Seòmar agus comataidhean

It is expected that the consultation paper on the Scottish Prison Service Estates Review will be published early in the New Year.

The number of children aged three who are in receipt of funded pre-school education in the 32 local authorities in the summer term of academic year 2000-01 is shown in the following table. The table also shows the numbers expressed as the participation rate of eligible population. The equivalent information relating to academic year 2001-02 will be available by July 2002.

Spring Term 2000-01	Three-year-olds
	Children provided with places	Participation Percentage	Eligible Children
Aberdeen City	1,745	75%	2,320
Aberdeenshire	2,293	100%	2,293
Angus	917	75%	1,215
Argyll and Bute	912	96%	947
Clackmannanshire	539	94%	571
Dumfries & Galloway	1,342	81%	1,666
Dundee	1,558	93%	1,679
East Ayrshire	1,115	99%	1,121
East Dunbartonshire	1,200	100%	1,200
East Lothian	763	70%	1,092
East Renfrewshire	1,003	91%	1,100
Edinburgh City	3,631	74%	4,915
Eilean Sair	218	97%	225
Falkirk	997	58%	1,715
Fife	3,297	82%	4,008
Glasgow	5,513	76%	7,222
Highland	1,926	77%	2,492
Inverclyde	740	73%	1,010
Midlothian	722	78%	924
Moray	963	100%	963
North Ayrshire	1,302	81%	1,616
North Lanarkshire	3,280	80%	4,109
Orkney Islands	190	81%	234
Perth and Kinross	1,036	100%	1,036
Renfrewshire	1,622	77%	2,107
Scottish Borders	948	85%	1,110
Shetland Islands	218	74%	296
South Ayrshire	972	82%	1,189
South Lanarkshire	2,779	76%	3,665
Stirling	868	90%	967
West Dunbartonshire	810	100%	810
West Lothian	1,246	58%	2,131
Scotland	46,665	80%	57,948

We are currently on target to achieve this commitment. Some local authorities have already reached the necessary level of provision. Our efforts will now be focused on discussions with those authorities that may have the greatest difficulty in reaching the target.

The council have been allocated the necessary resources to meet the requirement. Not all staff involved in the delivery of funded pre-school education are employed by local authorities. Local authorities have been given the lead role in developing pre-school education services in their area and may secure places either directly or by commissioning partners in the voluntary and private sectors.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The SPS intend to keep records only of lock-up due to a cellular confinement punishment.

A consultation paper published by the Executive on 15 December last year invited views on whether in principle the Executive should seek to promote legislation to give greater protection to hutters, and on the detailed provisions required if such legislation were to be introduced. Over 300 responses were received to the consultation, some of which arrived after the closing date on 9 March.Ministers are considering the most suitable way forward in the light of the consultative response and a statement will be made in due course.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-18887 on 12 December 2001.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has been successful in halving ill-health early retirements over the last six years and last year only 22 staff are recorded as having retired on ill-health grounds.In the event of illness, the Scottish Ambulance Service as a matter of policy looks to retain experienced staff by moving them to light or alternative duties, where this is practical. In addition, retraining may be considered if the individual has the potential to fill a vacant post.In a national context, the Health Department is about to conduct a literature review of manual handling, particularly looking at what has been successful and works. The results will inform the best way to help reduce these injuries which are a cause of a large percentage of early retirements and loss of experienced staff to the service. Health at Work guidelines and model policies to assist NHS organisations and employees to promote a safer working environment are currently in preparation. These are expected to include guidance on rehabilitation and manual handling and be available to the service by late summer 2002.

The information requested in respect of Scotland will be available shortly. The information requested with regard to Area Tourist Boards areas is not held centrally.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. The Executive does not hold this information centrally.