Chamber and committees

As noted in the report on the Strategic Roads Review, published on 4 November, the Scottish Executive proposes to meet Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils to discuss the M74 Northern Extension. I expect the meeting to consider funding issues and the input of other councils with an interest in the scheme.

I have asked Glasgow City and South Lanarkshire Councils to take forward proposals for the M74 Northern Extension in the context of their Local Transport Strategies and in co-operation with other authorities, including Renfrewshire. These strategies should aim to improve access, including public transport access, across their areas and to reduce congestion, thus increasing the reliability of journey times. Such strategies should improve access to Glasgow Airport and assist in its development.

The recent report by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) on "Transport and the Economy" highlighted the complexities associated with analysing the local economic impacts of transport schemes. They cautioned against exaggerated claims for the significance of such impacts, and argued that studies of local economic development impacts should take full account of the likely displacement of jobs from other areas. The report set out a number of recommendations on how such studies should be carried out. The Executive is currently considering, with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the implications of the SACTRA report for its future appraisal methodology.The appraisal carried out for the Strategic Roads Review indicated that the M74 Northern Extension would be likely to have an overall positive impact on the local economy. At this stage, it is impossible to be more precise than this.

Data on the total numbers of episodes of NHS care for inpatient and day case treatment and the total number of consultant outpatient and Accident and Emergency attendance's for the years 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 is provided in the table. Comprehensive information for all aspects of treatment carried out within a primary care setting is not available.

It is not possible to provide the proportion of the population who have received NHS care in hospital as many patients have had more than one episode of treatment or attended an outpatient clinic on more than one occasion.

NHS In Scotland: Inpatient¹, Day Case¹, Outpatient² and Accident and Emergency Activity; Years Ending 31 March 1997 - 1999

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99p
Total Inpatient Episodes3	969,283	982,804	981,574
Total Day Case Episodes	384,291	414,869	437,819
Total Outpatient Attendance's	4,720,866	4,759,628	4,857,736
Total Attendance's at A&E	1,550,704	1,571,608	1,556,258

p Provisional

1 Includes NHS activity in joint-user and contractual hospitals.

2 Excludes NHS activity in joint-user and contractual hospitals.³ Includes transfers between specialities, between significant facilities or between NHS hospitals.

Under the Directions to the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 1994 (as amended) a Prison Governor can prohibit a prisoner from making telephone calls to persons who have indicated to the Governor, in writing, that they do not wish to receive telephone calls from that prisoner.

I refer Mr Gibson to pages 112-115 of the report on the Strategic Roads Review which was published and made available to Members on 4 November.

I refer Mr Gibson to pages 112-115 of the report on the Strategic Roads Review which was published and made available to Members on 4 November.

As indicated in our paper Strategy for Carers in Scotland and as discussed in the debate on 25 November, the carers' legislation working group which we are setting up will consider what provisions are necessary to ensure that carers under 16 years can have an assessment of their care needs.

No. Advice from the Medicines Control Agency is that the use of pre-filled plasticised PVC bags containing infusion solutions such as sodium chloride is not considered to pose any unacceptable risk to patients.It is understood that the US Food and Drug Administration has not withdrawn PVC bags but is undertaking a risk assessment of a specific plasticiser, which was scheduled for completion at the end of November.

The White Paper Smoking Kills which was published on 10 December 1998 sets out a comprehensive strategy to combat smoking throughout the UK. The Scottish Executive endorses the White Paper as a framework for action. However, in taking the policy forward, we have been careful to ensure that the measures outlined are being specifically tailored to Scottish priorities and circumstances.A copy of the White Paper is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre [SPICe].