Chamber and committees

The Single Transferable Votesystem will be used in the local government elections in Scotland forthe first time next year, and the Executive recognised that it was important toundertake research to ensure that the clearest format of ballot paper was used forthese elections. The Executive therefore recently commissioned research into thedesign and layout of the ballot paper that will be used in May 2007. The researchtested four ballot designs; two of which were based upon the alphabetical orderingof candidates by surname and two based on grouping candidates by party, in alphabeticalorder of party name.

The research focussed on assessingresponses with regard to clarity, ease of use and comprehension of each ballot paper.The clarity and value of the instructions on how to complete the ballot paper wasalso assessed. The main finding of the research was that a clear majority of participantsfavoured grouping candidates by party. I have published the results today at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/recent.

There will be five pilots inthe first phase of Prevention 2010 – our programme to tackle health inequalitiesby enhancing primary care in deprived areas - two in Greater Glasgow, and one eachin Lothian, Lanarkshire and Tayside. We used the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivationto identify areas with the highest numbers of data zones in the most deprived 15%.We plan a second phase of pilots next year, when we will target more areas withhigh levels of deprivation. The approach will be extended to all those at risk throughdeprivation once we know what works best.

I am pleased to announce today the publication of the Regeneration Policy Statement. This is an important and ambitious document for Scotland which sets out the role that regeneration can and should play in achieving the Executive’s twin aims of sustainable economic growth and tackling poverty and disadvantage.

It is too early to judge the success of test purchasing in reducing illegal sales in Scotland as the new arrangements have not yet been rolled out across all local authority areas. However, the independent evaluation of the test purchasing pilots undertaken in South Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Stirling and Moray would suggest that test purchasing does act as a deterrent. A copy of the report is available on the Scottish Executive Website.

The Scottish Executive made available a total of £346,704 to Inverclyde over the period 2002-05 under the Community Safety Partnership Award programme. A further £312,033 has been allocated to Inverclyde under the revised Community Safety Partnership Award programme over the period 2005-08.

The Scottish Executive allocates Community Safety Award Programme funding under a three-year action plan. In the period 2005-08 Inverclyde Community Safety Partnership (ICSP) is using the funding to contribute to a problem solving unit, improve and develop services to meet the demands of people who are likely to be victims of incidents and accidents, and provide services for families experiencing violence within the home.

In the period 2002-05 ICSP used Community Safety Award Programme to fund initiatives such as: employing a New Start development worker to work with young people in the earliest stages of antisocial behaviour and substance misuse; employing a domestic abuse co‑ordinator, and expanding the Living Safely initiative to all vulnerable residents in Inverclyde through the provision of additional home security information and advice.

I am pleased to confirm that the response of the Executive has been published today. Copies are now available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 36894).

The Executive has made Professor McEwen’s report available to NHS boards and will be convening a conference to discuss best practice on pain management on 8 July 2005. The Managed Clinical Network approach to the management of chronic conditions will be considered as part of the conference.

The Executive has no such plans. NHS boards are expected to fund services from the unified budgets made available to them by the Executive. The Executive is, however, looking at ways to make a more efficient use of resources. We have made the report of an independent review of chronic pain services available to NHS boards and will be holding a conference to discuss best practice on pain management on 8 July 2005.

Our health improvement policy aims to improve the health of all the people of Scotland but also to close the health gap. We have set within the 2004 Spending Review, a stretching and ambitious target to increase the rate of health improvement across a range of indicators for the most deprived communities by 15% by 2008. The indicators are: under 75 coronary heart disease mortality, under 75 cancer mortality, adults smoking, smoking during pregnancy, teenage pregnancy and suicides in young people. We will require NHS boards to step up action to tackle health inequalities, setting this in the wider context of community planning partnership health inequalities strategies. The Arbuthnott funding formula for NHS Scotland already takes account of levels of deprivation but we will expect NHS boards to move towards use of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation in determining the impact of their health inequalities actions locally.