Forty-two birds have been releasedbetween 2001 when the project began and the end of 2005; figures for the individualyears are available in the following table. I understand four birds were relocatedin 2006, but final confirmation of this figure will be available from Scottish NaturalHeritage in due course.

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	Total
No. Birds Released	6	8	11	10	7	42

 

The birds are removed from nestswhere there are two viable chicks after they are about six weeks old. At this stageof their development they are capable of feeding themselves from food provided tothem.

Mortality rates are not availableon a yearly basis. Twenty-six of the 42 individuals released (62%) were knownto be alive at the end of 2005. This should not be seen as a definitive survivalrate as it would be incorrect to assume that most of the other birds are dead. However,the known survival rate is very good, similar to Scottish survival rates and, althoughdata is incomplete given that the project is still at a very early age, it is myunderstanding that survival is well within the expected range, and sufficient toachieve the project’s aims.

Bans on alcohol consumption inspecific public places are dealt with by local authority byelaws. Where a localauthority wishes to put such a byelaw in place, detailed proposals are discussedand agreed with the Scottish Executive. This part of the process is designed toensure consistency and general compatibility with Scots law and that there is supportfor the proposal from the police and Procurator Fiscal’s office. Once the proposedbyelaws have been agreed they are then advertised by the local authority for 30days. If there are public objections to the proposed byelaws these will be consideredand addressed as necessary. Ministers are then invited to confirm the byelaw. Oncethe byelaw is confirmed by the Scottish ministers, the local authority is then ableto set a date for implementation.

Value for Money (VfM) will bedelivered in this project through a structure that makes effective use of key resourcessuch as staff and facilities. VfM has been demonstrated through a quantitative assessmentof price and a qualitative assessment of the bidder’s ability to meet clinical,workforce and other requirements.

The quantitative assessment ofprice has been made using comparators with the equivalent cost of undertaking theactivity in the NHS in Scotland. The qualitative assessment of the bid’s ability to addressthe clinical, workforce and other requirements of the project was carried out separatelyfrom the financial evaluation and involved key clinical and other staff in the evaluationprocess.

Audit Scotland reviewedthe Value for Money approach taken to ensure that the calculation was performedagainst the appropriate comparators.

One company submitted a tenderto provide the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre at Stracathro Hospital.

The names and addresses of thecompanies which were invited to negotiate are as follows:

NationsHealthcare Ltd

GreencoatHouse

FrancisStreet

London

SW1P 1DH

CapioHealthcare Ltd

AriaHouse (Level 6)

23Craven Street

London

WC2N 5NT

Amicus Healthcare (Scotland) Ltd

16 Charlotte Square

Edinburgh

Midlothian

EH2 4DF.

Contract negotiations with thepreferred bidder are on-going, the details of which are “commercial in confidence”at this stage. The contract will, however, set out a comprehensive and sophisticatedperformance management regime whereby the provider must meet a detailed list ofkey performance indicators. This will be subject to a structured review processthroughout the operation of the treatment centre.

The treatment centre will alsobe subject to the same level of review by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS)as all other NHS facilities and will be included in any activity undertaken by NHSQIS within NHS Tayside.

Following a public advertisementand prequalification process, three companies were selected to proceed to the Invitationto Negotiate stage of the NHS Tayside procurement.

Contract negotiations with thepreferred bidder are on-going.