Chamber and committees

I am consulting the Officeof the Solicitor to the Advocate General on this matter and will write to themember regarding this matter and place a copy of the letter in the Parliament’sReference Centre.

In caseswhere GPs decide to transfer their responsibility for out-of-hours care NHS boardsmust have alternative arrangements for the provision of these services in placeby the end of December 2004. Such arrangements will need to meet mandatoryaccreditation standards to ensure a safe, quality service.

NHS boardsare currently developing their plans for out-of-hours service re-provision andare being assisted by a national out-of-hours working group. This group iscomprised of key stakeholders from across the service and includes members fromNHS24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and patient representatives. In addition,three key senior appointments have been made to the Pay Modernisation Team ofNHS Scotland to focus on the new models of out-of-hours care across Scotland.

We are notyet convinced that an opt-out system is the right way forward. We believe thata voluntary approach which allows donors and their relatives to agree to giveorgans is the best.

TheExecutive is supporting the Scottish Business Crime Centre which has beenestablished to develop business crime reduction and prevention strategies inScotland.

We launchedthe Safe City Centres Initiative in November 2003, in partnership with thelocal authorities and the Scottish Business Crime Centre. The initiative willrun for three years in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness,Stirling and Perth and the aim is to reduce the incidence and cost of businesscrime and to provide a safe and secure environment for staff and customersalike within the city centres. Consideration is currently being given to howthe concept might be rolled out to other towns in Scotland.

The number of consultantanaesthetists employed by the NHS in Scotland has risen by 26% since 1997.

Theroute to a consultant anaesthetist post is through Specialist Registrar (SpR)training. The number of training posts required to meet the future demands of the NHS is reviewed each year.

In Scotland,between March 2001 and March 2003, there has been an increase of 39 SpR posts(33%) in anaesthetics in recognition of current and expected demand on thisspecialty.

It is for the ScottishMedical Practices Committee, on the basis of information from NHS boards, toensure the adequacy of general medical services in their areas. Where the committeedetermines that a doctor who retires or resigns should be replaced, or where itdetermines that an additional doctor is required, it will direct the board to seekapplications for the post. In addition, regulations provide that any patientwho is without a doctor for any reason, may apply to their board for assignmentto a GP. I am not aware of any patient for whom a GP cannot be found.

The initiatives to addressskills gaps in the construction industry are being handled by ScottishEnterprise in partnership with the Sector Skills Council, Construction-Skills,which I launched in Scotland, with industry partners, earlier this month.

The Executive beganaccepting applications for its £2 million fund to develop post offices indeprived urban areas from March 2003. This programme runs over the two-yearperiod 2003-05 and sub-post offices located in the 20% most deprived urbanareas, based on the 1998 and 2003 indices of deprivation, are eligible toapply.

The proposalsin the bill aim to modernise and strengthen the system for supporting allchildren’s learning needs. Education authorities will have a duty to identifyand address the needs of children and young people who require additionalsupport, including those with autism.

We haveinitiated a third phase of our review of higher education in order to considerthe possible impacts on Scottish higher education of any new funding systemintroduced in England, and the funding of higher education will then beconsidered in the usual way in next year’s spending review.