Chamber and committees

NHS board general revenueallocations already include provision for the cost of prescribed drugs and areset to allow for the introduction of new drugs and the greater use of existingtherapies.

The Scottish Executive seeksto help NHSScotland bodies discharge their responsibilities under the act in a consistentmanner through the Code of Practice and by supporting the work of the Data Protectionand Caldicott Guardian Forums.

Wherevolunteers have access to patient identifiableinformation to perform agreed activities, a written agreement should be put in placebetween the hospital and the voluntary body and volunteers should be asked to signan appropriate “confidentiality statement”.

Visits by lay members of a churchto patients in hospital should require no special arrangements if the patient isknown to them and is willing to receive the visit. If the visit by a lay memberis as part of the hospital’s spiritual care services then any information providedto lay members about the patient should be provided in accordance with the codeof practice on protecting patient confidentiality, and with the patient’s informedconsent.

Professor David Kerr, Rhodes Professorof Cancer Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology at Oxford University;

Professor Graham Teasdale, Presidentof the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow;

Dr Charles Swainson, MedicalDirector, NHS Lothian;

James Kennedy, Chair of the ScottishPartnership Forum;

Peter Bates, Chair, NHS Tayside

Roger Gibbins, Chief Executive,NHS Highland;

Professor Nora Kearney, Professorof Cancer Care, University of Stirling;

Dr Lesley Holdsworth, ClinicalCo-ordinator, Forth Valley Health Board;

Professor Jillian Morrison, Professorof General Practice, Glasgow University;

Professor Gillian Needham, MedicalDean, North East Scotland;

Irene Sweeney, Chairperson, ScottishPensioners’ Forum;

Jae Ferguson, Chair, Mid-ArgyllMaternity Service Users Forum;

Alexis Jay, Director of SocialWork, West Dunbartonshire Council, and

Lesley Summerhill, Director ofNursing, NHS Tayside.

The work will provide a nationalcontext for the planning of health services and will run in tandem with work alreadyunderway at local levels. Professor Kerr will report to me within a year with recommendationsfor the future development of the NHS in Scotland. I have written today to the Chair of the Health Committeewith details of the terms of reference for the exercise and copies have also beenlodged with the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Scotland has a marine environment to be proud of. Our marineand coastal waters support a wide and abundant range of wildlife and naturalhabitats. They also provide food, recreation and energy. For all activity inand around our seas, striking the right balance between socio-economic andenvironmental factors is vitally important to the sustainable future of ourcountry and to the marine life around our shores. The Scottish Executivealready has a range of initiatives in place to address some of the mainpressures on our coast and seas in order to get that balance right.

We now want to go further.We want to bring greater clarity to how those current activities interrelateand what principal policy objectives they collectively serve. I want to reviewwhether, despite present activity, there are any strategic issues not currentlyaddressed and, if so, whether and how to take them forward and in whattimeframe.

We are therefore publishinga consultation paper today to seek views on how best to develop a strategicframework for Scotland’s marine environment. The consultation paper setsout the background to the importance of our coastal and marine waters and thecontinuing pressures on them. It summarises our existing international and EUobligations and describes the measures we already have in hand to meet them. Itpresents an overarching vision for our marine environment with currentsupporting activities. And it raises a number of open questions on what the keyelements of a strategic framework should be, on what structures might be neededto give effect to it and on what governance structure might be needed for thefuture sustainable management of our coast and seas.

The consultation paper takesforward our Partnership Agreement commitment to consult on the best strategyfor protecting and enhancing all of Scotland’s coastline, including the optionsof establishing national coastline parks and marine national parks. It alsoseeks views on whether any changes might be necessary to the following fourspecific pieces of legislation relating to marine and coastal developmentconsents for which the Scottish Executive has devolved responsibility:

Part II of the Food andEnvironment Protection Act 1985 (deposits in the sea)

Coast Protection Act 1949(navigational safety)

Harbours Act 1964 (portdevelopments)

Electricity Act 1989(offshore electricity generation)

Copies of the consultationpaper have been forwarded to the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number32159).

In parallel to theconsultation paper, the Scottish Executive will be producing a shorter leafleton the importance of Scotland’s seas to help raise wider public awareness of,and invite comment on, the issues raised in the consultation paper.

This year’s report dealsprimarily with general dental practitioners, doctors and dentists in training,non-consultant career grade doctors, medical and dental consultants who havechosen not to take up new contracts, and ophthalmic medical practitioners. Forconsultants taking up new contracts, general medical practitioners and thesalaried primary dental care services, 2004-05 will be the second year of a threeyear pay deal agreed as part of NHS pay modernisation.

The review body hasrecommended with effect from 1 April 2004 general increases in remunerationof 2.7% for doctors and dentists in training and non-consultant career gradedoctors, 2.5% per cent for consultants who remain on the old contract and anincrease of 2.9% in gross fees for general dental practitioners. The review bodyhas also recommended adjustments to some features of the pay scales forassociate specialists, staff grade practitioners and specialist registrars.

I am pleased to announcethat the Scottish Executive is accepting the DDRB’s recommendations for 2004-05in full and without staging. Copies of the DDRB report will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31536).