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The funding announced on 28 September 2004 is to assist Highland and Islands Fire Board with local fire station improvements and the upgrading of staff from volunteer to retained firefighter status. The provision of emergency fire cover, including the 32 units in question, is a matter for the board.

There are no plans at present to provide information on the performance of consultants. However, the Health Department is about to embark on a stream of work on workforce productivity and this is one of the many issues that will be considered under that agenda.

Under the new consultant contract which came into effect on 1 April 2004NHS managers will be able to explicitly and more effectively manage consultantactivity in order to secure the capacity they require to improve services topatients. Managers will agree with consultants exactly how they fill theirworking week with programming of all activities, thus maximising directclinical care and more transparent flexible working patterns. This will allowthe working week and on-call responsibilities to be systematically managed andthere will be extended opportunity for patient access (elective services) atevenings and weekends. The new contract should also lead to improved consultantperformance measures and benchmarks and clearer rules for managing links toprivate work.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2F-1131, answered on 7 October 2004, which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/search.

As the Executive’s Forestry Department, Forestry Commission Scotland has been working with Communities Scotland, Registered Social Landlords, some local authorities and local housing trusts to identify sites within the national forest estate that may be suitable for affordable housing.

I have asked Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) to prepare a draft community purchase scheme in respect of the national forest estate. Once this has been completed, FCS will undertake a public consultation exercise about the details of the scheme and the methodology for valuing national forest estate land will be part of this consultation.

Whether a structure requires planning permission is a matter for the planning authority, who must decide whether what is being proposed is a development. The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 defines “development” as “the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land”. This would be subject to the general legal rule that buildings that are considered de minimis would not need permission. Again, this would be a matter for the planning authority given the facts and circumstances of the particular case.

Under the terms of Article 26(2)(e) of the 1997 Act, certain uses of land are not considered to involve development. This includes certain types of agricultural use. Again, whether or not such a use falls within the  exception is a matter for the planning authority.

In addition, Class 18 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 grants permitted development rights, subject to conditions and limitations, for works and  structures where the use is agricultural. Again, this would be a matter for the planning authority to consider.

We have no plans to make any changes to the legislation in this regard.

The policy remains as that which was set out for the member in the answer given to question S2W-10201 answered on 29 September 2004. 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/wa.search.

Forestry Commission Scotland built one house on the national forest estate in the past five years. This was in Dornoch in 2002. Forestry Commission Scotland does not hold records of houses built after national forest estate land has been sold.

Frontline ambulance staff are issued with personal protection equipment and receive training relevant to their operational requirements in various health and safety subjects from manual lifting and handling to managing information. In relation to single crewed working, the ambulance service’s lone working policy is currently under review. The policy details the processes through which the service will ensure, as far as is reasonably practical, a safe working environment for operational ambulance staff, officers and management who are required to work alone.

I refer the member to the answer to S2W-10263 on 16 September 2004. 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/wa.search.