Chamber and committees

We shall lay before the Parliament regulations to increase prescription and other National HealthService charges in Scotland from 1 April 2004. There will be a cash increase inthe prescription charge of 10p (1.59%) from £6.30 to £6.40 for each quantity ofa drug or appliance dispensed.

The cost of a prescriptionpre-payment certificate will rise to £33.40 for a four month certificate and£91.80 for an annual certificate. These offer savings for people needing morethan five items in four months or 14 items in one year.

Prescription charges areexpected to raise some £47.4 million for NHSScotland in 2003-04.

Charges for elasticstockings and tights, wigs and most fabric supports supplied through theHospital Service will be increased similarly.

The maximum patient chargefor a single course of dental treatment begun on or after 1 April 2004 willincrease from £372 to £378.

We have restricted theprescription charge increase to the same cash amount as the previous five yearsand the other increases are in line with this percentage increase.

The majority of opticalvoucher values will increase by 2.5%. Voucher values for people with highprescriptions, for whom the cost is greater, will increase by 10%. Theseincreases will help children, people on low income and certain people withcomplex sight problems with the cost of spectacles or contact lenses.

NHS charges and opticalvoucher values in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for those administrations.

The community safety partnership award programme makes £4 million per annum available tolocal authority-led community safety partnerships to assist them in identifyingand addressing local community safety priorities, which can include capital andrevenue costs of CCTV.

The consultation was carriedout as part of our drive to strengthen health protection functions in Scotland toensure that we have in place arrangements which are capable of effectivelymonitoring, addressing and responding to a widening spectrum of environmental,biological, chemical and infectious threats. In particular, views were soughton six options for structural change, which took into account the establishmentof the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in England and Wales. I am grateful to the 95 respondents for theirconstructive submissions, a summary of which is being today placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

The option most favoured byrespondents, and which the Executive accepts, envisages the HPA assumingresponsibility in Scotland for the functions at present discharged by theNational Radiological Protection Board, for the services provided hitherto bythe National Focus for Chemical Incidents, and for the commissioning of anintegrated UK poisons service, which will include the Scottish PoisonsInformation Bureau, one of six centres of the National Poisons InformationService in the UK. Delivering these specialised functions on this basis willhelp ensure common standards of efficiency and performance across the UK andfacilitate the sharing of expertise and concerted working.

In Scotland, the functionsof the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, the healthsurveillance elements of the Information and Statistics Division of the CommonServices Agency (CSA), and the current responsibilities of the NationalServices Division of the CSA in relation to the Scottish National ReferenceLaboratories will be brought together into a new Scottish health protectionorganisation, which will form a discrete division within the CSA. The detailedarrangements for the establishment of the new organisation will be the subjectof further discussion with key stakeholders and staff interests. The healthprotection functions of NHS boards and local authorities will  be unaffected,but we will be putting in place strong administrative mechanisms to ensure collaborativeworking.

The UK Government hasalready made clear its intention of introducing legislation at Westminsteras soon as parliamentary time allows, to create the HPA, as a non-departmentalpublic body, with a range of functions including radiation protection. Subjectto the agreement of the Parliament by means of a Sewel motion, it is proposedthat the legislation should provide for the agency to be under a duty toprovide advice on radiation to the Scottish Executive. It will also undertake thefunctions in the poisons and chemicals fields already mentioned. Subject topassage of the legislation, the National Radiological Protection Board will bewound up, and staff and resources transferred to the HPA. National Poisons InformationService staff will remain with their present employers in the NHS. the Parliament will be invited to approve a Sewel motion in respect of the UKlegislation once it has been brought forward at Westminster.

These proposals willsimplify the structures for the delivery of health protection in Scotland andthe rest of the UK, and provide greater coherence and clarity inresponding to the new demands and challenges of the 21st century, in thisincreasingly important field.

The total number of police officersemployed by Strathclyde Police has increased by 260 in the last five years.

The number of officers on activeduty is a matter for Strathclyde Police.

The information requested isnot held centrally and is a matter for Strathclyde Police.

The deployment of police officersis an operational matter for Chief Constables. Information on the deployment ofpolice officers is not held centrally.

Forces are currently carryingout an Activity Analysis across all police functions. When collated and analysed,this will provide detailed information for forces on the deployment of police officers.

The Supplement to the Thirty-Second Report 2003 of the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists (DDRB) pay was published on 25 June.This supplementary report covers general dental practitioners (GDPs), those in the salaried primary dental care services, General Medical Practitioner (GMP) Registrars and salaried GMPs employed by a primary care organisation. The DDRB will report later on General Medical Services. The main part of their report, which covers career grade hospital doctors and dentists, doctors and dentists in training and ophthalmic medical practitioners, was published on 19 May and the recommendations for pay for 2003-04 for these groups were accepted in full and without staging.I am grateful to the chairman and members of the review body for their hard work in dealing with their remit groups.The review body has recommended an increase to the out-of-hours supplement payable to GMP Registrars. It has also recommended for the first time a pay range for salaried GMPs employed by primary care organisations.Salaried dentists accepted a three-year pay offer in March, linked to a review of salaried dental services. For GDPs, the DDRB has recommended an increase in the feescale of 3.225% from 1 April 2003 and an increase in the NHS commitment scheme of £1 million for Scotland.I am pleased to confirm that the Scottish Executive has accepted the recommendations on pay contained in the supplementary report of the DDRB for 2003-04 in full and without staging.

A consultation document is being issued today, and copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 27225). It seeks views on how changes might be made to facilitate the effective operation of Part 5 of the act and its associated Code of Practice, while ensuring that the interests of this vulnerable group of adults are properly safeguarded.

I understand that the SNAP report is now virtually complete and will be published shortly by the Public Health Institute of Scotland. Meanwhile, to inform debate on this important issue, arrangements are being made for the Executive Summary and Recommendations to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre today.

The paper entitled Improving Health in Scotland - the Challenge is published today. It provides a framework for action over the coming 12 to 15 months. It indicates a role for the Scottish Executive, NHS boards, local government, voluntary sector, private sector and the public to work in partnership to improve Scotland's health and narrow the gap between the most and least affluent communities. Today at the Healthy Scotland Convention, the third in a series, around 300 people will gather to celebrate the success of efforts to date and plan further action to improve Scotland's health record.Copies of Improving Health in Scotland - the Challenge have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26922).