Chamber and committees

I welcome this opportunity to confirm that UK ratification of the Kyoto Protocol was today announced in the House of Commons by Margaret Beckett. This confirms the UK commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its continuing leading role in international efforts to tackle the threat of climate change. We are working in partnership with the UK Government and other devolved administrations to meet the Kyoto target and the action we are taking in Scotland is contained in the Scottish Climate Change Programme.

In my reply to Parliamentary Question S1O-04233 on 6 December, I confirmed that the Executive will provide additional funding to Scottish local authorities to assist them with costs arising from the new regulations on the disposal of fridges, freezers and other domestic appliances containing ozone depleting substances. I can now confirm that the Executive has allocated £1.69 million for 2001-02 to assist with these additional costs. This funding will be allocated to local authorities as set out in the following table:

Local Authority	Allocation
Aberdeen City	£69,697
Aberdeenshire	£74,962
Angus	£36,022
Argyll & Bute	£29,295
Clackmannanshire	£15,990
Dumfries & Galloway	£48,105
Dundee City	£47,085
East Ayrshire	£39,802
East Dunbartonshire	£36,547
East Lothian	£30,120
East Renfrewshire	£29,625
Edinburgh City	£149,602
Eilean Siar	£8,970
Falkirk	£47,617
Fife	£115,612
Glasgow City	£201,052
Highland	£68,827
Inverclyde	£27,915
Midlothian	£27,120
Moray	£28,027
North Ayrshire	£45,810
North Lanarkshire	£108,097
Orkney Islands	£6,427
Perth & Kinross	£44,085
Renfrewshire.	£58,387
Scottish Borders	£35,272
Shetland Islands	£7,402
South Ayrshire	£37,590
South Lanarkshire	£101,422
Stirling	£28,117
West Dunbartonshire	£31,215
West Lothian	£51,697

Distribution of the grant takes into account the estimated number of appliances arising in each local authority area as estimated in the Executive's reply to parliamentary question S1W-19533 on 13 November 2001, and is based on an amount of £30 per appliance. I intend that the grant will be payable to authorities under a new Financial Assistance Order which is due to come into force on 26 March 2002.

I am also aware that authorities will have to meet additional costs in 2002-03. I can therefore announce that the Executive will continue to provide additional assistance but, as for this year, I shall wish to review the costs to the authorities, bearing in mind developments in the storage and treatment market. In particular, I would expect the costs of storage and treatment to reduce substantially as treatment capacity expands and, I would hope, becomes available more locally, providing increased investment and employment opportunities. I shall announce the actual level of support for next year at a later date.

The Scottish Ministerial Code was first published in August 1999. It provides a code of conduct and guidance on procedures for Scottish ministers. It also underlines our commitment to working in partnership with the Scottish Parliament. We have updated the code to reflect a number of developments since 1999. The changes include: the addition of the Seven Principles of Public Life as set out in the first report of the Nolan Committee; revised guidance on the procedure for discussion of private interests with incoming ministers; arrangements for appointing Ministerial Parliamentary Aides, and revised guidance on contact with commercial companies. Further changes will be made as and when appropriate, including any changes we consider necessary in relation to contacts with commercial lobbyists following further consideration of the Standards Committee's recent report on lobbying.Copies of the latest version of the Scottish Ministerial Code will be available in the Parliament's Reference Centre, and on the internet at www.scotland.gov.uk.

A specialist nurse is defined as a person who has successfully completed a post qualification course of study in a specific clinical field and who applies higher levels of judgement, discretion and decision-making in clinical care in order to improve the quality of patient care, meeting the needs of patients within the specialty and in the specific area of practice.In practice many specialist nurse roles have developed in order to improve the quality of health promotion and care to patients with particular diseases such as, for example, specialist nurses for diabetic patients, and for patients requiring palliative care, pain control, infection control or those with breast cancer.Recruitment and training of specialist nurses is primarily a matter for individual NHS Trusts to determine in light of the clinical needs and service developments of their area.

While there are no specific measures in the Action Plan, this is an area that will be explored within the Facing the Future implementation group which I am chairing. The group will meet for the first time in the New Year.