Chamber and committees

As a result of an approach by the British Medical Association, the issue of free accommodation for FY1 doctors in Scotland was looked at. It was noted that there are recruitment and retention issues for this group of staff in Wales and that this provision had been retained as an interim arrangement. It was concluded that there are currently no significant recruitment and retention issues affecting this group of staff in Scotland which would require the reinstatement of this provision. However, it is open to individual NHS boards to make decisions in relation to the provision of free accommodation in the best interests of the service.

There are no current plans to change the cervical screening programme. However, the National Advisory Group on Breast and Cervical Screening will continue to review emerging evidence from research on an on-going basis.

The Scottish Government Health Directorates are fully engaged in UK Health Department discussions of proposed changes to the process for reviewing and developing potential new Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators.

The Scottish Government Health Directorates recently facilitated discussions between the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Scotland employers in relation to travel and relocation expenses for doctors in training.

These talks resulted in an interim agreement, covering the period August 2007 to July 2009, on arrangements for specialty trainees. No arrangements were agreed for foundation year doctors in the course of these discussions.

Employers and the BMA agreed to review this interim agreement from May 2009 and further discussions are therefore planned for that time.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-18592 on 16 December 2008. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Prior to determining the most suitable method of dealing with an offender, under current legislation the court may make further enquiry into the offender''s physical or mental condition and background circumstances. Any reports furnished to court for these purposes are copied to the prison to coincide with the offender''s admission.

Prisoners who are suffering from mental illness who cannot be managed in a prison setting may be transferred to hospital for treatment. Following transfer, prisoners may remain in hospital and be rehabilitated through the mental health system if appropriate If a prisoner is returned from hospital to prison, a Care Programme Approach meeting will be held prior to return to prison, which includes representatives from the Prison Health Centre, to develop a package of care for monitoring and managing the patient on return to prison.

On occasions where prison health officials identify a potential gap in a medical history, contact may be made directly with the offender''s general practitioner.

The issuing of contracts and employment checks for new staff form part of the routine work of NHS board human resource departments. Medical staff are generally dealt with by medical staffing departments within human resources and the issuing of contracts, occupational health and disclosure checks is part of their core business. As such, it is not possible to give an accurate breakdown of the proportion of budget that is allocated to this activity. It is for boards to ensure that human resource departments are adequately resourced to meet these requirements. This applies to foundation, specialty registrars and all other grades of staff.

The issuing of contracts and employment checks for new staff form part of the routine work of NHS board human resource departments. Medical staff are generally dealt with by medical staffing departments within human resources and the issuing of contracts, occupational health and disclosure checks is part of their core business. As such, it is not possible to give an accurate breakdown of the proportion of budget that is allocated to this activity. It is for boards to ensure that human resource departments are adequately resourced to meet these requirements. This applies to foundation, specialty registrars and all other grades of staff.

Public procurement legislation places an obligation on local authorities to ensure that contracts for the provision of social care services are subject to a degree of advertising which is sufficient to enable open competition and to meet the requirements of the EC Treaty principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency. The Scottish Procurement Directorate (SPD) issued guidance in August 2008 to help local authorities to determine what this means in the context of social care services: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/116601/0065310.pdf.

The guidance, which has been well received by both local authorities and service providers, recognises that a range of competitive procurement methods can be used for the procurement of social care services. We are developing additional guidance which will set out in more detail the options available to local authorities and identify best practice, particularly in relation to consultation with service users. We aim to publish this additional guidance in the summer of 2009.

The Scottish Government continues to address best practice in consulting with service users.

The Scottish Procurement Directorate issued guidance in August 2008 which stated that, prior to tendering, Contracting authorities should have a strategy for the procurement of social care services which recognises the need to maintain the quality and continuity of services and addresses the concerns of vulnerable service users and their relatives. The guidance is available on the Scottish Government''s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/116601/0065310.pdf.

The Scottish Public Procurement Toolkit provides best practice guidance on the development of procurement strategies and emphasises the importance of involving key stakeholders and service users. The toolkit is also available on the Scottish Government''s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/Resources/SPDToolkit.

The Changing Lives User and Carer Forum published a report on Citizen Leadership earlier this year which defines the principles and standards of citizen leadership and sets out the role of citizens in using their power and influence to make decisions about services. The report is available at:

http://www.socialworkscotland.org.uk/resources/pub/B55231_Citizen%20Leadership.pdf.