Chamber and committees

The regulation and control of medicines is reserved.The Medicines Control Agency has advised that the only vaccines in the routine UK childhood immunisation programme which contain thiomersal as an excipient in the final product are diphtheria, tetanus, wholecell pertussis (DTwP) and diphtheria and tetanus vaccines.In September 2001, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) reviewed the available data relating to possible neurotoxicity of thiomersal in vaccines and advised that there is no evidence of harm caused by doses of thiomersal in vaccines, except for hypersensitivity reactions. The CSM concluded that the risk:benefit balance of thiomersal-containing vaccines remains overwhelmingly positive.Information about thiomersal in vaccines was provided in a letter issued to NHSScotland in November 2001 from the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing Officer and the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 23701).

It is for NHS boards and local authorities to arrange appropriate support and services, having assessed the needs of their areas. The Framework for the Reduction of Suicide, which will be issued later this year, will provide advice to local agencies in developing responsive services.

It is not possible to monitor the use of Levonelle from data collected centrally. These data relate to numbers and costs of prescribed items dispensed in the community and are not patient-specific. Guidance on the use of Levonelle is available to prescribers from a number of sources including the British National Formulary and the manufacturer's product literature. The prescribing of Levonelle is a matter for the clinical judgement of the health practitioner concerned, in consultation with the patient and informed by advice and evidence about its use.

Prescription of drugs to individual patients is a matter for the professional judgement of the clinicians involved. The Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) has recently recommended Etanercept and Infliximab for use in certain circumstances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. I have made it clear that I expect NHSScotland to take account of advice and evidence from the HTBS and to ensure that recommended drugs or treatments are made available to meet clinical need. I have also said that any evidence which suggested that this was not happening would be followed up proactively.

The Executive has recently published a Know the Score booklet on cannabis, which includes a description of the risks to mental health posed by this drug. The booklet has been widely distributed; for example to GP practices, NHS boards and drug agencies throughout Scotland. People who may be concerned about cannabis misuse can also speak to trained operators at the free and confidential Know the Score information line, or they can log on to the Know the Score website.Our guidance to medical professionals Managing Incidental Drug Misuse and Alcohol problems in Mental Health Care Settings recommends that drug misuse is covered in assessments of patients with mental health problems. The Guidelines on Clinical management of Drug Misuse and Dependence recommend that psychiatric issues should form part of assessments of patients seeking help with drug misuse problems.Further advice on developing integrated care for drug misusers in Scotland will be published in October 2002. Integrated care aims to combine and co-ordinate all services required to meet the assessed needs of drug users including their mental health needs. We are also working with the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse to look further into the needs of drug misusers with underlying mental health problems.A report from the statutory Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs suggests that cannabis misuse triggers long-lasting mental health problems in relatively few cases, although it can undoubtedly worsen pre-existing mental health conditions. We are not aware of any current research which suggests that cannabis misuse increases the risk of suicide.

The amount of funding spent on advocacy services for people with a learning disability was £970,000 in 2001-02 rising to £1.25 million in 2002-03. It is not possible to define how much of this funding was drawn down from the Change Fund or other sources. Service provision will be developed to meet local need and is a matter for the local agencies. The Advocacy Safeguard Agency has overall responsible for monitoring the scope and quality of the services provided, the funder will also retain their usual monitoring and evaluation arrangements.

Individuals leaving hospital have gone to different settings depending on their assessed needs, the wishes of the individual concerned, and the policies of the local authority. These include sheltered housing and supported accommodation, care homes, own tenancies with packages of care and support, and a few have purchased their own homes.

The number of average occupied beds in the learning disability speciality reduced from 1,832 at end-March 2000 (the nearest available date to when The same as you? was published in May 2000) to 1,521 at end-March 2001 (the latest date for which figures are available), a reduction of 311 or 17%. (source: Scottish Community Care Statistics 2001 - Table 2.14).

Information about resource transfer for adults with learning disabilities is contained in Table 7.5 of Scottish Community Care Statistics 2001, published by the Scottish Executive in August 2002. A copy of this document is being made available to the Parliament's Reference Centre. The document is also available on the Scottish Executive's website:www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00180-00.asp.

This information requested is not held centrally.