Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20039 on 3 November 2005. All answers to written ParliamentInformation Centre are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Occupational and personal pensions are reserved matters under the Scotland Act 1998 and are the responsibility of the UK Government. However, Scottish ministers have the devolved responsibility for making regulations to establish and maintain public pensions schemes in Scotland, subject to the approval of HM Treasury.

The Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) in England and Wales and Scotland are funded schemes with a normal pension age of 65. The UK Government’s proposals to reform these schemes are being taken forward through tripartite working groups involving Government, employers and the unions. The Scottish LGPS Group is due to meet on 17 November when the next steps in taking forward the reform of the LGPS will be discussed.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) chairs the Scottish LGPS Group. In order to fulfil this role it liaises closely with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on issues relating to the LGPS as there is general policy aim of maintaining parity between each of the pension schemes across the UK to assist the potential for mobility and to ensure fairness. In addition, both the SPPA and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) regularly meet with other UK pension representatives at the UK Local Government Pensions Committee, ensuring that Scottish local government employers’ views are taken into account in this UK discussion forum.

The LGPS currently includes a provision through which certain members are able to retire on full pension at age 60, depending on their length of service and age. This provision will have to be removed in 2006 in order to comply with recent European age-discrimination legislation. However, protection for certain existing members who expected to qualify under this rule was proposed in a consultation paper on pension reforms issued by the SPPA in November 2004. These proposals will be discussed further by the LGPS Group.

Information about the incidence of autism in the non-vaccinated population in Scotland is not held centrally. A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism compared the risk of autism or other autistic spectrum disorders in MMR-vaccinated and MMR-unvaccinated children in Denmark. (Madsen KM, Hviid A, Vestergaard M, et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2002;347(19):1477-82). The study found no statistically significant difference between the two groups, with a diagnosis of autism or other autism spectrum disorder in 0.14% of vaccinated children (14 cases per 10,000 population) and 0.12% of unvaccinated children (12 cases per 10,000 population).

The regulation and safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has advised that there are currently 102 vaccines licensed in the UK of these 20 contain thiomersal or sodium thimerfonate. Seven vaccines (Anthrax Vaccine, Ad DTP, Act-HIB DTP, Behring Ad T, Behring Ad DT, Evans Ad T, Tritanrix Hep B) contain preservative levels, and 13 vaccines (Tetravac, Pentavac, Fluarix, Engerix B, Fluvirin, Inactivated Flu, Twinrix Adult, Twinrix Paediatric, Infanrix Hexa, Infanrix Penta, Ambirix, Fendrix and Quintanrix) contain residual traces from the manufacturing process.

None of the vaccines are used in the current childhood immunisation programme.

The product information for these products clearly states that thiomersal or sodium thimerfonate is present in the vaccine.

Information about the work of the MHRA, including its licensing procedures, can be found at:

www.mhra.gov.uk.

The deployment of firearms by police officers is an operational matter for chief constables.

There is no statutory requirementin the UK for police officers to display their identity numbers, although in normalpolicing circumstances it is considered good practice to do so.

Uniforms vary across police forcesand, on occasion, when an officer is wearing protective equipment, identity numbersor other markings may be obscured.

Final estimates of the cost ofpolicing the G8 summit are not yet available. Work is still on-going to assess thetotal cost with a number of bills and invoices yet to be received. Details of costswill be published later in the year.

Work is still on-going to determinethe additional costs incurred by police forces as a result of the G8 summit. Informationon total costs later in the year.

The Scottish Police Service workedwith a number of partner agencies, including the armed forces, to ensure that therecent G8 summit and related events could take place in a safe and secure environment.

The support provided by the armedforces included assistance with transport and other specialist resources such asExplosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel.

The deployment of police officersand police resources is an operational matter for the relevant chief constable.