Chamber and committees

The final report by the JIF Support Group was presented to Health Boards and Trusts at regional meetings in late 1999. It made a number of recommendations which are currently being considered as part of the Scottish Executive's programme of work on the modernisation and improvement of the NHS in Scotland.

A recent review of initiatives involving service redesign projects between acute and primary care NHS trusts showed there are around 100 such ventures underway in Scotland; just under a quarter of these are JIF projects. Some of the areas covered include:

• Coronary heart disease services in Dumfries and Galloway
• Stroke services in the Borders

Services for diabetics in Lanarkshire.

JIF is simply the mechanism for redesigning services to meet patient need and to ensure that resources move with any service change; this may involve resource transfer between Trusts. JIF projects are determined locally and reflected in the Health Improvement Programme for the Health Board area and in the Trusts' own Implementation Plans.

A key aim of the modernisation of our services is to bring services closer to home where that is clinically appropriate. As part of the modernisation agenda, I am reviewing our performance management systems to ensure that targets and incentives are in place to achieve this aim.

Protection is available from a variety of sources. Firstly, consumers may seek legal advice on the terms under which they agree to purchase a property. They are protected in their purchase by consumer legislation (which is a reserved matter) and by the common law of contract and delict; conditions in the missives of sale, for example, continue to apply after the purchase. They can also seek a warranty in respect of a new house: the Government has encouraged the sale of new houses to be accompanied by warranties, such as those provided through the National House Building Council. They are also protected by the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, which makes it an offence for an estate agent, builder or solicitor to give any description of a property that is not truthful; and by the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 as amended with which developers of new houses have to comply.

Railtrack has estimated the infrastructure costs for the electrification of the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen at around £200 million, excluding the cost of new trains.

The Scottish Executive has not received a request to meet the European Union of Co-operatives, but any request would be considered by Ministers.

Ministers have no current plans to visit Blairgowrie Farmers' Co-operative.

The Berry Scotland Project Team, to which, I understand, the Co-operative is linked, was invited to submit a Note of Interest in participating in the Health Demonstration Project initiative set out in the White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland. The purpose of the initiative is to identify, promote and facilitate best practice throughout Scotland in the drive to improve Scotland's health. £15 million of resources are being made available for the initiative.

Notes of Interest have now been received from, amongst others, the Berry Scotland Project Team in respect of two of the Demonstration Projects, "Starting Well" and "The Heart of Scotland". The first will focus on the health of young children; the latter will target primarily heart disease but will also have relevance to cancer and stroke.All the Notes of Interest which have been received are currently under consideration.

The advice which we received from the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC), the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) on the regulatory implications of the report on organophosphates (OPs) by the Committee on Toxicity (COT), will be published today.

Publication of this advice, and our conclusions on it, marks the end of a key stage in the process of a full and transparent scrutiny of OPs.

The regulatory committees all take note from the COT report that while ill-health effects from prolonged low-level exposure to OPs remain unproven, there remains a question over whether there may be a small group of individuals particularly susceptible to OPs. They endorse the need for further research on this and the other areas of uncertainty identified by COT.

On the basis of current scientific knowledge, the regulatory committees' advise against any general withdrawal of OPs from the market. However, the VPC has advised that all OP sheep dips should be withdrawn from the market pending the introduction of new containers which would minimise operator exposure to concentrated dip.

The committees' advice shall be implemented on the following basis.

First, immediate action is being taken on OP sheep dip concentrate containers. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) are writing to all holders of marketing authorisations for OP sheep dips requiring the withdrawal of these products from the market until containers are introduced which will minimise operator exposure to OP concentrate. Product recall from distributors and farms will also be implemented. Additionally, the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) is taking urgent action to confirm that all containers of OP pesticide concentrates comply with modern standards; and PSD will take regulatory action if they do not.

Second, there will be a targeted research programme to take forward the research recommendations from COT and the regulatory committees. This will involve expertise from the wider scientific community in this process, and there will be a seminar in the New Year to determine the scientific input and approaches required to meet these defined research needs. A proposal to investigate databases of putative OP sufferers is also under consideration.

Third, measures will be implemented, aimed at continuing to promote best practice, through a range of measures, including further improvements to labelling to highlight necessary precautions; a continuing programme of targeted inspections by HSE inspectors to reinforce advice on risk control and training and competence for sheep dippers; and supply of protective gloves with sheep dip. There will also be improved guidance and training on pesticide usage.Fourth, the specification for the data packages for OP compounds shall enable full evaluations in line with modern safety standards through the continuing reviews of OP veterinary medicines other than sheep dips and of pesticides. In this regard, ACP has recommended that regulatory action should be taken against approvals for products containing three OP compounds for which supporting data have not been submitted under the anticholinesterase review. Revocations of the approvals are being sent immediately to approval holders.

I attended the Council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels on 14 December as part of the United Kingdom delegation. The Council discussed a number of issues of significance to the Scottish agriculture industry.The Council decided on a 12 month postponement of the introduction of compulsory labelling of beef in the light of information that the majority of Member States were not yet able to implement the measure effectively. The precise legal form of the measure will depend on the terms of the European Parliament's Opinion on the Commission proposal, which is expected to be available later this week.The Council also decided unanimously to defer for six months implementation of a 1997 Decision on Community-wide measures controlling specified risk material, pending agreement on a new Decision.The Council discussed changes to the level of export refunds for processed agricultural products and agreed that in future changes required to meet budgetary and WTO limits should be governed by a strategic and targeted approach rather than by across the board cuts in refund rates. It is intended that this strategy should be developed so that it can be adopted by March 2000 at the latest. UK Agriculture Ministers endorsed the Council's proposed approach and expressed regret at the decisions taken so far by the Commission to apply across the board refund cuts.In addition, Commission Byrne reported to the Council on food safety matters, including the response to the dioxin crisis and the Commission's plans for food safety more generally. Commissioner Fischler reported on the recent WTO Ministerial meeting in Seattle and on new Commission proposals for reform of the CAP cotton regime.

The Scottish Ministers have decided to refuse consent for Fife Electric's application. This decision has been taken after careful consideration of the Report of the public local inquiry into the application. It is founded on the Reporters' recommendation that consent be refused, and particularly on their unresolved concerns about visual amenity and about the lack of environmental information available to the inquiry on the availability of process water, road and rail access, noise, potential safety hazards and decommissioning, which they considered could have direct, indirect and cumulative local effects on the environment. A copy of my Department's decision letter will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.