Chamber and committees

SIGN guidelines are well-knownto clinicians throughout Scotland and beyond. The guidelines and quick reference guidesare distributed, as a matter of course, to NHSScotland and are also available todownload from the SIGN website (www.sign.ac.uk).Implementation of SIGN guidelines is a matter for NHS boards.

NHS boards and local authoritiesare currently preparing joint local implementation plans, setting out how they intendto ensure that services will be ready to meet the requirements of the act, includingservices and accommodation for children and young persons. Progress on implementationwill continue to be monitored by the Scottish Executive.

In the meantime, the Executive’sChild Health Support Group has established a focus group to develop recommendationson the future configuration, care models and commissioning arrangements for childand adolescent inpatient services in Scotland. The group is expected to report in the autumn.

Tackling inequalities is at theheart of our health improvement policies, the framework for which is laid out inTowards a Healthier Scotland (1999) and Improving Health in Scotland:the Challenge (2003).

Recent research has shown thatpeople living in the most deprived areas are less likely to access health care servicesthan those in more affluent areas. With this in mind, I announced early this yeardetails of a £15 million over two years investment package aimed at addressing unmethealth needs and improving access to NHS services. Three NHS boards – Greater Glasgow,Tayside and Argyll and Clyde – will benefit from this funding.

None. Decisions about the locationof GP premises are devolved to NHS boards. It is for them to develop their own premisesstrategy and identify priorities for new building and development of existing premises.Strategies should however be sufficiently flexible to take advantage of opportunitiesfor re-location as they arise.

The general medical servicescontract requires that GP premises are suitable for the delivery of services andsufficient to meet the reasonable demands of patients. Decisions about the locationof GP premises are devolved to NHS boards. It is for them to develop their own premisesstrategy and identify priorities for new building. When the future of premises ina particular practice comes forward for decision the NHS board should take accountof health inequalities as one of the factors in the choice of the site from whichservices are to be delivered.

NHS boards may deploy their capitalallocations to support primary care development and support projects which deliverthe Executive’s vision for community health service centres as set out in the PartnershipAgreement. In February revenue allocations were made which earmark funding for GPpremises. These show an increase of approximately 70% in recurring funding overa three-year period.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6523 on 9 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

In considering the recognitionof sports, sportscotland apply criteria which have been agreed betweenthe four home country sports councils and UK Sport. It is for the InternationalOlympic Committee to determine what criteria it applies in recognising sports.

Muay Thai is not arecognised sport and therefore receives no support from sportscotland.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6523 on 9 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The Scottish Executive has today issued the report of the review of the structure and functions of Historic Scotland. The review report includes 20 recommendations in total. Notably, the review has concluded that all of the functions currentlydelivered by Historic Scotland are required and recommends that they should bedelivered by a single central organisation. The review has recommended thatHistoric Scotland should remain as an Executive Agency within the Scottish Executive Education Department. The review has identified a clear need forcultural change within the organisation. As part of this process independentexternal members should be appointed to Historic Scotland’s management board.The review has also recommended changes to the process for dealing with public localinquiries in relation to listed buildings and scheduled monument consent applications;making the secretariat for the Historic Environment Advisory Council forScotland (HEACS) independent of Historic Scotland and identified areas forfurther engagement with stakeholders, including through the development of anoverarching policy statement.

I have accepted all of thereview recommendations and work is in hand to implement many of the necessarychanges. Specifically, I have directed the Chief Executive of Historic Scotlandto begin work on an organisational change programme to deliver the culturalchanges identified through the review process. To facilitate the development ofan overarching policy statement I am today publishing a paper outlining the keyprinciples which will underpin such policy statement to form the basis ofdiscussions with stakeholders (Bib. number 30997).

Copies of the report will beavailable on the Scottish Executive website and copies have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30679). Copies of the Analysis of Responses to “Review of Historic Scotland” consultation process are also available (Bib. number 30680).