Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22508 on 1 February 2006. 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.

Arrangements have been in place prior to devolution to ensure the provision of appropriate medical assistance where necessary for people attending Bute House, which is used for overnight stays as well as for regular Scottish Executive business. These arrangements are kept under close and constant review. The arrangements apply to all persons using Bute House, including staff, visitors, contractors and ministers, including the First Minister.

Standing instructions are that where someone falls ill or sustains an injury and appears to need medical attention, a call is made to the Scottish Ambulance Service. The ambulance service operator will decide, using standard procedures and on the basis of information provided by the person calling from Bute House, whether it is necessary to send an ambulance. Where this action is not considered necessary, the Bute House caller will be advised to call NHS 24. NHS 24 has put in place a standard procedure for dealing appropriately with calls from Bute House, to ensure confidentiality and consistency. Where, following assessment of information provided by the Bute House caller, NHS 24 decides that medical attention is required NHS 24 will (in line with the standard procedure) either provide advice to the caller about how best to obtain this attention, or arrange for a healthcare worker from NHS Lothian to make a home visit to Bute House. The precise arrangements will depend on whether the call has been made during or outwith working hours, as well as on the symptoms and other circumstances.

These arrangements help to ensure that any person who falls ill or sustains an injury in Bute House receives appropriate medical care. Bute House is the only Scottish Executive building which is categorised as a residence, and procedures to ensure that residents, including visiting dignitaries etc, have access to medical advice or assistance have been in place for some time. These procedures support the day-to-day management and security of the building. They do not in any way affect the services provided by NHS 24 to the general public.

I refer the member to the question S2W-22508 answered on 1 February 2006. 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.

Since the publication of the independent review team’s report in October 2005, NHS 24 has been working very hard to implement the recommendations. In the last few months this work has begun to pay off - performance in relation to access to the service has been improving and there has been a reduction in the reliance of call back. This improvement in performance continues to be monitored closely by the Health Department.

Over the traditionally busy festive period, NHS 24 and its NHS partners endeavoured to ensure that patients in Scotland continued to receive a responsive and high quality service. It is evident from the early performance information for primary care out of hours services that the whole system performed well despite sustained pressure over the two four day holiday periods, and that responsive services were maintained overall.

Additional NHS 24 call handlers and nurse advisers played a significant part in delivering this improved performance. In addition, NHS boards, as agreed, accepted and managed untriaged calls from NHS 24 over the period, dealing with nearly 10% of the total call volume – 81,563 calls were received by NHS 24 over the two four day periods, with 7,691 passing directly to NHS boards for triage. These successes are down to real partnership working, and delivered improved services for patients at a time when high levels of peak demand placed considerable pressures on resources.

The service standards are significantly better than those achieved across the 2004 festive period and owe much to both the strength of planning and to the sheer dedication and professionalism of front line staff. Clearly much of the winter remains ahead of us, and the test of the robustness of overall winter planning continues.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22508 on 1 February 2006. 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.

The members' restaurant is available to all passholders on a Monday and Friday and is also used to host official functions and events. The bar area is accessible to all passholders.

The estimated total subsidy across all the Parliament’s catering outlets between August 2004 and December 2005 is around £650,000. It is not possible to give a precise figure for the members’ restaurant, since some costs are generic, but we estimate around £100,000. This has been calculated by apportioning to the members’ restaurant a percentage of the total cost of labour and other overheads of all catering services.

The future subsidy will be determined by usage, service level and tariff policy. Whilst usage is beyond our control, a business decision is taken by the SPCB to set the tariff, which determines the income, and service levels, which control one of the costs. Usage aside, the subsidy is driven by and controlled by that business decision. While we will keep these matters under review, we have no current plans to make major changes and subsidy is likely to continue at broadly the same level.

No further changes have been approved at present.

The Scottish Executive agrees with the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s position that the pay review bodies should base their 2006 pay settlements on the achievement of the Government inflation target of 2%.

The process for determining NHS pay awards is that independent pay review bodies covering doctors and dentists (DDRB) and nurses and other health professionals (NOHPRB) receive written and oral evidence from Health Departments, NHS employers, and trades unions and professional organisations. The 2006 pay award for NHS staff across the UK will be determined by ministers, following recommendations from these independent health pay review bodies.

Scottish ministers, in common with those in England and Wales, submitted recommendations on NHS pay to the independent pay review bodies in the form of both written and oral evidence.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The available information is given in the following table:

Average Sentence Length in Days of Female Determinate Sentenced Prisoners in Custody on 30 June in Each of the Last Five Years

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Under 21	627	532	345	436	501
21 - 25	837	959	916	836	627
26 - 30	438	621	691	633	660
31 - 35	913	553	832	744	835
36 - 40	705	933	1,109	1,194	1,091
41 - 45	1,193	1,106	1,074	1,099	1,455
46 and over	1,552	1,005	1,317	1,708	1,382
All	781	764	860	894	850”