§ Mr. KennedyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give a breakdwon of the total number of nursing clinical grading appeals already heard at national level, stating how many resulted in an appeal being upheld, rejected or a failure to agree.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythIn Scotland 461 appeals have been heard at Scottish appeals committee level; 150 have been upheld, 167 rejected and in 144 cases the committee failed to reach agreement. In Great Britain 71 appeals from Scotland have been lodged with the Nursing and Midwifery Staffs Negotiating Council and appropriate arrangements for determining their outcome are being made.
§ Mr. KennedyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the average cost associated with a single nursing clinical grading appeal hearing at(a) board level, (b) national level and (c) United Kingdom level.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythInformation on the average cost of a clinical grading appeal at board, national and United Kingdom level is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. KennedyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Scottish nursing clinical grading appeals are currently waiting to be heard at(a) board level, (b) 331W national level and (c) United Kingdom level; and how many appeals have already been completed at each of those levels.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythInformation on the number of nurse clinical grading appeals currently waiting to be heard and the number of appeals completed at board level is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. At Scottish appeals committee level 1,925 appeals were waiting to be heard and 461 had been completed at 1 March. No information is held on the total number of appeals lodged at United Kingdom level but in Great Britain as at 28 February, 602 appeals were lodged (71 from Scotland) of which eight have been heard (none from Scotland) and 589 are currently waiting to be heard.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythAppeals against clinical grading decisions are heard under a complicated and time-consuming procedure agreed by the General Whitley Council and future progress will depend on a number of factors, particularly the availability of people who are suitably qualified to hear appeals. Consequently it is not possible to estimate when nurse grading appeals will be completed.
There is no information held centrally on board level appeals. The information available on appeals at Scottish appeals committee level and national (Great Britain) level is as follows:
Number of Appeals Received (Scotland) Number of Appeals heard (Scotland) Scottish Appeals Committee nearly 2,500 461 Great Britain 71 None
Secure Unit Region Number of Places Rossie School Montrose Tayside 25 St. Mary's Kenmure School Glasgow Strathclyde 24 Kerelaw School Stevenston Strathclyde 24 Howdenhall Children's Unit Edinburgh Lothian 5 Rimbleton House Glenrothes Fife 2 Weedingshall Youth Care Centre, Polmont Central 2 Closeburn Assessment Centre, Closeburn Dumfries and Galloway 2