Chamber and committees

Members of the Royal College of Psychiatry were fully involved in the development of the National Dementia Strategy through its working groups and rounds of consultations and are fully involved in its implementation. This includes their involvement in key areas such as the national target on early diagnosis and post-diagnosis support, the implementation of Integrated Care Pathways for Dementia and the development of a benchmarking framework to measure and compare services and monitor implementation of the strategy.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the Royal College of Psychiatry (RCP) specifically regarding prescribing practices in relation to Cholinesterase Inhibitors and Memantine.

The RCP is engaging with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) on the development of NHS QIS''s advice to NHS boards in Scotland in response to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence''s (NICE) guidelines on the prescribing of Cholinesterase Inhibitors and Memantine for the treatment of Alzheimer''s Disease, which is expected to be issued in March 2011.

The RCP has also been consulted by NICE on the development of NICE''s preliminary recommendations in this specific prescribing area.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) consultation on their Appraisal Committee''s preliminary recommendations in relation to the prescribing of cholinesterase inhibitors (Donepezil, Galantamine, and Rivastigmine) and Memantine for Alzheimer''s Disease is being carried out as part of a NICE Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA).

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) reviews NICE MTA advice for applicability in Scotland and issues advice to NHS boards in Scotland at the same time as NICE issues its final advice for boards in England and Wales, which for these drugs is expected to be in March 2011.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) develops evidence-based clinician guidelines for the NHS in Scotland, and issued guidelines for the management of patients with dementia in 2006. They recommend the use of Donepezil, Galantamine and Rivastigmine but do not recommend the use of Memantine.

The Scottish Government is continually analysing and testing the latest evidence on crime prevention both nationally and internationally to inform policy development and decision making. Officials liaise widely with researchers, partner organisations and government counterparts throughout the UK and abroad to share expertise and to ensure appropriate business, planning, education and other community safety interests are represented.

We have provided funding of over £770,000 over the three years 2008-11 for the Scottish Business Crime Centre to raise awareness of business crime, and support businesses to combat it. The main function of the centre is to provide practical advice to the business and commercial sectors on how to develop business crime reduction and prevention strategies, and aims to reduce business crime.

We also work closely with the police-led Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to identify, develop, promote and coordinate best practice in police work to tackle violent crime, with record levels of investment into the VRU, in addition to £500,000 for the No Knives Better Lives youth engagement campaign launched in March 2009.

Together with these partners and others we are collecting and sharing evidence of best practice which, along with record police numbers, has led to the lowest levels of recorded crime in 32 years.

The use of accelerated restricted procedures allows public bodies to reduce the overall time allowed for bidders to respond to contract notices and tender documents. Any decision to reduce the timescales for a tendering exercise has to recognise the value and complexity of the individual contract and whether the reduction in the timescale might have an adverse impact on the ability of companies to respond. Given the large size of contracts typically awarded by the Scottish Government, it has not been deemed appropriate to reduce the time of the tendering procedure and the accelerated procedure has not been used in 2009 or to date in 2010. Information from the Public Contracts Scotland portal shows that, across the wider Scottish public sector, accelerated procedures have been applied in 49 awards of contract in 2009 and 27 awards so far in 2010.

I met with representatives of The Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Ltd during their recent visit to Scotland to hear about their recent work on the project. The discussions have been very productive, and already significant progress has been made on the technical and logistical proposals for the transport of the vessel. There are also exciting possibilities emerging around the cultural links between Scotland and Australia, and those of the Scottish diaspora, directly linked with emigration to South Australia on the vessel. I will maintain contact with my counterpart in South Australia over the project and my officials will continue to work very closely with the group as the project develops over the coming months.

Vaccination uptake over the past three years for people under the age of 65 in an at-risk group is shown in the following table. For 2007-08 these figures are based on the estimated monthly vaccine uptake returns submitted to Health Protection Scotland (HPS) (2007-08) from all GP practices. For 2008-09 and 2009-10 figures are based on weekly estimated vaccine uptake data from the practices who report as part of the Gpass reporting system.

Seasonal Flu Vaccine Uptake for the Last Three Years in At-Risk Groups Under the Age of 65

Year	2007-08 *	2008-09 #	2009-10 #
Uptake Rate in Under 65s At-Risk	44.4%	48.5%	53.3%

Notes:

* Surveillance data to end of December of the vaccination season “ monthly estimate

 # Surveillance data to the end of March of the vaccination season “ weekly estimate

Source: HPS monthly vaccine uptake returns (2007-08, 2008-09) and Pandemic Influenza Primary Care Reporting scheme (PIPeR) (2009-10).

This information is not held centrally as seasonal flu vaccination of NHS staff is the responsibility of individual employers. However a study carried out in 2002 suggested that the level of vaccination uptake amongst health workers was around 20% on average. This is likely to be significantly higher in some areas, such as paediatrics. Govern

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. I will ask the Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland to write to the member with the information requested.

Care home staff are encouraged to receive the seasonal flu vaccine to protect themselves and the vulnerable people they care for from the flu virus. The vaccination of care home staff is the responsibility of employers, who have responsibility for delivery of occupational health services. Data on the uptake of the seasonal flu vaccine by care home staff is not held at a national level.