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Disabled People (Housing)

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans his Department has (a) to extend part T planning regulations to residential dwellings and (b) to take other measures to increase the stock of accessible housing for disabled people. [10858]

Mr. Chisholm: The Scottish Office is considering proposals to extend the access requirements of part T of the technical standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 to cover new, converted or adapted dwellings, taking account of cost implications, and comments made during consultations on draft amendments in 1995.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 307

Community care, including provision of new or converted buildings accessible to disabled people, and adaptations to existing dwellings, is a national housing priority.

A1

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the maximum and average yearly traffic flows on the A1 road at Pencraig Hill; and what proportion of that traffic consists of heavy goods vehicles.[11060]

Mr. Chisholm: The average annual daily flow for 1996 was 11,500 vehicles with 20 per cent., 2,300, comprising heavy goods vehicles. This equates in 1996 to a total of 4,197,500 vehicles of which 839,500 were heavy goods vehicles. The peak traffic flow in August was approximately 14,720 vehicles per day. This equates to a total of 456,320 vehicles in August.

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his amendment to the Lothian region structure plan stating that dualling of the road to Dunbar is now in hand. [11063]

Mr. Chisholm: The modification to the Lothian region structure plan reflects the very considerable progress already made and the work under way in dualling the A1. As my hon. Friend is aware, preparatory work to dual the stage between Haddington and Dunbar will continue within the Scottish Office during the review of the trunk road programme.

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost of the new bridge at the end of the A1 dual carriageway at Haddington. [11064]

Mr. Chisholm: A total of £340,000.

Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what costs have been incurred on (a) preparing plans, (b) acquiring land and (c) other preliminary work for dualling the A1 road between Haddington and Dunbar. [11065]

Mr. Chisholm: As at 30 June 1997, the Scottish Office had incurred expenditure of £1.24 million on preparation work on dualling the section of the A1 between Haddington and Dunbar. No expenditure has been incurred to date by the Scottish Office on the acquisition of land or preliminary work.

Drug Addiction

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements are in place for monitoring the use and effectiveness of methadone as a heroin substitute. [11271]

Mr. Galbraith: Arrangements for the delivery of substitute prescribing programmes, including monitoring the use and effectiveness of services, are a matter for local consideration in the first instance. The use and effectiveness of substitute prescribing programmes are issues addressed in new national guidance on drug misuse services which has been prepared by my department, discussed with the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse, and is now the subject of wide consultation.

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An additional £1 million is being made available to health boards in this financial year to fund shared care arrangements for drug misusers, which will include monitoring and evaluation of projects.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on the use of methadone as a heroin substitute for heroin addicts in Scotland. [11270]

Mr. Galbraith: Substitute prescribing, including the use of methadone as a heroin substitute, is a method of harm reduction which has an important part to play in tackling drug misuse in Scotland. It needs to form part of a comprehensive package of care tailored to the individual needs of the drug misuser, which includes counselling and support and supervision of the taking of the drug, to prevent leakage onto the illicit market.

My Department is issuing detailed guidance on good practice in substitute prescribing to all GPs and relevant health professionals in Scotland.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the expenditure on the provision of methadone to heroin addicts (a) by health board and (b) in total for each of the last 10 years in Scotland.[11272]

Mr. Galbraith: The information by health board and Scotland for the financial years 1994-95 to 1996-97 is set out in the table.

The costs shown include the value of ingredients and the cost of fees paid to community pharmacists for dispensing the drug.

The information is not available in the form requested before 1994-95.

Cost of methadone prescribing: 1994-95 to 1996-97

Health board	1994-95 (£)	1995-96 (£)	1996-97 (£)
Argyll and Clyde	100,617	142,918	206,117
Ayrshire and Arran	156,791	166,850	251,422
Borders	4,875	5,353	8,332
Dumfries and Galloway	31,710	48,304	53,417
Fife	30,591	59,354	86,943
Forth Valley	94,810	98,901	113,965
Grampian	186,454	264,363	269,263
Greater Glasgow	1,169,894	1,620,819	1,924,393
Highland	8,082	15,337	15,699
Lanarkshire	36,891	55,309	85,164
Lothian	435,881	533,992	631,033
Orkney	409	351	405
Shetland	96	1,390	1,712
Tayside	253,504	292,917	348,973
Western Isles	16	21	4
Scotland	2,510,621	3,306,179	3,996,832

Needle Exchange Services

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the qualification requirements for employees involved in needle exchange services. [11273]

Mr. Galbraith: No formal qualification for needle exchange workers exists, but, under the framework of guidance issued by the Scottish Office, such needle and syringe exchange schemes must be supervised by a registered medical practitioner.

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Lockerbie

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will ask a Scottish Lord of Appeal in Ordinary to discuss the Lockerbie case with (a) Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, (b) the Lord President, (c) Lord Mackay of Drumadom and (d) the Lord Advocate and report to him.[11129]

Mr. McLeish: No.

Crime and Punishment Act

Mrs. McKenna: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which further provisions of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997 he intends to implement; and if he will make a statement. [12072]

Mr. McLeish: The key objective of our criminal justice policy is to protect the public effectively. It is against this background that we have reviewed the provisions of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997.

We have already made a commencement order bringing certain provisions of the 1997 Act into force on 1 August--SI 1997/1712 (C.72) (S.128). We intend to bring a further tranche of provisions into force in October, including mandatory minimum sentences for persistent drug traffickers--section 2 of the 1997 Act--and new arrangements for criminal legal aid--part V of the 1997 Act).

We remain committed to consistency and honesty in sentencing, and will be bringing forward proposals to further these aims. However, we have concluded that the new arrangements for early release contained in part III of the 1997 Act are unsatisfactory and impractical, and we do not therefore propose to implement them in their present form.

We are not satisfied that section 1 of the Act, which provides for the sentences to be imposed in certain circumstances on repeat violent and sex offenders, as enacted, provides proper protection for the public against these offenders. However, given the seriousness with which we view the issue of repeat offending, we shall be consulting on how best to provide for the appropriate sentencing and improved supervision of such offenders.

In addition, we shall be taking a range of other steps to deal effectively with offenders and improve public protection. We shall be commencing section 5 of the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997 to enable the Secretary of State to set up pilot schemes for the electronic tagging of offenders.

Community-based sentences have an important part to play in punishing and rehabilitating offenders. I am therefore looking closely at the full range of disposals, both custodial and non-custodial, against our objectives of improving public safety, dealing effectively and rigorously with offending behaviour and increasing public confidence in the criminal justice system.

We will be consulting further on other options in developing a new strategy on criminal justice for Scotland which is tough, effective, workable and coherent.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 310

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