-10. We expect costs in 2011-12, despite the increase in ministers, to be around the same level.

NHSScotland’s National Planning Forum (NPF) commissioned a review of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) which was carried out between June 2010 and February 2011. This review was carried out by a subgroup made up of leading clinicians and experts with an interest in, or experience of cardiac service planning, and was supported by analysts from Healthcare Improvement Scotland (then NHS Quality Improvement Scotland) and staff from the Scottish Government Health Directorates.

The conclusion of the NPF, based on the evidence generated by the review, was that there was insufficient evidence, at this point in time, to support a recommendation that a TAVI service in Scotland should be established.

The NPF review found that the long term outcomes of TAVI are unknown, there is only limited evidence of clinical efficacy and no evidence of cost effectiveness. This position was endorsed by the review on the available clinical and cost effectiveness evidence carried out by the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) for the NPF and published in their 8 March 2011 Advice Statement.

At that time I asked that NHSScotland conduct a further assessment of TAVI by February 2012, or sooner should new material evidence be made available.

Further evidence on the use of TAVI has now been published and the NPF has asked the SHTG to begin a formal review. The NPF will agree a timescale for completion of this work when it next meets on 1 July.

Conventional aortic valve replacement surgery in appropriate cases remains a clinically proven and cost effective treatment for aortic stenosis.

Online planning guidance regarding onshore wind developments is available on the Scottish Government's website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/212607/0114118.pdf.

This does not address national parks or nature conservation areas specifically but does advise on the approach to be taken and issues to be addressed (including landscape and biodiversity) by Scottish ministers, planning authorities and developers in preparing policy or considering applications for planning consent. The Scottish Government's policy on wind farms can be found at paragraph 187-191 of Scottish Planning Policy, which is available on the Scottish Government's website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/02/03132605/12.

Scottish Natural Heritage are the Scottish Government’s advisors and statutory consultees on the impacts of windfarms on nature conservation areas. Further guidance on nature conservation areas is available in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 which can be found at:

http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/.

There is emerging evidence on the use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation, and as agreed at the time of the original decision. I have asked for a further review to be carried out to assess whether this most up to date research provides more robust evidence about the clinical and cost effectiveness of the treatment.

The National Planning Forum has asked the Scottish Health Technologies Group to undertake a full analysis of the latest published research to enable further consideration of its current recommendation. The outcome of this will be announced due course.

There are no plans to change the monitoring arrangements. The Scottish Government has asked Information Services Division to continue with the Scottish Arthroplasty Project since the continued collection of information on the use of arthroplasty is a necessary part of our quality strategy at the present time.

At its last meeting on 15 March 2011, the National Scrutiny Group concluded that while it had essentially fulfilled its initial remit, there continued to be a need for a group to set strategic direction at national level and to check operational delivery against that. How best to take that forward, is currently under active consideration in partnership between the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland boards and staff side representatives. In light of that, no date has yet been set for a further meeting of the National Scrutiny Group.

The National Scrutiny Group last met on 15 March 2011 and discussed some issues raised in correspondence from the Royal College of Nursing and the future of the group within a wider landscape of groups supporting the implementation of the Healthcare Quality Strategy. A copy of the minutes has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51640).

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-338 on 9 June 2011 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

No. This is an interim move phased over the next 12 to 18 months prior to the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the new south Glasgow hospital site in 2015. The decision is based on the explicit recommendation of an independent expert clinical body and it is important to note that, this interim move aside, the service would always have been located at the New Southern General site from 2015.

Information regarding the total number of civil servants taking voluntary redundancy in these years is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of staff who have taken early retirement/severance in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 and whose costs will be paid for by the core Scottish Government. This may include some staff employed by Scottish Government agencies.

The costs do not represent the cash amounts actually paid out in the financial years specified as the Scottish Government is invoiced on an ongoing basis for staff who have retired in previous years. However all costs from the date of leaving the organisation to the normal retirement age are accounted for in the year the individual accepts an offer to retire. It should also be recognised that the cost does not represent what individuals actually receive by way of pension and lump sum as there are costs borne by the Scottish Government in relation to the costs of bringing forward the payment of early retirement/severance benefits which do not relate to payments made to individuals.

Scottish Government Funded Early Retirements/Severances