Chamber and committees

As I have always made clear, the timing of these reports is a matter for Sir Anthony and Dr Jandoo. I understand that both are working on their final reports and that these will be submitted to me as early as possible. Dr Jandoo has written to me to explain that he has only recently been able to complete his evidence taking, and that the task of drawing together all the evidence - including that provided by over 60 witnesses - and reaching conclusions will take some weeks to complete. Neither the Justice Minister nor I are aware of any emerging findings at this stage.Both reports will then be translated into Punjabi before publication.

Consultation responses showed support for the proposal to set up an index of adults unsuitable to work with children. I have published today a policy position paper, which confirms our intention to proceed with legislation to create the index, and responds to comments received during consultation. Copies of this paper, Protecting Children: the next steps towards securing their safety, have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.Following this final round of consultation, I hope to introduce necessary legislation at an early opportunity if the parliamentary timetable permits.

I am pleased to announce that we have published the second Scottish Executive Statistics Plan, for 2001-02, for consultation, today. We received a number of useful comments on the first plan, which have influenced the development of our proposals for 2001-02. Executive staff have contributed fully to the development of the first UK National Statistics Work Programme. This includes significant proposals for the development of Scottish Executive statistics, while our own plan gives more details.We remain committed to making available high quality statistics which meet the needs of users and support informed decision making.Under National Statistics, we have introduced new planning arrangements, in which we actively seek the views of users of statistics including MSPs, on their needs and priorities.I have recently proposed to the Statistics Commission that it undertakes a role in relation to the Scottish Executive and Parliament comparable to that which it has for the UK Government. This would strengthen the arrangements for external scrutiny of our statistics.Copies of the Scottish Executive Statistics Plan will be available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Safety and security on the railway is a reserved matter. The prevention of vandalism and trespassing on the railway is the responsibility of the railway industry and the British Transport Police (BTP).The Scottish Executive holds no statistics on acts of vandalism on railway lines in Scotland. The British Transport Police publishes an annual report which contains summary statistics on acts of vandalism. The 1999-2000 report is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The Scottish Charity Law Review Commission is today publishing its report CharityScotland, and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Parliament's Information Centre. I very much welcome the publication of the report and look forward to reading it in detail and considering its findings. We greatly value the hard work and dedication of Jean McFadden and the other members of the commission she chaired.The Executive will prepare a full response to the commission's proposals, taking into account the wider strategic review of the social economy already indicated by the Minister for Social Justice. At the same time the Executive is inviting public comment on the 114 recommendations made in the report. We shall be glad to receive comments by 30 September 2001.

It is open to national voluntary organisations involved in health-related activities, which complement those provided by the NHS, to apply for funding assistance under section 16B of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. Health boards also have delegated authority to provide grants under section 16B to local voluntary groups, where appropriate. Each application received is carefully considered on its merits, alongside competing demands. I understand that the Executive has not received an application for section 16B funding from any group supporting those suffering from the side effects of hormone replacement therapy.

here are now monthly reports from SQA and monthly meetings of the Ministerial Review Group chaired by the Deputy Minister for Education. Meetings between the Executive and the SQA take place regularly at both ministerial and official level.On the basis of information from these sources I made my first report to Parliament on SQA's progress towards Diet 2001. This was announced in response to S1W-12934 on 31 January 2001 and has been placed in SPICe (bib. no. 11055).

I am pleased to be able to announce today the membership of the Care Development Group.Chair Malcolm Chisholm, Deputy Minister for Health and Community CareMembersProfessor David Bell, Department of Economics, University of StirlingDr Roger Gibbins, Chief Executive Highland Health BoardProfessor Alan Gilloran, Dean of Social Sciences and Health Care, Queen Margaret UniversityDr Sandra Grant, OBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Health Advisory ServiceJim Jackson, Director, Alzheimer's ScotlandAlexis Jay, Director of Social Work and Housing Services, West Dunbartonshire CouncilDavid Kelly, Director of Community Services, West Lothian CouncilProfessor Mary Marshall, Director, Dementia Services Development CentreDr Ken O'Neill, Lead General Practitioner, South West Glasgow Local Health Care Co-operativeProfessor Alison Petch, Director, Nuffield Centre for Community Care Studies, University of GlasgowSue Plummer, Director of Nursing, Borders Primary Care NHS TrustIn undertaking their work the group will call on a wide range of expertise and advice to assist them. This will include, for example, liaising with those involved in organising the assessment of need and the delivery of care to people in their own homes, in residential or nursing homes and in hospital; with those involved in setting and monitoring standards for care, and with carers themselves. On the structural and technical issues involved, the group will seek such demographic, economic and financial advice as necessary from the acknowledged experts in these areas. The group will also be liaising closely with the Chief Nursing Officer on the follow up to her group's work which will aim to develop a process to capture all care needs in a single assessment.It is also vitally important that older people themselves are fully involved in this process and the Care Development Group will seek the views of the full range of groups representing older people and their carers across the country.In addition, the Scottish Executive will commission research into the views of older people and carers about the availability and quality of current service provision and about their expectations of services in the future, in order to inform the group's work.The group's full terms of reference were announced on 31 January in response to question S1W-12937.

The Scottish Executive's Equality Strategy, which was launched on 6 November, sets out a framework of action for taking forward the Executive's commitment to equality, including the mainstreaming of equality into policy development, service design and delivery.The Race Equality Advisory Forum will also present action plans to Ministers shortly with recommendations to tackle institutional racism and promote race equality in areas such as health, education, housing and local government.

In July the Deputy Prime Minister announced a 10-year investment programme for the railways of £60 billion. Over the last two years a total of £50 million of Public Transport Fund and Freight Facilities Grant has been committed to rail projects in Scotland. On 28 November, the Scottish Executive published its consultation paper on the strategic priorities for Scotland's passenger railways, which set out the Executive's vision and key objectives.