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The current guidance, Management Executive Letter (1996) 22, which was issued in March 1996, is currently under review. The revised guidance will clarify the existing guidance as necessary and incorporate any other revisions required.

Phase 1 of the review is considering the broad principles and objectives for the children’s hearings system. The consultation pack raises issues about the relationship between the children’s hearings system and other agencies and services supporting vulnerable children.

The latest available data on waiting lists for each local authority are published in Table 13 in the Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin (Housing Series) Housing Trends in Scotland: Quarter ending 31 March 2003. This table shows snapshot figures for applicants on housing lists as at 31 March 2003, as well as changes to the lists during 2002-03. The publication can be accessed online through the Scottish Executive housing statistics branch website. Data for 2003-04 will be published in the next quarterly trends bulletin: this is due to be published on 10 August 2004 and will be available via the housing statistics branch website at .

The latest data on numbers of applicants assessed as homeless under the homelessness legislation by local authority are published in Table 11 in the Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland National and Local Authority Analyses 2002-03. This table shows the number assessed as homeless during 2002-03 (the data are not collected in a format which provides a snapshot figure of the number of homeless applicants at any one point in time). The publication is also available on the Scottish Executive housing statistics branch website. Data for 2003-04 are due to be published in August 2004.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has advised that the manufacturer of this product has not yet submitted a new product submission form to allow them to consider it and make a recommendation.

Any new medicine can legally be prescribed once it has a licence if it is thought to be the most suitable treatment for an individual patient, unless it is the subject of a direction given by Scottish ministers under Section 17N(6) of the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004. However, NHSScotland is expected to await the advice from the SMC before making a new medicine routinely available.

The deployment of police officers in any force area is a matter for the Chief Constable of the force concerned and information of this nature is not held centrally. However, the number of officers available for deployment has been increasing. As at March 2003, the overall number was at a record level, and our Partnership Agreement contains a commitment not only to increase the numbers on operational duty in every Scottish force but to also to improve on the level of overall police numbers.

The available information on drug offences which were recorded by the police is given in the following table.

Breakdown of Recorded Drugs Offences, 1999-2000 to 2003-2004^P

Ìý	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04P
Illegal importation of drugs	7	1	4	3	4
Production, manufacture or cultivation of drugs	106	131	144	205	249
Supply, possession with intent to supply etc. of drugs	8,032	9,024	10,130	9,940	9,284
Possession of drugs	21,776	22,470	26,188	30,510	32,463
Drugs, money laundering related offences	1	0	0	0	0
Drugs, other offences	452	455	284	280	275
Total	30,374	32,081	36,750	40,938	42,275

(P) Please note that data for 2003-04 is provisional.

Information on leavers is not collected centrally. However, annual censuses of the nursing and midwifery workforce at 30 September can be used to establish annual flows of staff out of NHSScotland.

The table shows the number of qualified nurses and midwives who left between the September 2001 and September 2002 censuses and the September 2002 and September 2003 censuses. Information on the September 2004 census will not be available until 2005. Figures are also shown relative to the staff in post at the start of the period.

Number of Qualified Nurse and Midwife Leavers Between Each Census

Ìý	Leavers	Leavers as % of Staff in Post at Start of Period
Leavers between September 2001 and September 2002	2,853	6.7
Leavers between September 2002 and September 2003	2,863	6.6

Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll.

The table provides the data, based upon the number of GP principal equivalents(in post) in GMS and PMS practices.

General Medical Practitioners1 per 10,000 Head of Population (at 1 October)

Health Board	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Scotland	7.3	7.3	7.4	7.5	7.5
Argyll and Clyde	7.4	7.6	7.7	7.6	7.6
Ayrshire and Arran	7.1	7.1	7.1	7.1	7.3
Borders	8.2	8.1	8.0	8.1	8.3
Dumfries and Galloway	8.7	8.9	9.0	8.8	8.8
Fife	7.0	7.1	7.0	7.1	7.1
Forth Valley	7.5	7.5	7.3	7.4	7.5
Grampian	6.8	6.9	7.2	7.3	7.3
Greater Glasgow	7.2	7.2	7.3	7.3	7.2
Highland	9.8	9.8	10.2	10.3	10.9
Lanarkshire	6.3	6.2	6.3	6.3	6.4
Lothian	7.2	7.1	7.3	7.4	7.4
Orkney	12.9	13.0	14.0	14.1	14.5
Shetland	8.0	8.6	9.1	8.7	8.7
Tayside	7.2	7.3	7.4	7.5	7.7
Western Isles	10.7	10.5	10.2	10.3	10.3

Sources: General Medical Practitioner Database, ISD Scotland.

General Register Office for Scotland.

Note:

1. Comprises unrestricted principals and restricted principals in post, in general medical services practices and their equivalents in personal medical services practices.

The numbers of student nurses entering training are as follows:

(a) 2001-02ÌýÌýÌý 2,804

(b) 2002-03ÌýÌýÌý 2,916

Information on the number of student nurses entering training in 2003-04 will be available in July 2004.

The full-time equivalent number of permanent staff employed in the core departments of the Scottish Executive, executive agencies and associated departments, broken down by local authority area in which they are located, is provided in the following table. Information on the location of staff employed by other government departments is not held centrally.

Number¹ of Civil Servants (Full-Time Equivalents) in the Scottish Executive Core Departments, Agencies and Associated Departments, Figures as at 1 June 2004²

Scotland Total	15,289
Aberdeen City	588
Aberdeenshire	339
Angus	99
Argyll and Bute	72
City of Edinburgh	7,497
Clackmannanshire	412
Dumfries and Galloway	252
Dundee City	154
East Ayrshire	69
East Dunbartonshire	175
East Lothian	34
Eilean Siar	30
Falkirk	584
Fife	121
Glasgow City	1,821
Highland	353
Inverclyde	310
Moray	38
North Lanarkshire	458
Orkney	35
Perth and Kinross	625
Renfrewshire	131
Scottish Borders	291
Shetland Islands	30
South Ayrshire	114
South Lanarkshire	191
Stirling	361
West Dunbartonshire	45
West Lothian	62

Notes:

1. Full-time equivalents, rounded to the nearest whole number.

2. Figures for Historic Scotland, Registers of Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are atÌý April 2004.