Of the records held centrally the Education Department has received the most freedom of information requests to date.

Information on numbers of requests received and timeliness of responses to requests in the first six months of 2005 is available in a report on information request handling in the Scottish Executive. This report is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Bib. number 37868) and on the freedom of information pages of the Scottish Executive Website. The Executive will be publishing the report for requests received during the period 2 July 2005 –  31 December 2005 in March once the figures for this period have been analysed.

No such research has been carried out.

Of the records held centrally one fees notice has been issued and the applicant did not proceed with the request.

This information is not held centrally.

The information requested is contained in five tables entitled Medical Staff in Neurology by grade and NHS Board 2001-2005 a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38692).

NHSScotland has made excellent progress in reducing long waits for patients. On 30 September 2005, the number of patients waiting more than 26 weeks for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant in neurology, following referral, was 986 compared with 1,841 on 30 September 2004 - a reduction of 46%.

The number of first out-patient neurology appointments and the median waiting time for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant in the specialty of neurology, following referral by a general medical practitioner, by NHS board of residence, in the year ended 30 September 2005, is given in the table.

NHSScotland: Number of First Out-Patient Appointments and Median Waiting Times for a First Out-Patient Appointment with a Consultant in the Specialty of Neurology, Following Referral by a General Medical Practitioner, by NHS Board Area of Residence, Year Ended 30 September 2005^P

NHS Board	Number of Appointments	Median Waits (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	1,226	101
Ayrshire and Arran	547	95
Borders	323	100
Dumfries and Galloway	264	85
Fife	1,197	118
Forth Valley	671	74
Grampian	1,924	54
Greater Glasgow	3,750	92
Highland	395	130
Lanarkshire	1,067	127
Lothian	4,758	36
Orkney	16	60*
Shetland	22	74*
Tayside	1,401	188
Western Isles	55	168
Scotland	17,616	83

Source: SMR00, ISD Scotland.

^pProvisional.

Notes:

*Figures should be treated with caution as they are derived from a possible unrepresentatively small number of appointments (more than 14 but less than 50).

Excludes patients with an Availability Status Code.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Released from a Custodial Sentence or Given a Non-Custodial Sentence in 1999-2002 Whose Index Conviction¹ was for a Violent Crime: Percentage Reconvicted Within One Year

	Percentage Reconvicted Within 1 Year
	1999	2000	2001	2002
All Violent Crime	22	24	23	24
Serious assault and homicide 2	16	18	20	19
Robbery	36	37	35	39
Simple assault	22	24	23	24
Other Violence	17	18	22	21

Notes:

1. For each offender in the cohort, this is the conviction which resulted in a non-custodial sentence being served or the one which had originally led to a custodial sentence being served.

2. Includes murder, culpable homicide, attempted murder and serious assault.

Since 2001 ScottishEnterprise has provided over £1.7 million through Scottish Textiles to supportthe Scottish textiles industry. A further breakdown to show specific figuresfor the Borders and purpose of the funding is not available asdisproportionately high costs would be attached to obtaining this information.

Scottish Enterprise Bordershas provided a financial contribution of £419,000 over a four year period from2001-05 to the Borders based Cashmere Club. This is in addition to £130,000from Scottish Borders Council and up to £632,000 from the EU. This funding wasused for brand promotion and enhancing the brand image. In addition, localenterprise companies provide a range of business support services assistingtraining and business development.

From 2000 the ScottishExecutive has provided some £538,000 in Regional Selective Assistance toScottish Textiles companies in the Borders to support capital investments of £2.4million creating or safeguarding 110 jobs. Scottish Development Internationalprovides £50,000 per annum to support and promote the industry internationally.

The Scottish Textiles Forumprovides a central coordinating body linking industry with government. The forumwill therefore continue to work with industry and key partner organisations todevelop strategic direction for the industry and appropriate measures ofsupport.

Scottish Enterprise Bordersis working closely with other agencies such as Careers Scotland, ScottishBorders Council and JobCentre Plus through the PACE initiative to help thosemade redundant find suitable new employment.