Chamber and committees

The effect of any staff shortages on service provision is a matter for the Borders local authority which is required by statute to deploy resources to meet the social work needs of the people in its area. The Scottish Executive is actively addressing the staffing issue on a Scotland-wide basis. The wide range of our activities includes the National Recruitment and Awareness Campaign, which I launched on 22 October. This will target the areas where there is most difficulty. To inform this activity, local authorities are being asked by the Executive to detail the particular problems in their areas.

Anti-social behaviour among young people requires a range of responses and co-ordinated effort at a local and national level. In addition to local action, there are a number of national initiatives that will reduce such behaviour, for example, implementation of the Discipline Task Group's recommendations, the 10-Point Plan to reduce youth crime and the New Opportunities Fund's £21 million Active Steps programme. If anti-social behaviour is causing concern to the community, the young person may be reported to the police or referred directly to the children's reporter.

The expert group chaired by Lord Ross, which is currently looking at the compensation system, will provide the core framework for handling the resolution of disputes in the health area in the future. The Scottish Executive will therefore consider this issue together with the other wide-ranging recommendations from the report by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in the context of the expert group's final report due at the end of December.

The Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency aim to have the information available by the end of this month.

Two of the key contributors to obesity are poor diet and lack of physical activity. This year Highland NHS Board launched an initiative called Eating Well, Stay Well which aims to address some of the issues of food access and availability and specifically focuses on behaviour which impacts on obesity. To tackle poor diet, on a national level, the implementation of the Scottish Diet Action Plan is being pursued in a renewed and focused effort to meet the dietary targets set for 2005. A National Healthy Eating Campaign will be launched early next year with the objective of increasing consumer demand for healthier food and advertising a call centre providing practical advice to individuals and families seeking to make changes to their diet.The Highland Sports Strategy (2000) is driving the promotion of opportunities for physical activity, including the Highland Cycling Strategy, developing Safer Routes to Schools projects and Walking the Way to Health initiatives. At a national level the Physical Activity Task Force, set up in June 2001, has recently published a draft strategy for consultation and the outcomes from the consultation will inform the final strategy document which is due for publication early in the New Year. This will become the strategic framework for physical activity across the Scottish Executive for the future.A Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guideline, Obesity in Scotland: integrating prevention with weight management, published in 1996, is also available. I also refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29827. 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.

The How Much is Too Much? campaign targets male and female binge drinkers. Campaigns tackling smoking are undertaken by the Health Education Board for Scotland. Evaluation of the national How Much is Too Much? advertising found that it was relevant, distinctive and memorable. The campaign will be evaluated locally over a longer period. Shifting attitudes and behaviour cannot be achieved overnight and changing Scotland's binge drinking culture will require a sustained mix of national and local activities spread over a period of years.

The consultation document, Towards Better Oral Health in Children, published on 24 September, seeks views on a range of possible measures to improve children's oral health, including fluoridation. Questions relating to the implementation of any particular option are not being considered at this stage. Section 1 (4) of The Water (Fluoridation) Act 1985 provides that the increase of fluoride in the public water supply may be effected only by the addition of one or more of the following compounds of fluorine: hexafluorosilicic acid; disodium hexafluorosilicate. All products and processes used in the treatment of water are approved at either EU level or by the UK Committee on Products and Processes for Use in the Public Water Supply.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is currently funding eight research projects on autism at a cost of over £5 million. These projects vary in length with completion dates ranging from September 2002 to May 2005. A steering group has been set up by the MRC to develop its strategy for research on autism and will hold a series of workshops over the next six months. The Department of Health in England and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Executive Health Department have observer status on that steering group. MRC also plans an annual forum which will bring together research, policy and consumer interests. Following these meetings, MRC expects to receive good quality research proposals which will be subject to peer review. The MRC anticipates that it will have committed the remaining £2.5 million for research into autism by 2005. MRC expects researchers to publish their results in peer reviewed scientific literature in the normal way.

This issue primarily relates to occupational health and safety, which is a reserved matter. The Health Services Advisory Committee, which reports to the Health and Safety Commission, is currently updating its guidance Safe Working and the Prevention of Infection in the Mortuary and Post-Mortem Room. The guidance will give advice to duty holders, including general precautions for undertakers and ambulance staff during delivery or removal of bodies to and from the mortuary.The Executive has no plans to issue guidance to NHS boards. Boards already recognise the importance of providing information about specific risks of infection to those who might be affected, including funeral directors.

NHS boards have access to various sources of advice on any link between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and an increased risk of breast cancer, including the product information for HRT and the British National Formulary.Importantly, the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) monitor the safety of marketed medicines and provide advice when necessary. The MCA/CSM publish a quarterly bulletin Current Problems in Pharmacovigilance drawing attention to problems with medicines and providing advice on the ways medicines can be used more safely. The April 2002 (Volume 28) edition of the bulletin reviewed the risks of cancer with use of HRT. This bulletin is available on the MCA's website www.mca.gov.uk.On 11 July 2002, the department provided NHS boards and trusts with information to help health professionals advise women on HRT who may have been concerned about the risks of this treatment following publicity about the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. A copy of this information has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 24544).