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Game Birds and Raptors

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his letter of 25 September, what information and proposals he has received from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee concerning long-term and strategic solutions to the interaction between game birds and raptors; and if he will make a statement. [10858]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: The raptor working group, co-chaired by the JNCC and the Department of the Environment, is assessing the interaction between game birds and raptors and will provide advice to Government on this complex issue, as it becomes available.

A74

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what assessment he has made of the way the contract to upgrade the A74 was awarded and carried out; and if he will review the guidelines for the awarding of such contracts; [10859]

(2) what assessment he has made of the way the contract for the A74 upgrading works has been carried out by the main contractor. [10860]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The contract to upgrade the Eaglesfield to Kirkpatrick Fleming section of the A74 was procured in accordance with the Public Works Contracts Regulations 1991--Public Procurement Procedures. These regulations govern public works

23 Jan 1997 : Column: 746

contracts and allow for contractors from EU member states to bid. Under the assessment process, Impresa Castelli and Girola qualified for selection to tender for the scheme and were invited to do so. The selection process centres on the technical and financial capability of applicants. Impresa Castelli and Girola demonstrated sound financial standing and technical capacity and submitted the most competitive bid in a high-quality field.

In the event, the contractor did not perform well in carrying out the contract, although the standard of the completed works was satisfactory. The contractor was late in completing the works and substantial liquidated damages have been deducted from him for this reason. The contractor has submitted claims for additional payments which are in dispute and are now at arbitration. Several sub-contractors and suppliers have suffered payment problems.

In the light of experience of this contract, the technical and financial criteria for the assessment of prospective tenderers have been reviewed. The assessment of technical capacity now takes account of a contractor's understanding of the nature of the work to be carried out under the specific contract. It also takes account of the staff required to undertake the contract and the need to ensure that the management structure is adequate to the task.

Hospital Bids

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospital beds there were in each health authority in each of the last seven years; and if he will indicate for each authority and year the number for (a) acute, (b) geriatric, (c) maternity and (d) mental illness or disability cases. [11617]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information requested is given in the table:

23 Jan 1997 : Column: 745

Number of average available staffed beds for all specialties, acute specialities, geriatric long stay, maternity specialties and mental illness and disability, by health board area as at 31 March

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
All specialties
Argyle and Clyde	4,103	3,976	3,939	3,875	3,685	3,592	3,522
Ayrshire and Arran	2,925	2,886	2,889	2,806	2,692	2,575	2,408
Borders	927	917	890	861	835	812	797
Dumfries and Galloway	1,439	1,389	1,353	1,316	1,287	1,226	1,183
Fife	3,062	2,987	2,891	2,666	2,577	2,455	2,322
Forth Valley	2,878	2,853	2,758	2,669	2,598	2,504	2,349
Grampian	5,276	5,155	5,056	4,956	4,633	4,414	4,276
Greater Glasgow	11,918	11,482	10,540	9,919	9,213	8,548	8,096
Highland	1,968	1,918	1,875	1,843	1,721	1,674	1,614
Lanarkshire	4,790	4,773	4,635	4,319	4,065	3,855	3,733
Lothian	7,578	7,207	6,938	6,703	6,313	6,287	5,998
Orkney	131	144	159	152	152	150	150
Shetland	162	151	146	143	142	137	136
Tayside	4,743	4,578	4,458	4,257	4,005	3,857	3,720
Western Isles	220	224	211	246	266	265	250
Scotland	52,121	50,640	48,738	46,731	44,185	42,351	40,555
Acute specialties
Argyll and Clyde	1,346	1,315	1,286	1,248	1,204	1,188	1,140
Ayrshire and Arran	1,157	1,138	1,152	1,136	1,107	1,075	971
Borders	347	349	354	354	348	335	336
Dumfries and Galloway	444	447	435	419	406	405	416
Fife	876	863	851	800	791	774	754
Forth Valley	637	625	605	600	588	592	573
Grampian	1,653	1,618	1,640	1,918	1,885	1,843	1,804
Greater Glasgow	4,773	4,615	4,194	4,036	3,899	3,651	3,581
Highland	734	736	740	743	729	724	796
Lanarkshire	1,698	1,691	1,665	1,632	1,592	1,550	1,526
Lothian	3,043	2,855	2,659	2,577	2,455	2,397	2,300
Orkney	62	62	62	62	97	91	85
Shetland	63	53	49	46	46	46	46
Tayside	1,878	1,862	1,801	1,748	1,622	1,589	1,540
Western Isles	86	87	85	97	103	100	95
Scotland	18,798	18,317	17,580	17,414	16,873	16,360	15,963
Geriatric long stay
Argyll and Clyde	746	687	687	688	657	618	601
Ayrshire and Arran	610	623	616	541	490	467	427
Borders	192	189	163	136	137	134	127
Dumfries and Galloway	308	308	309	311	310	263	214
Fife	591	483	572	559	532	464	388
Forth Valley	515	526	486	481	505	506	466
Grampian	1,087	1,088	1,094	794	780	747	721
Greater Glasgow	1,599	1,587	1,554	1,477	1,249	968	840
Highland	392	374	358	347	303	301	206
Lanarkshire	853	820	802	710	684	662	630
Lothian	1,087	1,069	1,016	978	900	894	805
Orkney	51	64	78	57	47	51	50
Shetland	89	87	87	87	86	81	80
Tayside	652	647	635	625	605	590	539
Western Isles	108	75	64	63	51	46	44
Scotland	8,880	8,727	8,522	7,853	7,337	6,790	6,139
Maternity specialties
Argyll and Clyde	192	172	179	172	153	137	138
Ayrshire and Arran	156	164	157	145	123	109	105
Borders	39	35	28	28	28	28	28
Dumfries and Galloway	55	54	51	52	44	44	44
Fife	132	131	126	126	96	79	68
Forth Valley	110	107	102	102	94	95	80
Grampian	219	217	216	210	204	202	194
Greater Glasgow	419	392	370	343	313	295	275
Highland	116	103	98	95	93	82	80
Lanarkshire	166	162	164	148	134	124	123
Lothian	271	260	237	220	197	200	195
Orkney	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Shetland	11	10	10	10	10	10	10
Tayside	190	173	163	158	143	131	125
Western Isles	16	16	16	17	18	18	14
Scotland	2,099	2,006	1,925	1,834	1,658	1,563	1,487
Mental illness and disability
Argyll and Clyde	1,557	1,488	1,476	1,464	1,356	1,318	1,302
Ayrshire and Arran	898	856	857	869	835	792	739
Borders	287	282	282	275	253	245	232
Dumfries and Galloway	581	529	507	483	476	463	453
Fife	1,345	1,287	1,207	1,042	1,008	987	960
Forth Valley	1,480	1,449	1,394	1,303	1,246	1,148	1,059
Grampian	2,039	1,961	1,835	1,742	1,465	1,322	1,246
Greater Glasgow	4,317	4,079	3,615	3,234	2,878	2,658	2,371
Highland	679	657	632	601	531	497	451
Lanarkshire	1,855	1,860	1,777	1,590	1,414	1,278	1,213
Lothian	2,642	2,499	2,445	2,273	2,095	2,091	2,003
Orkney	--	--	--	13	--	--	4
Shetland	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Tayside	1,743	1,616	1,579	1,442	1,345	1,258	1,214
Western Isles	3	27	25	39	52	51	48
Scotland	19,427	18,598	17,631	16,368	14,952	14,106	13,295

23 Jan 1997 : Column: 749

Hospitals and Hospital Trusts

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) hospitals and (b) hospital trusts there were in operation in (i) 1980, (ii) 1985, (iii) 1990, (iv) 1992, (v) 1994-95 and (vi) 1995-96. [11618]

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: The information is set out in the table.

	Hospitals	NHS hospital trusts
1980	338	--
1985	328	--
1990	290	--
1992	284	2
1994	277	39
1995	276	46

Mr. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hospital trusts in Scotland contain (a) two and (b) three or more hospitals. [11619]

23 Jan 1997 : Column: 750

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: There are seven NHS trusts in Scotland containing two hospitals and 29 containing three or more hospitals.

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