Chamber and committees

The system of discipline in Scottish penal establishments has already been reviewed by the Scottish Executive in the light of the incorporation into Scottish law of the European Convention on Human Rights. That review included consideration of the powers of Prison Governors in relation to disciplinary proceedings against prisoners.Ministers have subsequently been advised that it is possible that the imposition by Governors of additional days as a disciplinary punishment could be challenged under the European Convention on Human Rights. In order to minimise that risk, with the disruption to the operational stability of penal establishments that any successful challenge could cause, it has been decided that with effect from 11 June the awarding by Prison Governors of additional days or loss of remission as punishments for prisoners infringing prison rules will be suspended. Punishments made before that date will remain in force; but Governors have been instructed that from 11 June they are not to make any new awards of these punishments.The disciplinary situation in the prisons estate will be kept under review following this decision. However, the full range of other disciplinary punishments that currently exist, such as loss of privileges and cellular confinement, will continue to be available to Governors, and it is believed that these are sufficient to allow the satisfactory maintenance of discipline in penal establishments. Where serious criminal behaviour is involved, Governors will also continue as at present to be able to refer the matter to the police for possible criminal charges.

Decisions about the treatment of patients on NHS waiting lists are for health boards and NHS Trusts. NHSScotland makes limited use of the private health sector, primarily on a contingency basis to meet particular short-term pressures.

Up to and including 22 May 2001, the recoverable NHS charges for treating casualties in road accidents has totalled £3,884,689 for outpatient treatments and £3,267,226 for inpatient treatment.The charges, payable by insurance companies, are recoverable only when an accident victim makes a successful claim in respect of personal injury.

Up to and including 22 May 2001, a total of 21,125 invoices have been issued to insurance companies in respect of treatment provided at NHS hospital in Scotland.The centralised cost recovery arrangements have not in fact simply replaced the Emergency Treatment Fee (ETF) arrangements. They replaced the previous arrangements by which individual Trusts could seek to recover all or part of the costs where an accident victim goes on to make a successful claim in respect of personal injury. Whilst, under the centralised arrangements, Trusts may not charge ETFs it is still open to general medical practitioners to do so.

Up to and including 22 May 2001, a total of £7,151,915 has been recovered from insurance companies for treating casualties of road traffic accidents. Amounts recovered are remitted monthly to the Scottish NHS Trusts that treated the accident victims concerned.

I attended a meeting on 26 April arranged by local MSPs with representatives of Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeen & Grampian Tourist Board to discuss the issue. I hope that this meeting will lead to a resolution of the existing problems. However, decisions about funding and about the provision of TICs is a matter for local decision, not for the Executive.

The following table shows expenditure on the NHS in Scotland as a percentage of GDP for the period 1995 to 1999 - the latest year for which Scottish GDP data are available.

	NHS Spend in Scotland as a % of Scottish GDP
1995	6.4
1996	6.4
1997	6.5
1998	6.4
1999	6.7
2000	Not Available

Notes:1. NHS Spend in Scotland for each year reported above relates to the financial year. For example, the figure reported for 1995 relates to the financial accounting period from April 1 1995 to March 31 1996.2. International comparisons of ratios of public expenditure to GDP use data on GDP at market prices. No data on GDP at market prices are available for Scotland but, to enable broad comparisons with ratios that have been calculated for other countries, estimates based on GDP at market prices have been derived. The methodology used is consistent with Government Expenditure & Revenue in Scotland. This method implicitly assumes that the Scottish share of UK GDP at market prices (including North Sea oil output) is the same as the share of GDP at factor cost. Given the assumptions involved, the estimates should be treated with caution.

3. Estimates for years after 1999 are not available. As the Scottish Executive does not produce forecasts of GDP growth, it is not possible to publish projections of ratios of public expenditure to GDP for the period after 1999.

Over the period 1995 to 1999, expenditure on the NHS in Scotland as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is estimated to have risen from 6.4% to 6.7%. This demonstrates the Scottish Executive's commitment to substantial increases in health spending over the duration of this Parliament.As further tangible evidence of this, the health budget is increasing from £4.9 billion in 1999-2000 to £6.7 billion in 2003-04. This represents a major investment in the NHS in Scotland by the Executive.

The latest information about various long-term care arrangements for older people in Scotland relates to 31 March 2000:-An estimated 8,940 people aged 65+ are receiving intensive home care services (defined for this purpose as being in receipt of more than 10 hours service per week).There were 13,160 residents aged 65 years and over in Residential Care Homes. There were 18,353 residents, aged 65 and over, in private nursing homes in Scotland.Provisional information shows that there were 4,415 residents, aged 65 and over, receiving long stay NHS hospital care in the specialty of Geriatric Medicine.Provisional information shows that there were 5,127 residents, aged 65 and over, in mental illness or learning disability specialties in NHS Hospitals in Scotland. These specialties are not specifically for patients receiving long term care. However, of the residents at 31 March 2000, 3,783 (73.8%) had been resident for 6 months or more.

Guidance is issued to health boards and NHS Trusts on the collection of data for central returns. Trusts and boards are at liberty to collect additional information locally. This guidance is provided by the Information & Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency (CSA).The guidelines cover the collection of data on outpatient appointments cancelled as a result of the patient's failure to attend without notice. No central guidance is given for the recording of outpatient cancellations made by the Trust, or by the patient with advance notice.Guidance is also issued for the recording of cancelled inpatient and day case admissions, where the cancellation is made by the Trust prior to admission. This information does not identify whether the procedure, for which the patient was due to be admitted, was an operation.

There are no plans to collect this information centrally.