Information on how many young people under the age of 16 have been treated for drug addiction outwith Scotland is not held centrally.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:All prisoners benefit from the services of appropriately qualified health and social care professionals who, among other things, work with those prisoners suffering from mental health problems.

The wide-ranging review of audiology services initiated by the Executive will report its findings on this in the autumn. The research report recently released by the Royal National Institute for Deaf people, which collected anonymised data, included examination of the extent to which the Good Practice Guidance is being applied across the service and would indicate that not all audiology departments are currently meeting the standards.

There are three residential facilities in Scotland that provide specialist treatment and rehabilitation for young people of sixteen and under, who have committed a sexual offence or are displaying sexually aggressive behaviour. These are St Mary's Kenmure, Kibble and Geilsland.The Executive will announce shortly its response to the Expert Panel on Sex Offending report. This will include how we will take forward its recommendation that we review current provision in relation to assessment and intervention programmes and provision for this age group.

Enforcement bodies are continuing their efforts to reduce the illicit availability of drugs, and seizures of benzodiazepines, including diazepam, have increased throughout the 1990s. The UK Health Departments' Drug misuse and Dependence-Guidelines on Clinical Management set out guidance for clinicians on the prescribing of diazepam, including patient monitoring, checking for signs of polydrug misuse and liaison with dispensing pharmacists. The procedures are intended to reduce the risks to patients.

The Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) have no plans to consider statins during 2002.However, in recent years SIGN has published two clinical guidelines, in which the prescribing of statins was covered (SIGN 40: Lipids and the primary prevention of coronary heart disease and SIGN 41: Secondary prevention of coronary heart disease following myocardial infarction). Both guidelines can be found at: www.sign.ac.uk.

The Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Stroke Reference Group is currently considering the evidence on the effectiveness of defibrillators in public places, including the Lanarkshire initiative, as part of the national strategy it is developing for coronary heart disease and stroke.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:There are currently sufficient forensic psychology services for prisoners, with further developments planned for 2002-03.Against a national shortage, the Scottish Prison Service is currently seeking to recruit further clinical psychologists to fill vacant posts.There is no risk to public safety, given the input of both forensic and clinical psychology input, to prisoner risk assessment and management.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:In March 2000, SPS launched its drug strategy, Partnership and Co-ordination. In February 2001, its updated Health Care Standard, Substitute and Detoxification Prescribing was published.Work is currently under way to develop a similar standard for alcohol withdrawals.

The Executive supports the conclusions of the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force report of March 2001, which seek to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of clinical research. The Executive will continue to liaise with the Department of Health about progressing issues jointly where appropriate.Issues more appropriately progressed separately in a Scottish context will be taken forward through the Pharmaceutical Liaison Group. This group, chaired by the Chief Scientist, is a forum designed to allow discussion of matters of shared interest to the Scottish Executive Health Department, NHSScotland and pharmaceutical interests. The group plans to meet next in April 2002.