Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answerto questions S2W-29664 and S2W-29665 on 17 November 2006. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answersto questions S2W-29664 and S2W-29665 on 17 November 2006. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Executive is inregular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues includingdefence and defence procurement. The Ministryof Defence procurement processes must comply with Public ProcurementRegulations, which are applicable under United Kingdom and European Union law. Iunderstand, however, that two companies based in Scotland are among thecompanies being considered for the supply of kilts for the Royal Regiment ofScotland.

TheStaff Governance Standard commits NHSScotland employers to providing a staff witha safe and secure environment.

To help employers, the HealthDepartment has invested over £700,000 in the last few years on measures aimed atreducing violent and abusive behaviour towards NHSScotland staff. This includeszero tolerance awareness poster campaigns for hospitals in 2003 and 2005 with furtherposters planned for 2007. Last December we issued awareness posters specificallydesigned for GP practices. Around £500,000 has been provided to NHS boards for localprojects to reduce the risk of violence to staff. Examples of what this providedare:

installing door entry systems

provision of alarms and panicbuttons

increased security

mobile phone contact, such asguardian angel for staff working in the community.

It is proposed to gather informationon what NHS boards are doing locally and to share good practice with otherboards.

NHS employers have also installedCCTV cameras and some have a hot line to the local police or have a police presenceat accident and emergency wards. The Emergency Workers Act provides legal protectionto nurses and doctors and anyone helping them in an emergency. This applies to anyoneworking in the in the hospital setting. In addition, NHS employers also have a sanctionto withdraw treatment in specific instances.

Statistics related to violenceis collected and can be seen at Current publishedon the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics, www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

The Scottish Squirrel ActionPlan was prepared by a Working Group comprising Forestry Commission Scotland,Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Executive. Successful implementationof the plan will call for a similar level of co-operation and partnership workingbetween these bodies who have the lead responsibility as well as others with aninterest. I do not think that the appointment of a single individual to direct implementationof the plan would enhance the partnership approach that is required.

The Forestry Commission Scotland(FCS) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) are providing £103,000 of combined financialsupport, over the current financial year, to a Defra-led project that aims to testand adapt fertility control agents. These agents were initially developed for usein the USA on several wild and domestic species and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are currently investigating their suitabilityand effectiveness as a measure for grey squirrel control in Britain.

Information on Executive Agenciesand public bodies formally classified as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs),is contained on the Public Bodies and Appointments website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies/

Details of bodies not classifiedas Executive Agencies or NDPBs are not held centrally by the Executive.

Given the existence of arecently completed flood defence scheme, it is in the interest of Perth andKinross Council, its consulting engineers and the Scottish Executive to ensurethat a thorough investigation of the events at Milnathort is undertaken toestablish the reasons for the December flooding. In the first instance it isfor the council to investigate the facts and produce a report. Perth andKinross Council published its initial report on Wednesday 17 January 2007.The report makes recommendations for completing investigations into the causesof the flooding and on the implementation of likely remedial actions. We needtime to consider this and subsequent reports before we can offer comment. Onlyonce this stage is complete will it be possible to establish the nature ofcause of the flood and whether damage caused by the flood was attributable tosome deficiency in the flood defence scheme.

Flood risk management arrangementsare already addressed at a national level. After the extreme flood events of thesummer of 2002, an Ad Hoc Committee of Ministers, chaired by the Deputy First Minister,was instigated to consider the arrangements for addressing flood risk in Scotland. InFebruary 2003 the Cabinet agreed a Statement of Commitments and an action plan inthe form of the National Flooding Framework; this aims to address the problems offlooding through four areas of action, namely awareness, avoidance, alleviationand assistance. In addition, the Flooding Issues Advisory Committee was set up in2005 to assist in the on-going development of national policy on sustainable floodmanagement, and to help implement the National Flooding Framework.

When making a flood preventionscheme the onus is on the local authority to ensure that its scheme is fit for purpose.To assist local authorities in this aim the Executive is issuing guidance to localauthorities on best practice for the promotion of flood prevention schemes underthe current statutory framework in Scotland. The guidance is modular in format: two chapters – oneon economic appraisal and the other covering approaches to risk – have already beenissued and we expect further chapters to be issued over the course of this year.Copies of the chapters issued are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/10/0794935/49364.