Chamber and committees

The consultation on National Priorities will commence shortly and I will ensure that the consultation period is long enough so that all those who want to be involved have the opportunity to do so.

As I announced in Parliament on 16 December 1999, we are working with the NHS in Scotland to establish national maximum waiting times, to be delivered from March 2001, in the key clinical specialties of heart disease, cancer and mental health. In addition, the introduction of walk-in/walk-out centres, the establishment of additional one-stop clinics and the redesign of services to improve the patient pathway, will speed treatment and reduce waiting times.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board will be wound up on 31 March 2000. The Board was set up to administer the original criminal injuries compensation scheme established in 1964. That scheme ended in April 1996 and a new tariff-based scheme administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel was introduced. Since then the Board has been dealing with the residual claims lodged under the original scheme. This is now largely complete and the Board will wind up on 31 March. Any remaining old scheme cases still outstanding at that time will be resolved by legally qualified members of the CICAP.

I am sure that all Ministers, including those of previous administrations, would wish to join me in extending a sincere vote of thanks to all Board members, past and present, for the care and dedication with which they have dealt with claims over the past 35 years.

We shall lay regulations to increase National Health Service charges in Scotland from 1 April 2000. There will be an increase in the prescription charge of 10p, from £5.90 to £6.00 per item dispensed. This 1.7% increase is based on the All Items Retail Price Index for the period January to November 1999 (2%). This is in line with our commitment that NHS charges will rise by no more than the rate of inflation for the duration of the current UK Parliament, and means that prescription charges will fall in real terms.Prescription pre-payment certificates will go up from £30.80 to £31.40 (1.95%) for 4 months and from £84.60 to £86.20 (1.89%) for 12 months.Prescription charges are expected to raise almost £45 million for the NHS in Scotland in 2000-01.Charges for elastic stockings and tights, wigs and most fabric supports supplied through the Hospital Service will be increased similarly.The maximum patient charge for a single course of dental treatment begun on or after 1 April 2000 will increase from £348 to £354. Only about one in every 1,000 courses of treatment will attract the new maximum charge.NHS charges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will rise by the same amount.

Any increase in NHS charges over the duration of the current UK Parliament will be based on the All Items Retail Price Index for the November preceding the increase.The value of optical vouchers will increase by 2% overall from April 2000. This will ensure that the increased purchasing power effected last year is not eroded.

The main source of European funding for skills training in local areas will be the Objective 3 Programme. In line with the terms of the EU Regulation, any additional assistance from the European Social Fund which could be contained within any Objective 2 Programme should be of sufficient size to justify its separate management and not amount to less than 5% of the total Structural Fund contribution. It is too early to detail exactly the level of funds which may be directed for the purpose since the plans for the Objective 2 area in West, East and South Scotland are still in preparation. I expect the Plan Teams to publish consultation drafts in the next few weeks.

The remit of the Working Group is as follows:"In the light of the Scottish Executive's intention to repeal section 2A of the Local Government Act 1986:to consider the scope and general content of the package of safeguards described in the letter of 27 January 2000 to school boards and headteachers from the Minister for Children and Education;to report to the Scottish Executive on whether this package is sufficiently wide-ranging and robust to meet the legitimate concerns of the public, parents and teachers;to review existing curriculum guidelines, advice and support information bearing on sex education;to consider whether these existing materials and the existing arrangements for ongoing review are sufficient to meet the legitimate concerns of the public, parents and teachers;to report to the Scottish Executive with recommendations for any revisions oradditions to these existing materials and arrangements;to commission with the Scottish Executive any agreed revisions and/or thedevelopment of any agreed new materials, which are to be completed beforerepeal of section2A is brought into force."The membership of the Working Group is as follows:Mr Mike McCabe (Chairman), Director of Education, South Ayrshire.Mr John O'Keane, Headteacher of Cardinal Newman High School, NorthLanarkshire.Mrs Anne Pearson, Headteacher of Park Primary School, Alloa,ClackmannanshireMrs Gill Mackay, Senior Teacher at Dunard Primary School, Glasgow.Mr John Waddell, Vice Chair of Williamwood High School School Board, East Renfrewshire representing the Scottish School Board Association.Ms Kim Connolly, a Director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council.Reverend Jack Laidlaw, Convener of the Church of Scotland Education Committee.Mr John Oates, representing the Catholic Education Commission.Ms Rowena Ashad, Director of the Centre for Education in Racial Equality in Scotland.I am grateful to all the members of the Working Group for their willingness to give time to this important and sensitive task. I am sure that their work will provide significant reassurance to parents and teachers. Their recommendations on revisions or additions to existing curricular materials and on the package of safeguards will be available before the final vote on repeal of section 2A.

Scottish schools have the opportunity to inform their pupils about issues connected with the Holocaust through subject areas ranging from history and modern studies to religious and moral education and English language. The Government has recently announced that 27 January 2001 will become the UK's first Holocaust Memorial Day and I am confident that Scottish schools will find appropriate ways to involve their pupils in marking this day.

I welcome the publication of the UK Raptor Working Group Report. I am particularly grateful for the work which has gone into the preparation of the report and commend the commitment which Working Group Members have given to this issue over a number of years. Since there is particular interest in Scotland in a number of the issues covered in the Report, I have asked Scottish Natural Heritage to provide formal advice to the Scottish Executive on its recommendations and on whether and how they might be implemented in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive's response formed in conjunction with other GB Departments has today been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The response welcomes the Pooley Group's recommendations which include more flexible supervision of plants, further work on calculation of charges and a basis for discussion of progress from existing hygiene controls to a more modern, risk-based system. The work of taking forward the recommendations will include the industry forum arrangements that have been accepted as part of the package.

The water authorities' responses to the recommendations were subject to independent audit by the consulting engineers Binnie Black and Veatch (BBV) last year. BBV found that the authorities are making satisfactory progress, but that further work remains to be done, reflecting the long-term nature of many of the recommendations.I have written to the Chairs of the authorities acknowledging what has been achieved to date and emphasising the importance that the Scottish Executive attaches to continuing progress being made.