Plenary, 17 Jan 2008

Meeting date: Thursday, January 17, 2008

Official Report 742KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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Health and Wellbeing

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Healthy Living Centres (Remote and Islands Communities)

To ask the Scottish Executive what support is available for healthy living centres in remote and island communities. (S3O-1872)

Community health initiatives, such as healthy living centres, can play a vital role in complementing public services through effective approaches to improving people's health in hard-to-reach communities. The Scottish Government provides funding to health boards and local government to support local services such as healthy living centres, in line with local needs and priorities.

Does the minister recognise that the future of many healthy living centres in remote and island communities, including the one on Islay in Argyll, is in doubt because of their difficulties in convincing the Big Lottery Fund that their work affects enough people to merit support? Surely the population of Islay, which is 3,400, is large enough to justify the continuation of a healthy living centre that up to now has been successful in providing services to the people of the island. However, the centre will close if further funding is not forthcoming. Will the minister make representations to the Big Lottery Fund in that regard and emphasise how valuable the centres are in helping to improve health and well-being in some of our most remote communities?

Last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing met healthy living centre alliance representatives, among whom was a general practitioner from Islay who set out very well the case that the member has just outlined. We are considering further options for ensuring that the healthy living centres' good work can be sustained, but I stress the point that I made in my first response, which is that we give resources to health boards and local government to develop at a local level the very services that the member has highlighted.

The need for co-ordinated services such as those offered by healthy living centres is just as great in deprived urban areas such as Wester Hailes in my region. Is the minister able to assure me that her Government will continue to encourage and support the healthy living centre development programme in all areas of Scotland?

The original question was actually about remote and island communities, but I am willing to allow that supplementary if the minister wants to answer it.

As I said earlier, the future funding of healthy living centres is a matter primarily for local health boards and local authorities. That said, on 25 November last year, the cabinet secretary wrote to all territorial health board chairs, asking them to consider the importance of community health initiatives in their area—whether urban or rural—and the support that can be offered to ensure that valued activities for health improvement in the community are continued. I reiterate that we met representatives of the healthy living centre alliance last week and that we are considering further options to ensure that that good work continues.

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National Health Service (Fire Safety)

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress the NHS is making to improve fire safety in hospitals. (S3O-1949)

I believe that current fire safety measures in Scottish hospitals are already highly effective. Indeed, that view is supported by the level of fire incidents reported recently to the Scottish Government as a requirement of the health directorates' fire safety policy for NHS Scotland.

However, I accept the need to maintain a high level of vigilance. In order to keep fire safety issues under continual review, the NHS Scotland fire safety advisory group meets quarterly to address policy and guidance issues and to consider any emerging issues in the United Kingdom health care sector.

I draw the minister's attention to concerns expressed by a number of organisations about NHS Forth Valley's intention not to install fire sprinklers in the new Larbert hospital. Is she aware that for more than a year now the local fire authority has asked repeatedly for such sprinklers to be installed? Does she agree with the recent comment of Her Majesty's fire service inspectorate that it would be good practice to install fire sprinklers in hospitals and, if so, does she think that NHS Forth Valley should ensure that the new Larbert hospital complies with that best practice standard?

I am aware of the concerns that the member raises. A group comprising the contractors, fire safety and building experts and representatives from Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service is reviewing fire safety design in each area of the new Larbert hospital. Final decisions on the installation of automatic fire suppression systems have not been made as yet—the process of appraisal and review is on-going. So far, it has led to automatic fire suppression systems being planned for specific areas that have been deemed to be high risk—for example, the data communication rooms and kitchen extractor hoods. I have asked to be kept informed of the progress that is made and will ensure that the local member is kept up to date.

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NHS Fife (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met NHS Fife and what issues were discussed. (S3O-2057)

I meet all NHS board chairs on a monthly basis. I chaired the annual review of NHS Fife on 13 August last year and have met managers and front-line staff during visits to health care facilities in Fife, for example when I opened the new haematology unit at Queen Margaret hospital and the new Linburn Road health centre in Dunfermline on 20 November. Scottish Government officials also meet NHS Fife regularly to discuss a wide range of issues.

I ask the cabinet secretary to join me in praising health boards and local authorities generally for the substantial progress that they have made over the past six years in tackling delayed discharges, and I welcome the Scottish National Party Government's "Better Health, Better Care" target to have zero delayed discharges by March 2008.

However, is the cabinet secretary aware of the failure of the SNP and Liberal-led Fife Council to address the rise in the number of delayed discharges from Fife hospitals to a peak of more than 160? Does she know that 140 patients still await funding for community places? Is she aware that Fife NHS Board has already had to commit £4 million of extra funds to prevent acute hospitals in Fife from having major problems with admissions as a result of Fife Council's failure on delayed discharges? Does she wish to amend her statement to the Health and Sport Committee that the rise in the number of delayed discharges in the autumn of this year could be explained as normal seasonal variation? Will she undertake to talk to Fife Council and Fife NHS Board about that major problem?

That is quite a lot of questions. Over to you, minister.

I will do my best, Presiding Officer.

If the member cares to look at past trends, he will realise that there is seasonal fluctuation in delayed discharges. For the record, I hope that he will accept that.

Any issues that Fife NHS Board and Fife Council face with regard to social care services have at their root an overspend in the Fife Council budget that was caused by the most recent Labour administration in Fife. That is the reality of the situation that Fife Council and, by extension, Fife NHS Board are dealing with.

Let me explain to the Parliament the action that is being taken to deal with the problems that were caused by that administration. To reduce the number of delayed discharges to which the member referred, Fife NHS Board is funding 40 care home placements at a cost of £3.2 million. In addition, the NHS board and local authority partnership is increasing home care. The council leader and the chair of the NHS board have personally taken leadership of the effort to reduce the number of delayed discharges and to get the partnership firmly back on track. The joint improvement team has recently been invited to Fife to assist—a scoping visit will be made at the end of January. All those measures should provide considerable reassurance to the Parliament that community and social work services in Fife are in better hands now than they were under Fife Council's Labour administration.

I thank the cabinet secretary for her extremely full response to Richard Simpson. Is she aware that at a recent meeting, Fife NHS Board made it clear to all the MSPs who bothered to turn up that there have been more discharges this year than in any previous year? She is well aware that the Labour Party left Fife Council with no reserves whatever and an underfunded social work budget, and that any present problems are directly related to the previous administration.

Will the cabinet secretary welcome the positive initiatives of Fife Council and the health board, and will she join me in condemning the scaremongering of some Labour MSPs who should know better?

Tricia Marwick is right to point out that there have been more discharges this year than in any other year. I pay tribute to NHS Fife and the local authority for that.

Tricia Marwick is also right to point out the repeated and consistent scaremongering on this and many other issues from an Opposition that is obviously bereft of any positive ideas to put forward in or outwith this chamber.

In Fife, we see a legacy of Labour mismanagement. There are plenty of other examples of that around the country. Perhaps that is one of the main reasons why Fife Council is now administered in part by the SNP and why Scotland is now governed by the SNP.

During the national health service waiting times debate on 27 September, the minister stated that she had sent in a team to examine the situation in Fife. Can she inform the chamber of the findings and recommendations of that team and repeat her commitment that Fife will meet the six-week delayed discharge target later this year?

All NHS boards and councils are expected to meet the targets on delayed discharge. I assume that Claire Baker was listening to my answer to Richard Simpson, so she will have heard me detail the action that is being taken by the NHS board and by Fife Council to deal with the problem, which is a legacy of the previous council administration. She will also have heard me say that the joint improvement team has been invited to Fife to provide support and assistance where that is necessary. There will be a visit by the joint improvement team at the end of January.

The council, the NHS board and I will continue to be held to account, as is right, for progress that is made. However, I am absolutely satisfied that the board and the council are getting to grips with considerable problems that were not of their making.

Minister, are you aware that, when Labour left office, just prior to May last year, the number of short-term-stay beds that were blocked was zero and that the number of long-term-stay beds that were blocked had been brought down to 20, after an enormous amount of funding was invested by the then Minister for Health and Community Care? I cannot remember the exact figure, but I know that it was a considerable sum that amounted to millions.

Are you also aware—

I am not aware of anything, Mrs Eadie—I should correct that; I am aware of the odd thing. You should refer to the minister in the third person.

I apologise, Presiding Officer.

Cabinet secretary, are you also aware that I am not scaremongering when I raise these issues and that I am responding to the queue of people from all over Fife who are at my door because they are so alarmed? The fact is that there are serious problems in the acute hospital service in Fife.

Mrs Eadie—

Minister, are you aware that the hospital service in Fife is on its knees at the moment because of the failure to address the problem of Fife Council not making funding available? Labour dipped into its reserves. Labour always has the capacity to make sure—

Mrs Eadie, that is enough. We have the gist of the question.

I am aware that, when Labour left office last May, Fife and the rest of Scotland breathed an enormous sigh of relief. There was, however, one downside to Labour being kicked out of the administration in Fife Council last year, which is that it meant that Labour was not made to stay around to take responsibility for the mess that it had created. [Interruption.]

Mrs Eadie, order.

The upside, of course, is that Fife Council is now led by the SNP and that, in partnership with NHS Fife, we have team of people who are working hard to get to grips with the issue. I think that that team is doing very well and I wish it every success.

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Children's Cancer Services (Aberdeen)

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the full range of children's cancer services will continue to be delivered in Aberdeen. (S3O-1905)

I expect to receive within the next few weeks recommendations from an option appraisal of children's cancer services that will inform the national delivery plan for specialist children's services. The delivery plan will be subject to consultation early this year.

I am sure that the minister will be aware of the fact that quite different reports have been circulated in the local press regarding both the timetable and the likely outcome of the consideration of the matter.

I will press the minister on the timing a little bit further. She will be aware that, following her decision to move cleft lip and palate surgery away from Aberdeen, there will be intense interest in the decision when it is made. Will she indicate a little more clearly to the families concerned when that consultation process is likely to begin?

I confirm, as I did in my initial answer, that I expect to receive the report within the next few weeks—I hope to receive it by the end of the month. I will then need to consider the report, but any changes consequent on it will, of course, be subject to full consultation. The national steering group was set up in 2006—indeed, it was set up by the previous Administration—to develop a national delivery plan for children's specialist services. That group is leading the work on children's cancer services.

It is important to point out that underpinning that work is a Scottish Government commitment to two new children's hospitals, in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and continued support for existing facilities at Aberdeen children's hospital and the children's hospital in Dundee. It would not be appropriate for me to go into further detail at the moment, given that no decisions have been taken—perhaps that means that people should not put too much store by what they read in the newspapers, because the final decisions will not be taken by newspapers, but by me.

This Government has a clear presumption against centralisation of services—a stance that has been vindicated this week in two independent reports. That does not mean that there will never be any specialisation of services, but it does mean that where such specialisation is proposed, there must be strong evidence to show that it is clearly in the patient interest.

I am glad that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has pointed out another bit of Labour's legacy to Scotland—the initiation of those reviews. I hope that she can confirm for me that they were initiated by the previous Government and that the neurosurgery review and the children's cancer services review stood out as being unusual aspects of the Kerr report, in that they talked about centralisation whereas Kerr talked about other aspects—

Will Mr Adam please ask a question?

Will the minister tell me what her decision will be based on? Will it be based on evidence of safety and sustainability, or on other factors?

I can confirm for Brian Adam that the national steering group on specialist children's services was set up by the previous Administration in 2006. Having said that, however, that group is doing important work, and I hope that every member in the chamber would agree that in the case of all services—but particularly when we are dealing with children, and children with cancer—we must ensure that we have services of the very highest quality that give those children the best possible chance and the best possible clinical outcomes.

I am more than happy to confirm for Brian Adam that, as I said in my previous answer, all decisions that I take about the future of hospital services anywhere will be taken on the basis of evidence. I will want to be assured that any proposed changes are made in the knowledge that they will result in clear benefit to patients. That is the way in which I will proceed, and I will do so very firmly, in the national interest and in the interests of patients.

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Obesity

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to tackle obesity. (S3O-1875)

We are delivering a wide range of actions to support people in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, including implementation of the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007.

Over the next three years, we will be investing a further £14.7 million—in addition to increased spending on healthy eating and physical activity—to tackle obesity.

Government and other sectors all have key roles in creating environments that make it easier for people to be more active in their everyday lives and to make healthier choices in what they eat.

I note the Government's commitment—in the budget and elsewhere—to tackling children's obesity but, given that around 60 per cent of Scottish adults are overweight or obese, what is being done to provide weight management services and support for adults? I must add, Presiding Officer, that the question is intended for the greater good of public health in Scotland, rather than for personal advantage.

I do not know what to say to that. [Laughter.]

I think that that goes without saying, Mary.

We will bring forward an obesity action plan in the near future. On the issue of adults, which Mary Scanlon raised in her question, our thinking is around the roll-out of the counterweight programme, which is an effective programme that is delivered nationally through general practitioners and adult treatment services. At the moment, it is focused on the keep well areas, but we want to take it forward on a national basis. We are also considering how we can take advantage of workplace-based weight monitoring and engage employers to play their part in making such services available to their employees.

I assure Mary Scanlon that we are determined to make progress in tackling obesity, which is one of our major public health challenges. I look forward to sharing more information with her and other members when we publish the action plan in due course.

Does the minister agree that the decision by Scottish Labour MPs to vote for the transfer of Scottish lottery funds away from good causes—many of which help Scottish youngsters to get fit and healthy—to the London Olympics is deplorable and will in no way assist her with the fight against obesity?

I agree with Aileen Campbell that the possible loss of £184 million to Scottish good causes as a result of the transfer, for which Scottish Labour MPs voted, will not help to tackle obesity or, more generally, health inequalities in our society. It will certainly not help the weak, dispossessed and vulnerable in our society.

I add that messing up sportscotland has not done anything for the minister's obesity strategy either.

On the question of obesity, is the national co-ordinator post to be continued? If so, will their work be concentrated on deprived areas? On the £14.7 million that the minister said is being spent on tackling obesity, how much of that money is being targeted at deprived communities? Is the budget being increased? Will she continue to increase it during the next three years?

Margaret Curran will be aware that more than £100 million a year of additional funding is going into health improvement measures due to the Scottish National Party Government's budget. Of course, a lot of the resources will be focused on tackling health inequalities. The Government is giving great priority to that area, which is why I chair the task force on tackling health inequalities. We are considering what additional measures we should put in place to take the agenda forward. We are also considering how to bring together the strands of food and health, physical activity, the obesity action plan and the local co-ordinators to create a more coherent policy to tackle obesity in our society. As I said in my answer to the previous question, obesity is one of the major public health challenges in Scotland.

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National Health Service (Low-paid Workers)

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to help low-paid workers in the NHS. (S3O-1896)

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the position of lower-paid workers in NHS Scotland. We ensured, for instance, that the 2007-08 pay award was implemented in full with effect from 1 April 2007, and we further increased pay for low-paid NHS workers from 1 November 2007. Taken together, those measures meant that agenda for change staff in NHS Scotland received extra pay of between £69 and £427 in 2007-08 compared with their counterparts in England.

NHS Scotland has had a long-standing commitment to pay above the minimum wage, first with the 2002 low pay agreement, and more recently with the introduction of agenda for change. As well as the measures that I have outlined, the Scottish Government will continue to participate in discussions with staff representative groups at both Scottish and United Kingdom levels on a wide range of issues, including the concerns of the lowest paid workers in NHS Scotland.

The cabinet secretary will be aware of the furore in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area about car parking charges. I welcome the action that the minister has taken so far to curb the proposed charges. However, even with the health board's compromise of limiting the charge to £3 a day, there will be a severe impact on low-paid NHS workers, with £15 a week being deducted from their take-home pay, which will leave many people struggling to make ends meet. Will the cabinet secretary take action to ensure that low-paid health workers are not punished, penalised and left destitute by the health board's proposed actions?

I appreciate the importance of Hugh Henry's question. I have said previously that I have concerns about car parking charges that are being applied at some Scottish hospitals in some NHS board areas. Without being too party political about it, I gently point out to Hugh Henry that, with the action that I have taken since becoming health secretary, there is no doubt that car parking charges will be a lot lower under this Government than they were—and would have continued to be—under the Labour Government, of which Mr Henry was a member.

My position is clear. Revised guidance to NHS boards will be issued in the very near future, and it will make it clear that the presumption is for car parking to be free. At a majority of hospital sites in Scotland, car parking is and will continue to be free. In the small number of cases where car parking charges are necessary to deal with congestion problems, charges will be capped at £3 per day. That is vastly better than, for example, the £7 per day charges that would have applied had the Labour Government stayed in office.

On the specifics of Hugh Henry's point about lower-paid staff, when NHS boards are making decisions about the allocation of staff parking permits, they must take into account the personal circumstances of staff and apply the criteria fairly and transparently, ensuring that the right members of staff benefit from permit policies.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Will you reflect on whether you have the authority and power to take action when ministers say things in the chamber that are completely untrue? If you do not have that power, will you discuss with the Procedures Committee what can be done to allow you to take action to stop that practice?

Mr Henry, being an experienced politician, will know that he is perfectly free to take that point to the Procedures Committee himself. I will reflect on what he has said.

I congratulate the cabinet secretary on having established the review of car parking charges, and on the announcement that she made just before Christmas and the spirit behind it. Can she confirm that it was the previous Administration that gave a dispensation to health boards to charge for hospital car parking? Does she agree that health boards that continue to charge should not presume that a maximum daily charge should apply to any length of stay, but instead it should be viewed as a maximum, and it should apply only in the most exceptional circumstances?

I thank Jackson Carlaw for his constructive question and for the constructive way in which he has campaigned on the issue of car parking charges. He is right to say that the ability of health boards to introduce car parking charges was introduced by the previous Administration, which the members of the main Opposition party, with their selective memories, have chosen to forget.

I can confirm two further points for Jackson Carlaw. First, I repeat that the presumption will be that car parking will be free. Indeed, it is and will continue to be free at the vast majority of hospital sites. Secondly, the guidance that will shortly be issued to NHS boards will not only set a maximum daily charge of £3 but make it clear that, where currently charges of less than £3 are in place for either a whole day or part of a day, they should not be increased.

I have a very straightforward question for the minister: will the £3 limit apply to all acute service sites throughout Glasgow, including Glasgow royal infirmary?

As I said when I made the announcement, the £3 cap will apply to all NHS-run car parks. I have made it clear, and I have never tried to hide the fact, that with privately operated car parks—which were brought about not by the Government of which I am part but by the previous Administration—the existing contracts cannot legally be overturned. However, I want to address that issue moving forward, because I would like there to be fairness and a level playing field for all hospitals and all hospital car parks.

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Glasgow Housing Association

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in relation to Glasgow Housing Association's improvement plan. (S3O-1957)

Glasgow Housing Association submitted an improvement plan to the regulator on 13 November, as required. In line with normal practice, the regulator has been in discussion with GHA since then to finalise the details of the plan. I understand that GHA is already acting on the most pressing findings of the inspection report.

The minister will be aware that problems with GHA still exist, particularly with its actions in relation to members of the community, residents and owner-occupiers. Will he meet me to discuss those urgent issues for the people of Glasgow?

The inspection process found that GHA had not acted as well as it could have done in relation to the homeowners in Glasgow with whom it deals. The regulator has asked that proper improvement plans be produced in relation to homeowners and I look forward to seeing them. I am happy to meet Sandra White to discuss the issues. I know that she has been a long-term campaigner on the matter, and I am sure that her constituents are grateful for the efforts that she has made on their behalf in the past few years.

I trust that I will get an invitation to that meeting, because it would be useful to pursue the issues about homeowners and to consider whether Audit Scotland can examine the improvement plans, about which concerns exist.

Can the minister confirm my understanding that an action plan should have been published and put in the public domain within eight weeks of the production of the inspection report? Is he confident that the action plan as it stands will address the serious questions that were raised in the report? Will he confirm that he holds, or is willing to hold, regular meetings with the local housing organisations and housing associations that have expressed concerns about the progress towards community ownership in Glasgow?

I am more than happy to extend the invitation to the meeting to Johann Lamont if she wishes to come along. I am more than happy to discuss with any member the issues and problems surrounding GHA, which are a legacy of the previous Administration. GHA has submitted an improvement plan to the regulator but, as I said in my original answer, the normal process is under way of discussing the plan to ensure that it is fit for purpose and that it deals with the problems that were identified in the inspection report. GHA will have to come to a conclusion and get to the end result that is required in the inspection report. Ultimately, if GHA does not complete that process successfully, the regulator has powers to intervene and it has an intervention strategy in place.

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Older People (Lifestyles)

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to promote active and healthy lifestyles among older people. (S3O-1946)

"All Our Futures: Planning for a Scotland with an Ageing Population" sets out a framework for supporting older people to live life to the full. A healthy and active life is central to that. A range of measures are in place to promote good physical and mental health and active lifestyles among older people, including community walking initiatives for older people, such as the paths to health walking programme.

Does the minister agree that older people are a vulnerable group in our society? Of late, we have heard much from certain quarters about a concern for vulnerable groups. Although publicly run leisure facilities are primarily a matter for local government, does he share my concern about the removal of discounted swimming for pensioners by Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council? Does that not undermine the health and well-being of vulnerable older people in North Lanarkshire?

The Government would never want to undermine older people's health and well-being. Although that matter is for the local authority, we expect local authorities and health boards to take account of the recommendations of "All Our Futures" when they develop leisure and other services for older people, and to ensure that those services are accessible and affordable.

I am sure that the minister will agree with me and Jamie Hepburn that older people are some of the most vulnerable and needy people in our communities. Does she agree that pensioners in North Lanarkshire, and in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth in particular, would have been much better off had they received the council tax and water rebate benefits that Labour proposed, rather than the measly 70p a week that is being proposed under the SNP's council tax freeze?

That is a bit rich of Cathie Craigie, given that pensioners' council tax increased by 60 per cent under the good auspices of the Labour Party when it was in government.

Rather than talking a good game like the Labour Party, this Government will actually deliver a good deal for our pensioners by freezing the council tax and, of course, by moving towards a local income tax, which will be of enormous benefit to older people and pensioners.

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Policy Priorities

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy priorities are for 2008 for the health and well-being portfolio. (S3O-1889)

Our priorities for 2008 include continuing to implement our manifesto commitments as well as those contained in other policy documents such as the "Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan". We will also take forward a range of initiatives resulting from the firm foundations consultation.

Through the chairmanship of their respective organisations, Julia Bracewell and Dougie Donnelly presided over Scotland's greatest ever medal haul at the 2006 Commonwealth games. They were also a key part of Scotland's success in securing the 2014 games for Glasgow. Can the minister explain how the SNP Government will repair the damage done to Scottish sport by her colleague the Minister for Communities and Sport? Can she explain to Parliament why—if, as is claimed today, Julia Bracewell and Dougie Donnelly were casualties of reorganisation and not victims of petty vindictiveness—the Minister for Communities and Sport did not make the announcement about them to Parliament last week as part of his statement? Can she confirm that there will be no more forced redundancies as a result of the minister's decision?

It would have been pretty invidious for the Minister for Communities and Sport to talk about the positions of individuals in a parliamentary statement before the information had been shared with the individuals concerned. Perhaps that is how the previous Labour-Liberal Government used to operate, but it is not how this Government will treat respected individuals.

Let me make this clear to Patricia Ferguson: Julia Bracewell and Dougie Donnelly were not sacked. It does not take a genius—that should come as good news to members on the Labour benches—to work out that when two boards are merged into one, two chairs are no longer needed. Only one chair is needed for the new merged board, and the appointment process for the position should be open and transparent.

Let me place on record my thanks to both Julia Bracewell and Dougie Donnelly for the enormous contribution that they have made to sport in Scotland. Let me also confirm to the chamber that both of them are perfectly entitled to apply for the chair of the new organisation.

Patricia Ferguson raises important points about the future of Scottish sport. Like everyone in this chamber, I would like Scottish athletes to win more medals at the Commonwealth games and, indeed, at the Olympic games—if we were allowed to compete in our own right. I want to see Scottish athletes winning medals, and if the question arises whether this Government's decisions will help or hinder that, I prefer to rely on the opinion of people who know what they are talking about. As the First Minister did this morning, let me tell the chamber what Derek Casey—one of the people responsible for winning Glasgow the 2014 Commonwealth games—said about the Minister for Communities and Sport's announcement last week. He said that it was a "win, win, win" situation for Scottish sport, elite athletes and, indeed, the Commonwealth games. Derek Casey is an expert to be listened to. I will not say what I think about Patricia Ferguson.

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Norovirus

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it can take to assist in the elimination of the norovirus from Scottish hospitals. (S3O-1868)

Officials from the Scottish Government are kept regularly informed by national health service boards of norovirus outbreaks. Health Protection Scotland provides guidance and support to ensure that infection control interventions are as effective as possible, but norovirus enters hospitals from the community and is very contagious, and we must all appreciate that it is difficult to control in our hospitals and other communal settings.

Our multimillion pound investment in a new and more comprehensive national delivery plan on hospital-acquired infection and the Scotland-wide MRSA screening programme will deliver still more effective measures to reduce the risk of infection spreading between patients, lessen the number of ward closures and bring infection rates down throughout Scotland.

I thank the minister for that very comprehensive answer. In addition to the action that she has outlined, will she undertake to assess how the disease is monitored in Scotland? Given that this year seems to be the virus's most virulent year since the peak in 2002, will she take steps to ascertain whether there has been an increase in the level of infection in recent years—the problem has started early this year—or whether an increased level of awareness of the infection and its symptoms among the public and doctors has led to an increase in the identification of cases?

It is likely that the high incidence of norovirus in Scotland this year reflects a recent increase throughout Scotland. The member makes extremely important points about the need for surveillance and monitoring of the infection. I assure him that a range of policies and procedures are in place to prevent and control outbreaks of infections in hospitals. The HAI task force has developed national and local surveillance systems to identify outbreaks as early as possible. The first bodies that will be involved when there are outbreaks of infection are, of course, NHS boards' incident management teams. Where appropriate, those teams will report outbreaks to Health Protection Scotland, which is available for support and advice.

In light of the fact that norovirus is so infectious and so difficult to control within closed settings such as hospital wards, it is extremely important that we have in place the most robust possible infection control procedures—hospitals do have such procedures in place. It is always regrettable when hospital wards are closed, but members should appreciate that closing wards is a function of robust infection control procedures and should not necessarily be seen as a sign that those procedures are failing.

I assure the member that I am being kept closely informed of the norovirus situation. I will keep Parliament informed at any stage that I think it appropriate.