Seòmar agus comataidhean

All parts of the Scottish public sector will be affected by escalating fuel costs, the effects of which are complex and depend in part on future movements in fuel prices over the remainder of the financial year, relative fuel dependency and the way that different parts of the public sector pay for their fuel. Under the terms of the concordat with local government, assessment of the impact of recent increases in fuel and energy costs for the police and fire and rescue services are matters for local government and COSLA to take forward in conjunction with their respective police and fire boards. In relation to the assessment of impact on costs on the Scottish Ambulance Service, this is a matter for the chief executive.

NHS boards do not specifically monitor the additional costs they face as a result of increased fuel and energy costs; however their total fuel and energy costs since 2005-06 are shown in the following table.

Fuel and Energy Costs

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)
Area Health Boards
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4,607	4,664	5,140
NHS Borders	1,323	1,447	1,772
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	2,309	2,633	2,881
NHS Fife	3,636	3,959	4,215
NHS Forth Valley	2,881	2,953	3,236
NHS Grampian	7,876	8,533	9,243
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde*	19,741	19,561	21,050
NHS Highland	4,853	5,374	6,274
NHS Lanarkshire	4,233	4,567	4,684
NHS Lothian	13,496	13,183	14,624
NHS Orkney	276	337	411
NHS Shetland	355	303	346
NHS Tayside	6,926	7,421	8,241
NHS Western Isles	722	663	766
Area Health Boards Total	73,234	75,598	82,884
*Acute Division only
Special Health Boards
GJNH	1,476	1,497	1,595
NES	17	23	39
NHS 24	239	229	257
NHS Health	28	33	39
NSS	1,427	1,924	1,841
QIS	35	40	53
SAS	5,683	5,837	6,310
State Hospital	693	718	902
Special Health Boards Total	9,598	10,301	11,036
Total	82,832	85,899	93,920

 

The Health Department does not hold centrally energy consumption figures for each board, so it is not possible to determine how much of the increase in costs is attributable to increased prices or variable consumption.

The review of asset management across the public sector encompasses several distinct pieces of work:

The Scottish Government asset management review, which looked at the Scottish Government own built estate, was carried out last year, reported to me in January 2008 and was published on 30 January 2008. It is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/01/AMR.

A review of asset management by local authorities also carried out by the Improvement Service for Local Government in 2007, and their report entitled Property Asset Management in Scotland’s Councils was published on 19 March 2008 and is available on their website.

The Improvement Service for Local Government has also carried out a separate study of the management of common goods assets and funds. Their report is currently being finalised and due to be published imminently.

A letter to all directors of finance of Scotland’s local authorities was issued by Scottish Government officials on 12 March 2007, reminding them of their statutory, and non-statutory duties and existing supporting guidance. This included the supporting guidance to the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1973, and the statutory guidance on best value, which applies to local authorities’ stewardship of all assets and funds, including those held under the common good.

The Local Authorities (Scotland) Accounts Advisory Committee has recently issued revised guidance to all local authorities on the financial reporting and registration of common goods assets, Accounting for the Common Good: A guidance note for practitioners, December 2007.

The 2005-06 Scottish house condition survey estimates of the count of primary heating fuel used by people aged over 65 is shown in the following table:

Primary Fuel Used	Number of People Aged over 65
Oil	59,000
Gas	577,000
Solid fuel	28,000
Electricity	155,000
Communal Schemes	19,000
Total	838,000

 

Low income households are defined as those households whose income lies in the lowest 20 percentile, i.e. in the bottom 2 deciles.

The Scottish house condition survey collects data on domestic energy expenditure and income and, using that data, the Scottish house condition survey team has carried out the calculation.

The last year for which survey data is available is 2005-06. Using that data as a base, we have raised household domestic energy expenditure estimates in line with domestic fuel price rises.

In May 2006, households in the lowest 20 percentile are estimated to have spent an average of £974 per year on domestic energy.

In April 2007, the same households are projected to have spent an average of £1,073 per year on domestic energy.

In April 2008, those households are projected to have spent £1,129 per year on domestic energy.

The Scottish house condition survey collects data on domestic energy expenditure and, from this, the Scottish house condition survey team has carried out the calculation.

The last year for which survey data is available is 2005-06. Using that data as a base, we have raised the domestic energy expenditure estimates in line with domestic fuel prices.

We project forward from Scottish household survey estimates of 2005-06 that, on average:

Pensioner couple households spent £1,474 on domestic energy in April 2007 and £1,551 in April 2008.

Single pensioner households spent £1,113 on domestic energy in April 2007 and £1,192 in April 2008.

The Guidance to Local Authorities, published by the Working Group on Marches and Parades in December 2006, makes clear that, if a local authority makes a case why a certain type of procession should be excluded from the notification process, the Scottish ministers will consider it and make an order if necessary. No applications have been received.

I published a consultation document on 6 June 2008 seeking the views of communities and marching organisations on the implementation to date of the marches and parades provisions of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 and associated guidance. We will consider the responses to this consultation before deciding if any changes to the legislation or guidance are required.

Assistant inspectors are appointed by HMIE to undertake a number of days’ work each year. They comprise retired HM Inspectors or others with up-to-date knowledge of and a background in education and services for children and young people, including experience in inspection and review procedures and quality assurance work.

HMIE first appointed assistant inspectors in 2003 and since then, has appointed 50. Of the 50, three did not take up their appointments and from the remaining 47, 32 had previously been teachers and eight were lecturers in further education colleges. This equates to 85% of the assistant inspector group.

Those assistant inspectors not involved in inspecting schools and reviewing colleges will be involved in other aspects of HMIE’s work i.e. community learning and development, services for children and as a consequence, will have qualifications and relevant experience in community education, health, educational psychology, criminal justice and social work.

The A77 trunk road is the only road that has permanent average speed cameras. There are a total of 48 camera locations over a 32 mile length of the route and these cameras were first installed in July 2005.

There have been various temporary installations of average speed cameras through major roadwork sites following the fixed installation on the A77. The only temporary roadwork site at present is on the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.