Chamber and committees

Surveys of 1,000 Individual Learning Account (ILA) members in Scotland who had used their account and approximately 150 who had yet to undertake learning were conducted by MORI over the period September 2000 to February 2001. Key findings were as follows:57% were female.56% were aged between 31 and 50, and 23% were aged 51 or older.40% were management/professional workers; 9% were process workers and 6% were retail and customer services workers. 24% worked within small companies and 2% were labour market returners.62% of those receiving 80% discounts were undertaking introductory ICT courses.36% of those receiving 80% discounts were undertaking introductory English/communications courses, 1% were undertaking introductory maths/numeracy courses.13% were working towards a degree-level qualification.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20004.

A raft of measures are being set in place including:new management arrangements including a dedicated joint Management Board;a high level external clinical support team;an organisational development programme, and full-time senior management support for doctors and other professionals to help better develop west of Scotland cancer services based on managed clinical networks regionally.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-4093 on 15 November 2001. I have asked the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow NHS Board to complete the review by end of the current calendar year.

I have been advised by the trust that this funding was invested to secure:five administrative staff to improve secretarial support;five additional nursing staff, one to improve bed management and the remainder to enhance chemotherapy services, andjunior doctor banding to facilitate the provision of additional specialist registrar support at the Beatson Oncology Centre.

The joint management board will be multi-disciplinary in nature with members drawn from across the Beatson Oncology Centre, senior management representatives from the North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust and NHS Greater Glasgow. It will report to the Chief Executive of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The information requested is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20232.

The Fruit Plus initiative is a Glasgow City Council/Greater Glasgow Health Board initiative. It aims to provide a piece of fruit three days a week for pre-school nurseries and primary schools in Glasgow. The funding and timescale of the initiative are a matter for the local authority and the health board. Smartcard initiatives are being introduced across a number of local authorities in Scotland, including developments in Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll and Bute and Glasgow that are supported through the Modernising Government Fund. The current focus of these developments is youth and education services, primarily secondary schools.A steering group chaired by the Scottish Executive with membership from local authority Chief Executives has been set up to put in place a framework for smartcards. Early tasks for the group will be to identify the categories of service most appropriate to smartcards, the likely costs of delivering smartcards and the timescale for such projects across the Scottish public sector.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20232.