The information requested is not held centrally.

However, Scotland level results from the Department of Trade of Industry (DTI) Fireworks Injuries Enquiry for Great Britain are available up to 2005 at www.isdscotland.org/fireworks.

The UK-wide DTI survey has not taken place since 2005. Data consisted of all injuries caused by fireworks that required treatment in accident and emergency departments and burns/plastic surgery units in Scotland during a period spanning mid-October to mid-November when sales of fireworks are traditionally at their height. These data are not available at local authority level.

Data on hospital discharges as a result of a firework-related injury indicate that only a very small number of individuals are admitted to hospital for this reason each year. These admissions are spread across local authorities, the majority having less than five cases over the five year period 2003-04 to 2007-08. There is no particular pattern across areas or years.

	Financial Year of Discharge
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08P
Scotland	9	15	8	7	12

 

	Financial Year of Discharge
	2003-04 to 2007-08 P
City of Edinburgh	6
Glasgow City	9
South Lanarkshire	6
All other Local Authorities	*

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

Note: *Values of 0 to 4 are not included in these tables.

Table 1 shows injuries caused by fireworks that required treatment in accident and emergency departments and burns/plastic surgery units in Scotland during the 33-day survey period around the fifth of November 2001 to 2005 (the most recent five years available) by age group.

Table 1

Age Group (Years)	Survey Year
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
0 to 15	51 (58.0%)	66 (55.9%)	32 (45.1%)	30 (44.8%)	46 (50.0%)
16 to 20	12 (13.6%)	12 (10.2%)	14 (19.7%)	11 (16.4%)	11 (12.0%)
21+	25 (28.4%)	40 (33.9%)	25 (35.2%)	26 (38.8%)	35 (38.0%)

Source: ISD Scotland, DTI Fireworks Injuries Survey 2005.

A small number of individuals are admitted to hospital as a result of a firework related injury. Table 2 shows the number and proportion of hospital admissions as a result of a firework-related injury, broken down by age group, for financial years 2003-04 to 2007-08.

Table 2

Age Group (Years)	Financial Year of Discharge
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-082
0 to 15	4 (44.4%)	3 (20.0%)	5 (62.5%)	2 (28.6%)	6 (50.0%)
16 to 20	3 (33.3%)	4 (26.7%)	0	3 (42.9%)	2 (16.7%)
21+	2 (22.2%)	8 (53.3%)	3 (37.5%)	2 (28.6%)	4 (33.3%)

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

Support for community-led health projects, including provision of home delivery and grocery services for older people along the lines of the food train is a matter for NHS boards and local authorities to decide based on the needs they have identified.

Additional business support for local third sector community food initiatives is available through Community Food and Health (Scotland), which is funded by the Scottish Government.

An evaluation of the Thistle Travel Card Scheme in 2006 showed that, in large part, the scheme failed due to poor publicity and marketing. In September 2007 the government offered grant funding of £4,550 to ENABLE to allow them to re-launch the scheme. This offer was declined.

The available information is given in the following tables.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selling Knives to Underage Persons¹ by Police Force Area, 2002-03 to 2006-07

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	1	-
Strathclyde	1	1	-	-	-
Tayside	-	1	-	-	-
Scotland	1	2	-	1	-

Note: 1. Where main offence. Includes offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 141A.

Persons with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Selling Knives to Underage Persons¹ by Approximate Local Authority Area, 2002-03 to 2006-07

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Angus	-	1	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	1	-
East Ayrshire	1	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	1	-	-	-

Notes:

1. Where main offence. Includes offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 141A.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish courts for Selling Knives to Underage Persons¹ by Police Force Area, 2002-03 to 2006-07.

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	1	-
Strathclyde	1	1	-	-	-
Tayside	-	1	-	-	-
Scotland	1	2	-	1	-

Note: 1. Where main offence. Includes offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 141A.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Selling Knives to Underage Persons¹ by Approximate Local Authority Area , 2002-03 to 2006-07

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Angus	-	1	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	1	-
East Ayrshire	1	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	1	-	-	-

Notes:

1. Where main offence. Includes offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 141A.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

The Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 has given ministers the power to introduce a licensing scheme for knife dealers. As part of the licensing scheme, dealers will be required to keep records of how proof of age was established.

Discussions have taken place with the police about backing up the licensing scheme with a tougher enforcement regime which may include test purchasing where appropriate.

The available information is given in the following table.

Persons Proceeded Against for Selling Tobacco to Persons Under 16¹, by Police Force Area 2002-03 to 2006-07

Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Dumfries and Galloway
Proceeded against	-	-	-	-	1
Charge proved	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian
Proceeded against	-	1	-	-	-
Charge proved	-	1	-	-	-
Lothian and Borders
Proceeded against	-	2	-	2	1
Charge proved	-	2	-	2	1
Northern
Proceeded against	-	-	-	-	4
Charge proved	-	-	-	-	3
Strathclyde
Proceeded against	-	-	-	-	1
Charge proved	-	-	-	-	1
Scotland
Proceeded against	-	3	-	2	7
Charge proved	-	3	-	2	5

Note: 1. Where main offence. Includes offences under the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 section 18.

Where higher than normal losses of bees are found after the winter, beekeepers can seek advice from the Scottish Agriculture College apiculture specialist as to the possible causes. In the majority of cases reported to the college, it has been possible to link these to poor management or to Varroa infestation and the secondary viruses associated with the Varroa mite which weakens the colony leaving it more prone to virus attack.

Beekeepers can also send samples to Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture for diagnostic examination.

Both of these services are funded by the Scottish Government and are free to beekeepers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14190 on 25 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.