Scottish
Parliament e-Brief
SECTION
1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
Parliament is in recess.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
Anti-fraud
measures save NHS £18 million
Anti-fraud measures since
2000, which have saved the NHS more than £18 million, including £7.4
million last year, have been revealed in the latest annual report from NHS
Scotland Counter Fraud Services (CFS).
Deputy Health Minister, Lewis Macdonald, said:
"I am delighted to note that the cumulative savings since NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services was set up in July 2000 are now over £18 million. This is money which has gone into frontline patient care rather than being lost to fraud.
"CFS is not just a fraud investigation body. A major focus of its activities is the prevention and deterrence of fraud against the NHS in Scotland which costs far less than investigating it after it has occurred."
In one case investigated by CFS, a pharmacist claimed for payment from NHSScotland for drugs which had not been dispensed through the pharmacy he owned. He pled guilty at court to fraud and repaid his NHS Board £120,000 in respect of unlawful fees. Last year, CFS also tested dental inlays for gold content, recovering £30,000 from nine dental practices across Scotland which had been claiming for treatment that failed to meet the required precious metal specifications.
CFS was established on 1st July 2000 and is part of NHS National Services Scotland. Its initial remit was to prevent, detect and investigate fraud and other irregularities against NHS family health services in Scotland. The CFS's role was extended in 2004 to cover all of the NHS in Scotland. The savings of £18 million are the gross cumulative savings to the NHS since 2000.
The CFS has a Freephone Fraud Hotline 08000 15 16 28 and a website which NHS staff or anyone else can use to report potential cases of fraud. Cases can be reported anonymously if the person feels uncomfortable giving his or her name and details. All cases are investigated objectively by fully trained and accredited CFS fraud investigators.
Main
transport trends
The main trends shown by
statistics on transport in Scotland over the past 10 years and, in some cases,
over the longer term have been published. They also provide some
comparisons with figures for Great Britain (or, in a few cases, the UK as a
whole) for the past 10 years.
In Scotland in 2005:
The total volume of traffic at 43 billion (thousand million) vehicle kilometres, was more or less the same as in 2004 (there was an increase of only 0.03%), the highest level ever recorded and 16% more than in 1995;
The total number of vehicles licensed grew by 3% to 2.53 million, 33% more than in 1995 and the highest number ever. Although the number of new vehicles registered fell by 5% to 251,000, it was still the fourth highest figure recorded, 45% more than in 1995;
There were 75.1 million passenger journeys on ScotRail services (in the 2005-06 financial year), 9% more than the previous year and 48% more than 10 years earlier. Rail passenger numbers are at the highest level since (at least) 1960;
There were 23.8 million air terminal passengers, 5% more than in the previous year, 93% more than in 1995 and the highest level ever recorded;
286 people were killed on the roads, 7% fewer than in 2004, 30% fewer than in 1995 and the lowest number for more than 50 years. The number of people recorded as seriously injured in road accidents was 2,605, down by 5%, and the lowest figure since records of serious injuries began in 1950. Road casualties totalled 17,798, 4% fewer than in 2004, 20% fewer than in 1995, and the lowest figure since 1952; and
There were 465 million passenger journeys (boardings) on local bus services in Scotland in the 2004-05 financial year (the latest date for which figures are available at present). This was 2% more than in the previous year and the sixth consecutive annual increase. However, there have been large falls over the longer-term. The 2004-05 figure was 9% below that for 1994-95 and considerably less than the totals of almost 900 million for 1975 and almost 1,700 million for 1960.
Comparisons with figures for Great Britain (or the UK) as a whole include:
While the number of vehicles per head of population has been rising steadily, it has been consistently lower in Scotland: in 2005, there were 50 vehicles per 100 population in Scotland compared with 57 in GB;
Usage of local bus services is higher in Scotland: in 2004-05, 92 journeys were made per head of population in Scotland compared with 79 in GB;
Per head of population, there are fewer rail passenger journeys originating in Scotland: 14.4 per head in Scotland in 2004-05, compared with 18.8 per head in GB;
The number of air passengers per head of population has been higher for Scotland. Between 1995 and 2005, air terminal passengers increased by 93% for Scotland and 77% for the UK as a whole; and
Over the past 10 years, the number of people who were killed or seriously injured in road accidents fell more rapidly in Scotland: compared with 1995, the number in 2005 was 46% lower in Scotland and 35% lower in GB. However, the numbers killed or seriously injured per head of population in 2005 were almost the same (about 0.6 per thousand), because the more rapid fall in Scotland was from a higher starting level.
SECTION
3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS
Parliament is in recess.
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