Seòmar agus comataidhean

A review of the Executive payarrangements in Scotland is to take place shortly. As part of their review, the review group will be expected to make recommendations about the future pay arrangements to apply to these staff.

My officials met withrepresentatives of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency on Friday 16 January 2004.

This information is not heldcentrally.

The information, in the formrequested, is not available. An average of the two years 2001-02 gives a totalnumber of cancellations of 1,141 per annum, with 149 of these attributed to alack of beds.

There are many explanationsfor the cancellation of operations, other than a shortage of beds. They rangefrom surgery no longer required, surgery done elsewhere, patient not fit, andpatients not turning up. Others are cancelled perfectly legitimately, and inadvance.

Greater Glasgow NHS Board is responsible for emergencyplanning in Glasgow.

They have adedicated emergency planning officer in place with the responsibility ofco-ordinating a major incident plan with partner agencies including localauthorities and neighbouring NHS boards. The plan is regularly updated and isdesigned to make the best use of local and regional health care facilities inthe event of significant casualties.

The information requested isnot held centrally. The contractual arrangements for the 16 local concessionarytravel schemes throughout Scotland are between the local transport authorities and thetransport operators.

The options presented in theconsultation document are intended to maintain and improve the provision of aquality service that meets all patients’ needs, no matter which type ofappliance they may require.

Job profiles have not yet beenagreed for speech and language therapists and no pay banding has beenpublished. It is therefore not possible at this time to state exactly what thesalary will be for speech and language therapists under Agenda for Change.It is hoped that this will be established in the very near future and I willnotify Ms White of the position as soon as it has been agreed.

It is the responsibility of the management at individual football grounds to assess the level of ambulanceprovision required based on the anticipated attendance. Guidance as to what thatminimum provision should be is contained in the “Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds”. The table showsthe minimum ambulance provision required against the anticipated attendance,together with the rates charged by the Scottish Ambulance Service for thatminimum provision. Total costs may vary, however, depending on the level of additionalservices which the ambulance service may have been asked to provide by thefootball ground’s management team.

Anticipated Attendance	Ambulance Provision	Cost
5,000 to 25,000	1 accident and emergency ambulance (with paramedic crew) plus: 1 ambulance officer	£450+ VAT
25,000 to 45,000	1 accident and emergency ambulance (with paramedic crew), plus: 1 ambulance officer 1 major incident equipment vehicle and paramedic crew 1 control unit	£1,150 + VAT
45,000 or more	2 accident and emergency ambulances (with paramedic crews), plus: 1 ambulance officer 1 major incident equipment vehicle and paramedic crew 1 control unit	£1,550 + VAT

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4677 on 16 December 2003. 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/webapp/search_wa.