Scottish Executive guidance encourages all consultation teams to use a range of consultation methods and to ensure that their exercise is as inclusive as possible. Teams are advised, where appropriate, to involve equality groups in planning their exercise and to seek advice from appropriate organisations on issues such as distribution and format of consultation materials. Individual consultation teams are, however, best placed to decide how to consult on any particular issue, taking account of a full range of factors, such as communication impairments and the nature of the target audience.

Any doctor undertaking work in Scotland, or the rest of the United Kingdom, must be registered with the General Medical Council. Information on registration and employment requirements is made available to interested doctors from the EU. It is an essential component of the recruitment process by NHS Scotland boards to ensure that EU doctors have a full and complete induction process which would embrace NHS protocols and administrative requirements. The Scottish Executive is currently reviewing procedures for recruiting doctors from the EU and will be advising NHS Scotland accordingly. Various initiatives being undertaken under our fresh talent policy to encourage people from outside Scotland to come here to live, work and study, such as our Relocation Advisory Service to be launchedin October, could potentially help doctors from other EU countries interested inmoving to Scotland.

The target for the closure of long stay learning disability hospitals remains the end of 2005, and we continue to expect all NHS boards to meet this target.

We are aware that several health boards are unlikely to make this date for a small number of people, and we are impressing on them the need to ensure that those remaining are given suitable housing  as soon as possible in 2006.

The Home at last? report on hospital closure and service re-provision, published in January 2004, describes some examples of community based assessment and treatment services and sets out a number of action points to assist NHS boards to achieve this goal. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland’s programme of work over the next 12 months will focus on learning disability hospital closure and service re-provision plans in all NHS board areas.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The Scottish Executive commissioned additional research into this area entitled On the Borderline? People with Learning Disabilities and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Secure, Forensic and other Specialist Settings.

The Scottish Prison Service Core Screening Process will identify those who require further specialist assessment.

Services suitable for assessed needs will be provided through Psychological Services and alongside the contracted learning providers.

The Scottish Prison Service is addressing each of the recommendations which involve prisoners with a learning disability.

In relation to secure accommodation I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3928, answered on 19 November 2003. 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.

Promoting Health Supporting Inclusion (July 2002) recognised the important role of specialist nurses in assessing dementia and providing interventions, and recommended that learning disability nurses should be members of specialist teams to liaise with all tiers of health care for people with learning disabilities. Implementation of Promoting Health Supporting Inclusion is monitored through Partnership in Practice Agreements and through the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland Learning Disability Quality Indicators. These ask NHS boards to demonstrate the accessibility of assessment and early diagnostic services, a full range of therapeutic interventions, and staff training programmes that include dementia awareness.

We are also funding the Dementia Services Development Centre and the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability to develop a training pack for social care staff about people with learning disabilities who develop dementia.

Current indications are that fewer than 320 people with learning disabilities are currently living in long-stay hospitals as their home.

As at 23 September 2004, a total of 41 single surveys had been commissioned: 40 in the Greater Glasgow North and West pilot area, one in the Edinburgh North and Leith area and none in the Dundee and Inverness areas.

The pilot will run for a minimum of eight months and a maximum of 12, depending on take-up. As it began on 14 July 2004, it will therefore finish between March and  July 2005.

The aim is to have at least 1,200 surveys. Should the total fall short of that, we would need to assess the reasons why before drawing conclusions.