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The staffing complement at Disclosure Scotland is kept under review to ensure that there are sufficient resources to respond to demand. This is informed by daily measurement of processing capacity and applications received. In the event that the volume of applications shows signs of outstripping processing capacity, immediate action will be taken to address this including recruiting additional staff if necessary.

NHS Borders has established an advice line, staffed by a dental nurse who is able to offer advice on pain relief, advice on access issues and make arrangements for unregistered patients who require urgent treatment.

The Executive continues to support NHS Borders by approving salaried general dental practitioner posts where required. Approval was given to NHS Borders in August 2004 to appoint a further two whole-time equivalent salaried dentists for Hawick and in January 2005 for a senior salaried dentist with a special interest in oral surgery. I understand these posts are currently vacant but that one of the Hawick posts will be filled in March 2005.

NHS Borders has not issued any formal interim guidance to deregistered patients in respect of obtaining NHS dental treatment. However, general dental practitioners, GP out-of-hours, NHS24 and hospitals are aware of the Borders advice line and are able to direct patients to this.

NHS board can apply to Scottish ministers for approval of schemes to assist eligible patients with travel expenses to access primary care NHS dental treatment. The funding for such schemes comes from within the board’s unified budget.

It is a duty of Scottish ministers to secure the provision of general dental services in accordance with Part II of the NHS (Scotland) act 1978. It is a duty, under section 25 of Part II of the NHS (Scotland) Act 1978, of every health board, in accordance with regulations, to make as respect their area arrangements with dental practitioners under which any person for whom a dental practitioner undertakes in accordance with the arrangements to provide dental treatment and appliances shall receive such treatment and appliances.

It is not possible to express this number as a percentage of all practices in the Scottish Borders, as information on non-NHS dental practices is not held centrally.

Number of General Dental Practices in NHS Borders Providing NHS Treatment¹; at 31 March

Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental Accounting System).

Note: 1. Dental practices with at least one dentist within the practice providing NHS general dental services.

Allocation of Resources to Local Authorities for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (2001-06)

Note: *Rounded to nearest £1,000.

Community Learning and Development partnerships found it difficult to engage new learners.

Delay in establishing the “development engine” within Communities Scotland.

A shortage of suitably trained ALN tutors.

Campaign to engage employers not yet in place.

The above issues are all currently being addressed.

The following table gives a breakdown of new learners helped in each local authority area during the period 2001- 2004 as shown in their end year reports.

In response the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 gave children’s panels the power to challenge local authorities through the courts where supervision requirements have not been properly implemented.

The Executive funded the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) to enhance its capital development programme. This will lead to a series of improvements to facilities at hearings centres, including family friendly improvements and property replacements.

SCRA has led the development of standards in the timing and management of children’s hearings, which will be implemented in 2005.

The Scottish Executive has refreshed the time intervals process to refocus on key standards so that agencies (police, SCRA and local authorities) can minimise the time it takes from referral of a child to implementation of hearings’ decisions.

The Scottish Executive has raised awareness amongst employers through an insert in the March 2004 Forum of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, short television programmes in 2004 as part of the Talking Scotland series and through individual approaches to employers to stress the benefits to business of the transferable skills of trained panel members. Further work with employers is planned for 2005.

Since 2002 the Scottish Executive has actively demonstrated the value it places on the contribution of panel members by implementing many aspects of the retention strategy, e.g.

introduced an indemnity scheme for volunteers in the hearings system where they might be;

held a reception for panel members at Edinburgh Castle in 2004, hosted by the First Minister;

introduced an annual long service event for panel members with awards for those serving 25 years (the next such event is planned for March 2005);

provided funding for laptop computers for panel chairmen and their deputies;

introduced an extranet on the children’s hearings website to improve sharing of training and best practice materials;

developed software to help panel chairs compile panel rotas;

rolled out IT training for panel chairs, and,

provided media training for panel chairs.