Chamber and committees

The enforcement authorities -Trading Standards Officers and police - are responsible for reporting to the ProcuratorFiscal alleged breaches of the law relating to the sale of age-restricted goods.The Procurator Fiscal then decides what action to take. Where an accused is convictedof such offences the court will decide the appropriate sentence. Licensing Boardsare advised by the police of any alcohol test purchase failures and may decide tosuspend the accused’s licence in such cases.

Sales of cigarettes, includingfrom vending machines, are governed by the provisions of the Children and Young Person (Scotland) Act1937. Trading standards officers routinely enforce the law in relation to vendingmachines in the same way as they do at other points of sale, including through testpurchasing exercises and will take necessary action if they find illegal sales arebeing made. The law currently makes provision for a court order to be made stipulatingprecautions to be taken by the owner or operator to prevent vending machines beingused by under 18s or, if necessary, for the machine to be removed altogether wherethe court is satisfied any person under 18 has used it. In developing proposalsfor the proposed five-year Smoking Prevention Action Plan which we will be publishingin the spring course, we will also be looking at what further steps might be takento ensure more rigorous enforcement of tobacco sales law.

Licensing Standards Officers(LSOs) are responsible for ensuring compliance with licensing conditions and offeringsupport to licensees and members of the public. They are not responsible for enforcingthe Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 legislation and thus will have no role in relationto test purchasing. However, we would expect LSOs to work closely with the policeand to bring to their attention any concerns they might have if an offence is beingcommitted.

Trading standards currently haveno statutory responsibility for enforcing the Licensing (Scotland) Act2005. As the sole enforcement authority, it is the responsibility of Scottish PoliceForces to ensure that alcohol test purchasing is pursued effectively across Scotland.

The Society for Chief Officersfor Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) and the Association of Chief Police Officers(ACPOS) in association with the Crown Office Prosecution Fiscal Service (COPFS)have worked together to produce an operational protocol drawing on the experiencesof the Scottish test purchasing pilots. A Practical Guide To Test Purchasing in Scotland was published on the Scottish Government website on 25 October 2007. Publicationof the guidance will enable Scottish Police Forces and Prosecution Services to preparefor the national roll out of alcohol test purchasing from the 3 December 2007. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/16091941.

Trading standards officers currentlydo not undertake alcohol test purchasing which is the responsibility of the police.The Scottish Government will be providing local government in Scotland withrecord levels of funding over the period covered by the spending review 2008-11.The vast majority of the funding, including the funding for trading standards servicesto enforce tobacco and other age restricted laws will be provided by means of ablock grant.

It is the responsibility of eachlocal authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on thebasis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligationsand the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the ScottishGovernment’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments. However, withinthe broader framework of the new partnership with local government, we are alsoin discussion with COSLA and the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standardsin Scotland about what more the Scottish Government might do to enable trading standardsofficers to enforce tobacco sales law more effectively including through test purchasingprogrammes.

All trainee doctors with appropriatequalifications and experience can apply for specialty training posts. An additional30 training posts at ST3 level have been created this year across medical specialities.This should ensure that there are sufficient places available for those who wishto apply for higher specialty training but who are not currently in an ST2 post.

Compliance with the reductionin working hours for doctors in training under the New Deal contract and the WorkingTime Regulations (WTR) is the responsibility of NHS boards as employers. The ScottishGovernment aims to help the NHS to achieve compliance and has issued a number ofpieces of guidance, disseminated information on good practice arising from workcarried out elsewhere in the UK and has held seminars and (Hospital at Night) H@N Forums.

H@N is one of a series of measuresNHS Scotland boards are currently introducing to help facilitate compliance withthe European Working Time Directive by the target date of August 2009. Boards haveappointed H@N co-ordinators whose task is to facilitate the introduction of H@Nschemes and new ways of working to ensure the continued provision of safe and sustainableservices for patients while maintaining the educational experience and reducingthe hours that junior doctors work.

In relation to the number ofhospitals operating this system, this information is not held centrally. Hospitalat Night (H@N) is however operational in the majority of the NHS Scotlandhealth boards.

As part of the process of negotiatingthe new GP contract, an independent group of academics made an assessment of thesurveys available. The group recommended the Improving Practice and General PracticeAccreditation questionnaires for inclusion within the Quality Outcomes Frameworkof the new contract. This recommendation was accepted by the negotiating parties.

For both surveys there is publishedpeer-reviewed research. The Improving Practice questionnaire is based on a similarquestionnaire used within GP accreditation schemes in other countries and is structuredaround commonly agreed standards as set out by the Royal Colleges of General Practice.The General Practice Accreditation questionnaire was developed by the University of Manchester in collaboration with the Health Institute of Boston,and is closely related to a questionnaire that has been extensively validated inthe USA.