The next quinquennial reviews of the CITB and ECITB will commence on 11 March 2003 and be completed by late September 2003. The Scottish Executive will be fully involved with the review process, as required by section 88 of the Scotland Act 1998.

It is the policy of the Scottish Executive to ensure the protection and conservation of all wild birds in accordance with the requirements of the EC Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds (the Birds Directive) and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In instances where a possible threat has been posed to local and migratory birds by the harvesting of cockles, the Executive has sought the advice of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Executive's statutory nature conservation agency, on whether there is a scientific need to use legislative powers to conserve the interests of the birds.

The Executive is committed to ensuring that each public body is subject to a policy and financial management review at least once every five years. A review of SIDAB will start this month. The terms of reference for the first stage of the review will be:To look at the future organisational options for the various functions carried out by SIDAB and to test it against the principles arising from the Public Bodies Review (June 2001).As an essential part of the review process, officials will be consulting widely with interested parties.

Initial figures to end November 2002, suggest that uptake of flu immunisation is already around 65% which was, of course, the target uptake set for those aged 65 and over last year.

Our latest annual survey has revealed that 98% of schools in Scotland are providing drug education, which covers solvents, in line with national advice. The Executive's Know the Score website provides links to other sites which explain the facts about drugs, including solvents. The Know the Score Informationline also caters for people who want advice about solvents.The Executive funds the core costs of the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS), Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) and the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), all of whom produce materials highlighting the risks associated with solvent abuse. HEBS and SAD jointly produced The facts of drugs - a parent's guide, which has a section on volatile substances. The booklet is designed to help parents become better informed about drugs and be able to discuss the issues with their children. Information about solvents is also included in SAD's Drugs - know your stuff and the SDF's Drugfax.

In 2000, the Executive established the British Sign Language and Linguistics Access Working Group to assist the development of policy around BSL and related linguistic access issues. In March this year, good practice guidelines for public authorities were published by the Scottish Translation Interpreting and Communication Forum. The guidelines consider BSL as well as other community language issues. The Executive is funding a development worker, based in the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters and managed by the forum, to take this work forward. The Executive is actively encouraging sign language training and interpreting through funding of voluntary organisations under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

The decision on what type of hearing aid best meets the needs of an individual patient is for the clinician in charge of their care.The wide-ranging review of audiology services is on target to report to the Executive by the end of October. The report, which will take account of advances in hearing aid technology, will establish the extent to which the Scottish service needs to undergo modernisation and how best to implement any necessary improvements.

These details are not held centrally. NHS boards should be approached directly for this information. The table gives details of the digital hearing aids drawn off the central contract arranged by Scottish Healthcare Supplies by NHS trusts during the period January 2001 to December 2001.

NHS Trust	No. of Digital Aids
West Lothian Healthcare	11
Highland Acute Hospitals	10
Lomond and Argyll Primary Care	25
Tayside University Hospitals	32
South Glasgow University Hospitals	30
North Glasgow University Hospitals	86
Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospitals	17
Fife Acute Hospitals	13
Lanarkshire Primary Care	123
Grampian University Hospitals	3
Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals	22
Dumfries and Galloway Acute and Maternity Hospitals	65
Lothian University Hospitals	65
Total	602

Funding allocations to NHS boards are made on an annual basis. It is for local NHS boards and trusts to prioritise their funding to meet the needs of residents within their area of responsibility.In April this year, as a short-term measure and to reduce unacceptably long waiting times for audiology services, I announced additional funding of £750,000 across NHS boards during 2002-03. NHS Fife received £49,600 as their share of the additional funds.When the wide-ranging review of audiology services, commissioned by the Executive last year, reports in the autumn we shall be well placed to identify the best way forward for audiology services in Scotland.

There are no plans to commission further trials of digital hearing aids. The Good Practice Guidance on Adult Fitting and Hearing Services issued by the Executive in March last year distils the results of current research and practice into a series of statements, which NHS boards and trusts may use to frame service provision. I also refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28082 on 26 August 2002.