Chamber and committees

Elemental mercury can cause a wide range of adverse health effects including damage to the respiratory, renal and nervous systems. However, incidences of poisoning by elemental mercury are rare, and associated mainly with occupational exposure by inhalation. The main health concerns associated with organic mercury compounds relate to their adverse effect on the development of the central nervous system.

EC Directive 2002/46/EC, which was adopted into European Law on 30 May 2002, will follow the normal parliamentary process for transposition into Scottish law.

I have made it clear that I expect NHSScotland to take account of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland advice and evidence and to ensure that recommended drugs or treatments are made available to meet clinical need. Like all NHS boards, NHS Highland has to manage carefully the way it implements the introduction of new drugs. That includes assessing the cost implications and budgeting for them accordingly. But it does not alter the fact that clinical need, not finance, should determine whether or not a patient receives the drugs in question.

This information is not available. Where a post-mortem examination is carried out to establish the cause of death the removal of the brain may be necessary for diagnostic purposes. This would happen whether or not someone was suffering from a mental illness. The whole issue of retention of organs following post-mortem examination has been examined in detail by the Independent Review Group on Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem. The group has looked at both types of post-mortem examination: hospital post-mortem examinations undertaken for the purposes of diagnosis, and post-mortem examinations instructed by the procurator fiscal, who has a duty to investigate all sudden, suspicious, accidental and unexplained deaths. I expect to receive a report in the autumn.

Our intention is that free dental checks, when introduced, will extend to the three categories outlined above, subject to (a) the clinical need of the individual patient and (b) meeting the criteria specified in the statement of dental remuneration.

The regulation and safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).The MHRA has advised that to date a number of UK licensed vaccines have had levels of thiomersal reduced or removed completely from the manufacture of the component antigens or from the final vaccine. While there is no set timescale for removal of thiomersal from vaccines, these developments are regularly reviewed and, on 1 April 2003, the MHRA wrote to UK vaccine marketing authorisation holders asking for an update on progress in reducing or removing thiomersal from vaccines.

No. Local authorities are bound by section 22 of the National Assistance Act 1948 to recover, where possible, the full costs of providing care in their homes.

The following forecast positions have been received from the trusts in their March financial monitoring:

Trust	Forecast Overspend (£000)
Argyll and Clyde Acute	5,204
Lomond and Argyll Primary Care Trust	1,926
Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Primary Care Trust	4,106
Grampian Acute	5,199
Lanarkshire Acute	6,261

NHS Argyll and Clyde are working to develop financial plans, which ensure a return to financial balance while protecting patient services.The forecast overspend by Grampian and Lanarkshire Acute Trusts are brought forward figures and are in line with financial plans which demonstrate how these amounts will be repaid.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-298 today. 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.

We have introduced a number of individual measures to assist financially general dental practitioners in Scotland, including the new sedation and general dental practice allowances.