Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland has not had any recent discussions with East Ayrshire Council regarding a proposed bypass of Mauchline. The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland remains committed to improving the safety and operation of the A76 in accordance with the outcome of the Strategic Transport Projects Review.

Transport Scotland has undertaken significant works to upgrade and improve the safety of the A76 in recent years and has provided information to the A76 Corridor Partnership. Representatives of Transport Scotland will be happy to have formal meetings with the A76 Corridor Partnership to discuss its Five Point Action Plan.

Transport Scotland assesses the safety performance of the A76 trunk road as part of the annual screening of all locations across the network where three or more injury accidents have occurred in the preceding three year period. Further investigations are carried out and where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised and installed. This ensures that the limited funding available can be targeted at those locations that provide the greatest accident savings.

In the last two years Transport Scotland has spent approximately £700,000 on road safety schemes on the A76, these measures include high friction surfacing, signing, lining, bend assessment works and vehicle activated signs. This year''s safety assessment is underway and a report from the trunk road operating company, Amey, is to be submitted by the end of the year.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the safety and operation of the A76, and we have recently invested, or are currently progressing, over £3.5 million of maintenance and safety improvements at a number of sites along the route.

In the light of the unprecedented 1.3 billion cuts to our capital budgets imposed by Westminster, difficult choices have been necessary. We will continue to progress schemes currently in preparation through their statutory process, and those that have completed the necessary statutory process we will prepare to take forward at the earliest opportunity.

I cannot therefore give a commitment to these A76 schemes at present.

The Scottish Government has not had any recent meetings with the ME Association.

Representatives of the ME Association had the opportunity of contributing to the development of the Scottish Good Practice Statement on ME-CFS, and the associated Quick Reference Clinical Guide and guide for patients which we published in September. These documents can be found at:

http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/GoodPracticeStatementonME-CFSforGeneralPractitioners.

Contact details for the ME Association are included in the Scottish Good Practice Statement and the patient guide.

We recognise the importance of effective road and rail links in supporting Ayrshire''s economic regeneration.

In this context, Transport Scotland has undertaken significant works to upgrade and improve the safety of the A76 in recent years.

In the longer term, the Strategic Transport Projects Review has identified a number of interventions that will benefit Ayrshire, including active route management and targeted investment on the A76, the upgrading of the A77 around Ayr, bypasses around Maybole and Dalry, and future enhancements to the rail service between Ayrshire and Glasgow.

The Quick Reference Clinical Guide associated with the Scottish Good Practice Statement on myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME-CFS) contains an algorithm showing the generic care pathway for people with ME-CFS. This helps make general practitioners aware of the more specialist services to which they might refer their patients.

The needs assessment of ME-CFS published in September by the Scottish Public Health Network (SPHN) recommends a three-tier model of care for Scotland, covering services in the community, services within primary care and specialist services or expertise. We are currently considering this and the other recommendations in the SPHN report.

Implementation of the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) clinical standards for neurological health services will also assist NHS boards in the process of improving their services for all neurological conditions, including ME-CFS. We are providing funding to encourage the development of a neurological managed clinical network (MCN) in each NHS board as the main vehicle for taking forward this work.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The needs assessment of myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME-CFS), which we commissioned from the Scottish Public Health Network, and which was published in September, suggests a prevalence of the condition in the adult population of between two and four per 1,000 people.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), of the Scottish Government''s Health Directorates, which has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland, is collaborating with the Medical Research Council (MRC) on the implementation of its research strategy into chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). CSO and the MRC are committed to supporting scientific research into all aspects of CFS/ME including biomedical studies of the condition. CSO supports research projects of a sufficiently high standard initiated by the research community in Scotland. This role is well known and advertised throughout the healthcare and academic community.

Both the CSO and MRC would be pleased to consider proposals for biomedical research into CFS/ME which would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.

In 2010-11 Skills Development Scotland will deliver 14,500 places to support young people and adults who want to join the labour market. This includes the Get Ready for Work programme.

In the 10 pilot areas for Activity Agreement no formal targets for the number of young people to be supported have been set.