Significant progress on assimilation has been made during 2008. End of December figures indicate that over 138,000 substantive NHSScotland staff have now been assimilated to Agenda for Change. Health boards are continuing to work very hard to complete the assimilation process but some 960 substantive staff around the country remain to be placed on Agenda for Change scales.

A proportion of those left to assimilate are cases where there is some difficulty with identifying the correct banding or where a special job evaluation process is required. Boards have left these posts till last and will be working through any issues which need to be addressed in assimilating these staff over the next few months in partnership with trade union and professional organisations.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has made clear on a number of occasions, the Government''s strategic business case for the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), published in May 2008, does not currently envisage SFT as a direct provider of capital funding. NHS boards are drawing on SFT''s knowledge and expertise in relation to capital projects, for example through the Hub initiative, to help ensure maximum value for public investment in these projects.

Audit Scotland''s Financial overview of the NHS in Scotland 2007-08 identified a £5 million underspend by NHS Education for Scotland in their Dental Action Plan allocation.

NHS Education for Scotland were allocated funds under the Dental Action Plan to support five major work streams with 14 distinct projects. Part of the funding was to meet the revenue costs of the educational aspects of new teach and treat centres across Scotland. NHS Education for Scotland has had to commit revenue in support of each NHS board''s business case in respect of these developments. Each major centre''s revenue costs are in the region of £500,000 and NHS Education for Scotland has had to hold this money against future revenue commitments. However, the centres have taken longer to complete than anticipated and this has therefore resulted in a revenue underspend for NHS Education for Scotland.

NHS Education for Scotland protects its Dental Action Plan funding and the underspend in revenue is normally carried forward into the next year for future commitment within NHS Education for Scotland. This resulted in a large underpend being accumulated. Therefore in the interest of proper use of public funds, complete transparency and achieving best value for dental services across Scotland, as a one off exercise, the funds which were not required in 2007-08 were returned by NHS Education for Scotland to the Scottish Government.

The earliest years of a child''s life has been identified as a key stage of development where behaviours and health can be set for life. Therefore the government has made this a priority area for action with several programmes aimed at providing support to families with children under five. These include £19 million made available to health boards over the next three years (£3 million, £6 million and £10 million) to improve maternal and infant nutrition and Play@home to encourage physical activity, which is currently being rolled out across Scotland.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is available within the NHS in Scotland, particularly for treating those with post traumatic stress disorders. In the broadest sense the treatment aims are to alleviate suffering, boost life stability and assist all patients to fulfil their potential within their daily lives.

Training courses are run regularly throughout Scotland and the wider UK. Clinicians can work towards accreditation by EMDR UK.

This PQ was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0115-01.htm

In August 2008, the Scottish Government introduced a new public health pharmacy contract which enables community pharmacists throughout Scotland to provide Emergency Hormonal Contraception and chlamydia testing.

The Scottish Government has also produced public information on all forms of contraception for community pharmacists to distribute when people access the service. This new contract and written information enables pharmacists to provide a wider range of contraceptive advice and services.

No, recent research has demonstrated no proven link between any form of contraception and subsequent infertility.

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Health Scotland to develop a social marketing campaign which will raise awareness of the various methods of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) available to women.

As part of this work NHS Health Scotland is undertaking research with women of all ages and life-stages to determine how best to promote LARC. This research will inform the final campaign which will be available in 2009.

Where an individual with Myalgic Encephalopathy is sufficiently impaired as to meet the definitions of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, a public sector employer would be required to meet their duties under the act.

The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 introduced a public sector duty to promote equality for disabled people. This duty came into force in December 2006 and requires all public authorities to be proactive in tackling discrimination against disabled people and to look at ways of promoting equality for disabled people. Public authorities covered by the specific duties, which includes local authorities, must produce a disability equality scheme setting out the action they will take. All functions of the public body are covered by the duty, including their role as an employer.

The Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives can provide advice to employers on measures that they can take to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act, through its website, telephone helpline and healthy working lives advisors.