Chamber and committees

The NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) was established in March2005 to improve and refine the Arbuthnott Formula. Members were chosen throughthe public appointment process and Dr KarenFacey, a self-employed health policy consultant and non-executive Directorof Forth Valley NHS Board acts as Chairman. The remit and membership of NRAC wasdetailed in the answer to question S2W-14556 on 21 February 2005.Over the summer of 2005, thecommittee consulted with a number of NHS boards to assess what issues they havewith the current formula and identify criteria that NHS boards consider a successfulFormula could be measured against. To inform the work undertaken by NRAC, the issueswere collated into groups and a summary of the issues and an outline of the proposedhandling of the evidence was published on the NRAC website (www.nrac.scot.nhs.uk).Individual responses will not be given to boards, but issues will be consideredas research progresses and new elements of the allocation formula are created.

Research has been undertakenduring the past six months to determine how the formula could be improved. The areasof research include demography (population measurement and how age/sex cost weightsfor Care Programmes are assessed); morbidity and life circumstances, and the excesscosts of supply (including remoteness). This research is currently being finalised.

The committee will issue theseresearch reports on their website in early July, with an overview document summarisingthe key issues, presenting options and raising questions. Engagement and feedbackwill be sought mainly with NHSScotland, but also other interested parties including,for example, the Royal Colleges, BMA and COSLA.

All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Executive has no such plans.

Local authorities have a statutoryduty to make arrangements which secure best value. Those arrangements will includetheir procurement activity. How they deliver against their duty is a matter forindividual authorities. Some, for example, have combined to form consortia, suchas the Authorities Buying Consortium and bulk purchase their electricity.

It will be for local authoritiesto justify their decisions on future council tax rises to their electorates. Theevidence from the latest round of council tax setting demonstrates that councilscan successfully and reasonably constrain the council tax burden on their communitiesand I look to all authorities to do so in the future.

Broadcasting is a reserved matterfor which the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible. The UK Governmenthas announced that a digital switchover assistance scheme will be available forpersons aged 75 and over and persons with a significant disability. Further informationabout this scheme is available at:www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/sscheme/sscheme_home.html.

Broadcasting is a reserved matterfor which the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible. the Scottish Executive is in regular contact with DCMS in relation to a wide range ofmatters including broadcasting.

Ofcom, the Office of Communications,has statutory duties to ensure the optimal use of the electro-magnetic spectrumand to ensure that a wide range of electronic communications services includingtelevision and radio are available throughout the UK. Further informationabout Ofcom and its work is available at www.ofcom.org.uk.

Broadcasting is a reserved matterfor which the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible.

Ofcom, the Office of Communications,published in April 2006 a research report The Communications Market: Nationsand Regions: Scotland which shows that digital terrestrial television availabilityis 82% in Scotland, the highest of any of the nations in the UK. It also includesinformation about the availability of digital television in Scotland viadigital satellite (98% availability) and digital cable (37% availability). The reportis available at www.ofcom.org.uk.

Some households cannot receivedigital terrestrial television at the moment and will not be able to do so untildigital switchover is complete in their ITV region, due in Borders region in 2008and in Grampian and Scottish regions in 2010. Further information about digitalswitchover is available at www.digitaluk.co.uk,including a postcode checking facility for any viewer to check whether digital televisionis available to them and on which platforms.

The Executive has been workingclosely with Argyll and Bute Council and Inverclyde Council to develop the tenderingproposals and a service specification for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service. Operatorswill have to demonstrate convincingly that they can meet the key service requirementsset out in the specification without subsidy before they can be considered for thecontract. If no suitable operator can be found who can satisfy these criteria thenwe will bring forward proposals for a subsidised service.

The Caledonian MacBrayne bidfor the Northern Isles contract is on the basis that the service would bedelivered through a special purpose company, an existing subsidiary ofCaledonian MacBrayne now renamed as NorthLink Ferries Ltd. There will be nocross-subsidisation of the Northern Isles contract from the subsidy paid forthe Clyde and Hebrides services and the special purpose company arrangementwill allow this to be monitored closely. Similarly, any provision of servicesbetween CalMac group companies would continue to be chargeable on a fully commercialbasis.

The companies invited totender were given access to extensive information on the services to be tenderedand the current operation. In addition, tenderers had the opportunity torequest supplementary information and all such requests were answered duringthe bidding period with the supplementary information then supplied to alltenderers.

The procurement process,including the evaluation of bids, was co-ordinated by the Scottish ProcurementDirectorate, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with EU and Executivewide procurement requirements and procedures. A separate Northern Islestendering branch was established within the Enterprise Transport and LifelongLearning Department to lead the Project Team managing the tender process. Therewas clear separation between the role of this branch and the branch responsiblefor sponsorship of Caledonian MacBrayne. This Chinese wall was supported byseparate line management reporting arrangements within the Department. Similarly,responsibilities between tendering andsponsoring interests were split in the Finance and Central Services Departmentand in the Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive.

This Chinese wall wasstrictly maintained at all times, including handling of documents, access topaper files, copying of emails and minutes, and securing of electronic files.The Invitation to Tender set out in detail(section 5) the procedures for ensuring transparent and fair evaluation oftenders, and confirmed for all bidders that there were organisational measuresin place to address the issue of involvement by Caledonian MacBrayne.