Chamber and committees

The Executive plans to establish an expert group in the near future to provide recommendations on the prescribing of vitamin D supplements.

Our National Health is about setting national standards to be delivered locally. For mental health services the national framework is well established and understood. Implementation is key as is judgement of the quality of the services provided.Progress is assessed through the existing and planned performance management arrangements and the visiting programmes of the Scottish Health Advisory Service, the Mental Health and Well Being Support Group whose reports are published routinely, and others including the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland. The aim is to raise and maintain standards across all care groups in all parts of Scotland.

As part of the wider range of checks on meat entering the UK announced on 3 May 2001, the agency is undertaking a programme of audits of ports and seaports to examine the effectiveness of UK border inspection arrangements operating there. This will cover commercial as well as personal imports. In Scotland the agency has provided additional guidance and asked local authorities to check for illegal imports as part of their routine inspection of food premises. To assist this process, an amendment to the Products of Animal Origin Regulations 1996 will strengthen the local authorities' powers to seize suspected illegal imports.Pieces of meat may carry a range of different diseases affecting both human health and animal health. The agency's over-riding concern is the protection of public health. It is therefore very important to the agency that the legal requirements for imports of meat are observed, so that the measures designed to protect the public are effective.

Sound financial management is a core requirement of every NHS organisation. Each NHS Trust is expected to work to attain financial balance by the year end.

As at 31 December 2000, 13 Trusts projected a year-end overspend. Of those Trusts forecasting overspends, six Trusts forecast overspends greater than £1 million.

The plan is currently being finalised and will be published in due course.

20 pre-publication copies of Cancer Scenarios - An aid to planning cancer services in Scotland in the next decade were placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre on 4 April.

We are investing record levels of resources in NHSScotland. Health spending is set to increase by more than £400 million each year from 2001-02 to 2003-04. By 2003-04 health spending is planned to be £6.7 billion. The Family Health Services elements on general medical, dental and ophthalmic services are demand led. Details of the indicative allocations for Family Health Services were given in the answer to question S1W-13513.

No such code exists. Normal laws apply whereby farmers are responsible for the welfare of their livestock.

The risks of dependency and withdrawal, following long-term use of benzodiazepines, are well known to the medical profession. Medical practitioners have been given comprehensive guidance on how to prescribe these drugs safely and effectivelyPeople who may have developed dependency problems can obtain help from a wide range of medical, psychiatric and community services. Where benzodiazepines are used in conjunction with illegal drugs, these services will benefit significantly from the additional £100 million which the Executive has allocated to counter drug misuse.