Chamber and committees

The figures on the cost of the healthy living campaign are laid out in the following table.

Cost of the Healthy Living Campaignfrom 7 January to 4 November 2003

	2002-03 (Jan to end March)	2003-04 (April to 4 Nov)
Advertising	£1,404,864	£1,029,271
Evaluation and Monitoring	£17, 955	£75,000
Resource Development/ Promotional Items	£98,368	£62,000
Advice line	£171,826	£175,697
Website	£35,395	£4,484
Total	£1.73m	£1.35m

Hospitals are expected tomeet the new clinical standards for Food, Fluid and Nutritional Care issued byNHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHSQIS) on 19 September 2003. NHSScotland’s performance against these standards will be monitored bya process of self assessment and peer review overseen by NHSQIS. The resultswill be published in due course.

The bulk of food andingredients used in NHS kitchens is purchased through Scottish HealthcareSupplies (SHS) which is part of the Common Services Agency. SHS has stringentcontract and auditing procedures in place to ensure quality. All food supplierspremises and practices are audited.

In addition hospitals havetheir own procedures in place to monitor quality. These include patientsatisfaction surveys and monitoring food waste.

Audit Scotland hasrecently completed a review of hospital catering. The results are expected tobe published later this month.

I refer themember to the answer given to question S2W-3288 on 3 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available onthe Parliament’s website, the research facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

In relation to asthma andrespiratory health more generally, I refer the member to the answer given toquestion S2W-3288 on 3 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the research facility for which can befound at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The Scottish Executive is not aware of any credible evidence orrationale for an increase in the risk of cancer for communities close toopencast sites and has no plans to instigate further research.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3288 on 3 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the research facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3149 on 30 October 2003.All answers to written parliamentary questions available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Information as at March 2001,March 2002 and March 2003 showing the direct flights from Scotland to European Unionand other international destinations, and broken down by (i) route, (ii)airport and (iii) carrier, has been compiled from various sources by the CivilAviation Authority. A copy of the information is available in the Parliament’sReference Centre (Bib. number 29718).

Research is under way on theoperation and effectiveness of NPPG 16. This is expected to report veryshortly. A decision will be taken on whether the guidance should be reviewedwhen the research findings are known.

The Committee onthe Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has considered reports on two separatestudies on The Acute Effects of Air Pollution on the Respiratory Health ofChildren in West Glamorgan (1997) and on Do particulates from opencast coal mining impair children's respiratoryhealth (1999), produced respectivelyby the Welsh Combined Centres for Public Health and researchers from theUniversity of Newcastle. On the first of these, the committeeconcluded that the report did not support the assertion that asthma was morecommon in an area close to the opencast coal mine under study. On the second,the cmmittee concluded that the respiratory health of children living incommunities close to open-ast sites was very similar to that of children livingin communities distant from such sites.

The results ofthese studies are openly available and there are no plans to place them in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3150 on 30 October 2003.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.