Seòmar agus comataidhean

A mass vaccination supported by compulsion was agreed by stakeholders to be the only effective way of protecting Scotland''s livestock from the risk of bluetongue virus becoming established in Scotland. The approach to vaccination elsewhere in Great Britain is not relevant to the costs of the Scottish industry. It is relevant to the risk level to Scotland. A number of bluetongue positive import cases in England and Wales, combined with a lower that preferred level of uptake of vaccination in these areas was considered to mean a high risk of bluetongue to Scotland.

The decision that vaccination was required in Scotland this year was taken at the Scottish Government industry bluetongue stakeholder meeting held on 16 September. This meeting had been called following the finding of 18 bluetongue positive animals in County Durham, the impact of which could have been to impose a Bluetongue Restriction Zone in Scotland. The minutes of the meeting can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Agriculture/animal-welfare/Diseases/SpecificDisease/bluetongue/Stakeholder.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17468 on 14 November 2008. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17470 on 14 November 2008. 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.

Industry representatives requested a compulsory approach to bluetongue vaccination as the veterinary advice and experience with eradicating other strains of bluetongue elsewhere in Europe is that a mass vaccination is the only strategy likely to avoid bluetongue virus 8 from becoming established in Scotland.

The Scottish Government “ industry discussions on the bluetongue 8 vaccination campaign have also drawn on European Commission guidance which has advocated compulsion as a mechanism for ensuring the necessary mass take up required.

The cost to install a standard oil-fired heating system of up to seven radiators with all necessary insulation is covered, up to the cap limit, which was introduced by the previous administration in January 2007. However, it is unlikely that a householder would be required to make a contribution if they selected a lower cost system from those available (normally an electrical system).

The information requested is provided in the following table. This is extracted from the delayed discharge census for each of the last eight quarters and is based on the principal reason codes that suggest the outcome for the patient on discharge will be a care home place. In some cases however the actual move may not be possible at the census point.

Patients in Hospital Awaiting a Care Home bed¹ by Local Authority².

	October 2007	January  2007	April 2007	July  2007	October 2008	January 2008	April 2008	July 2008
Argyll and Bute	9	7	6	12	4	10	17	18
Highland	1	9	7	21	17	15	9	14
Moray	16	13	15	7	12	-	3	4
Orkney Islands	2	3	3	4	2	2	3	2
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	10	5	8	8	13
Eilean Siar	5	8	3	7	9	5	5	6

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Patients in hospital ready for discharge and awaiting a care home bed are defined as those who have the principal reason for their delayed discharge as; non-availability of public funding to purchase residential/nursing home place; awaiting place availability in local authority residential home, in independent residential home, in nursing home (not NHS funded) or patient exercising statutory right of choice, where an interim placement is not possible or reasonable.

2. Local authority is based on those patients resident in each local authority area.

When the cap was introduced in January 2007 by the previous administration they did not introduce any separate funding sources to cover householders contributions. However, it is unlikely that a householder would be required to make a contribution if they selected a lower cost system from those available (normally an electrical system).

Provided that the purpose of the control is not jeopardised, on-the-spot checks may be announced. The announcement shall be strictly limited to the minimum time period necessary and shall not exceed 14 days.

However, for on-the-spot checks concerning livestock aid applications, the notice mentioned in the first subparagraph shall, except in duly justified cases, not exceed 48 hours. Furthermore, where the legislation applicable to the acts and standards relevant to cross-compliance requires the on-the-spot check to be unannounced, those rules shall also apply in the case of on-the-spot-checks related to cross-compliance.

EC regulations state that inspections shall in general be unannounced. There are provisions within these announcement rules that allow exceptionally up to 48 hours notice in instances where it is known, for example, to be difficult to gather stock or in remote island situations. Thereafter any request from a producer to postpone an inspection would be treated on a case-by-case basis. Postponement would be considered, for example, where there had been a sudden family bereavement, a serious disease outbreak or the producer was suddenly taken ill and no other responsible person was available.

For NHS boards, the formula which is used to allocate funding for Hospital and Community Health Services and GP prescribing to boards takes into account the unavoidable excess costs associated with island locations. This ensures that the particular issues relating to delivery of services on the islands, including those arising from higher fuel costs, are fully recognised.

In relation to local government grant allocations, no allowance is being made for higher fuel costs however, islands authorities benefit from the Special Islands Needs Allowance, a supplement added to a local authority''s grant allocation to reflect additional costs of a local authority to service its island communities. There are six beneficiaries of this supplement and, in total, they receive an additional £21.6million in 2008-09.