Chamber and committees

Curriculum for Excellence will offer better outcomes for all young people in Scotland, regardless of their gender, by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from three to 18, which is firmly focused on the needs of the child and young person. Through Curriculum for Excellence every child and young person will be entitled to opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work across all curriculum areas, including through practical or applied learning. As part of this commitment skills for work qualifications have been developed to encourage young people to develop knowledge and skills within a vocational context.

As part of the wider Curriculum for Excellence programme, 16+ Learning Choices is our new model for ensuring that all young people completing compulsory education have a suitable offer of post-16 learning. As such it will support the planning of a coherent curriculum in the senior phase, with opportunities for young people to continue to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work beyond school.

This focus on improving outcomes for all young people is reflected in our concordat with COSLA, which includes a commitment to providing more school pupils with opportunities to experience vocational learning.

Curriculum for Excellence will offer better outcomes for all young people in Scotland, regardless of their gender, by providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum from three to 18 firmly focused on the needs of children and young people.

It will provide an opportunity to embed career planning within the curriculum enabling young people to develop the skills they will need for learning, life and work. Skills Development Scotland is working with local authorities and schools to provide high-quality career advice for all young people.

A pre-diabetic state is defined as impaired fasting glucose, or impaired glucose tolerance, and can be diagnosed from an analysis of a patient''s glucose levels using either a glucose tolerance test or a fasting glucose test. Insulin testing is not appropriate, for the reasons given to the answer to question S3W-16946 on 5 November 2008.

The National Screening Committee (NSC) has recommended that population screening for diabetes, including type 2 diabetes, should not be offered as it fails to meet a number of the committee''s key criteria. The NSC does however recommend the introduction of a vascular risk management programme, which is consistent with the approach set out in SIGN Guideline 97 on risk estimation and the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

In line with our commitment to tackling health inequalities, the Keep Well programme, which focuses on cardiovascular disease, including diabetes, provides the opportunity for those aged 45 to 64 living in deprived communities to attend a health check at which they are assessed for the risk or onset of preventable ill health.

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/wa.search.

The optimal test for the early identification of diabetes remains uncertain. Insulin is not a reliable indicator, however. People with type 2 diabetes have insulin resistance, which means they may have raised glucose levels in spite of having insulin levels within the range considered to be normal.

The Scottish Public Health Network has recently been asked by the Scottish Diabetes Group to undertake a needs assessment on diabetes, and that work offers an opportunity to consider the issue of early intervention to prevent the onset of diabetes.

The Scottish Government''s review of ferry services will cover all ferry services in Scotland serving remote and peripheral communities and will include the Isle of Kerrera. The operator of the Isle of Kerrera ferry service has been invited to participate in the review process.

We recognise the significant value of investing in anticipatory care. Better Health, Better Care commits the Scottish Government to developing programmes such as Keep Well and Well North. Both are targeted at those individuals at high risk of developing serious preventable illness, including type 2 diabetes. Programme interventions include help with making lifestyle changes, as well as medical interventions, to reduce risks and treat any newly detected health conditions.

There is no treatment that can prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes, but early identification of the condition remains important in order to allow for the prevention of the serious complications which can be associated with it.

The Scottish Government is currently developing a full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) which will examine in detail the risks and benefits of the proposed legislative action. Retailers have been given the opportunity to feed into the RIA. We are, of course, committed to a vibrant small business sector and are doing a great deal to support them. While there can be no compromise on the Scottish Government''s goal of protecting children and young people, and the population as a whole, from the misery and distress of cancer, heart disease and other smoking related illness, we are keen to work with retailers on making the implementation process as easy as possible, including exploring ways to keep costs incurred to a minimum.

We are not aware of any evidence to suggest that restrictions on the display of tobacco displays will lead to an increase in illicit tobacco products. However, the Scottish Government recognises that smuggled or counterfeit tobacco products constitute a serious public health risk by undermining efforts to reduce tobacco consumption. As set out in the Smoking Prevention Action Plan, Scotland''s future is Smoke-free, which was published in May 2008 the Scottish Government is committed to collaborating with Her Majesty''s Revenue and Customs to reduce the impact of illicit sales of tobacco products on Scottish communities. This action will be linked to the proposed new Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme which will be formally launched within the next few months.

Link to action plan http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19144342/0.

The Scottish Government is currently developing a full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) which will examine the impact on business of the proposed legislative action. There is no reason to believe that restrictions on displays, which would apply to shops of all sizes, will lead to a shift in trade from small retailers to supermarkets. However, this will be taken into account in the RIA.

As I made clear in my statement to the Scottish Parliament on 21 May 2008 to launch the Smoking Prevention Action Plan, Scotland''s Future is Smoke-free, the Scottish Government believes that a comprehensive and co-ordinated programme of measures is necessary to dissuade children and young people from smoking. Tackling the trade on illicit tobacco products and restricting the display of tobacco products in shops are both important in their own way.

Link to Action Plan http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19144342/0.