Chamber and committees

The median waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant in the specialty of dermatology, following referral by a general medical practitioner, by NHS board of residence, in the year ended 31 December 2004, are given in the table.

NHSScotland is committed to ensuring that from the end of this year, no patient will wait more than six months for a first out-patient appointment, including in the specialty of dermatology, and excellent progress is being made. This national maximum waiting time will be reduced to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. Performance towards delivery of these commitments is monitored regularly by the National Waiting Times Unit, and waiting times statistics are published quarterly.

To assist NHScotland to redesign services and reduce waiting times, the Centre for Change and Innovation is undertaking the largest outpatient improvement programme seen in Scotland to create sustainable change and assist NHSScotland to meet the national maximum waiting time of 26 weeks from the end of 2005. As part of this programme, the Skin Action Scotland national redesign project, which provides clinicians with the opportunity to test new ways of working which will improve patient access and reduce waiting times, is well underway. 11 demonstration projects across Scotland have been awarded programme funding of £1 million over the next two years, and nine have been awarded capital funding of £250,000 to support project objectives and planned developments.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment with a Consultant in Dermatology, Following a General Medical Practitioner Referral, by NHS Board of Residence: Year Ended 31 December 2004^P

NHS Board	Median Wait
Argyll and Clyde	67 days
Ayrshire and Arran	65 days
Borders	85 days
Dumfries and Galloway	19 days
Fife	76 days
Forth Valley	145 days
Grampian	92 days
Greater Glasgow	45 days
Highland	28 days
Lanarkshire	71 days
Lothian	49 days
Orkney	88 days
Shetland	102 days
Tayside	48 days
Western Isles	35 days
Scotland	53 Days

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR00.

^PProvisional.

Note:

Excludes patients with an Availability Status Code.

We are in regularcontact with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland at both ministerial and official levelon a range of issues, including matters relating to the threat of terrorism.

The consultation paper is being finalised and will be published as soon as possible. As I explained to Parliament on 20 January, the Executive wished to consider the contents of Sir David Clementi's report on the regulation of legal services in England and Wales which was published on 15 December 2004 before publishing the consultation paper

Development trusts in rural areas are supported in a number of ways. The Scottish Rural Partnership Fund offers grant aid through a competitive bidding process for development trusts to build community capacity and provide local services or facilities. Development trusts are also eligible to apply for support through Communities Scotland’s Futurebuilders programme aimed at building the capacity of social enterprise. The Executive through Communities Scotland is also funding the Development Trusts Association Scotland which has good representation from rural trusts. Support may also be available via the Enterprise Networks’ Business Gateway.

We are not aware of any representations other than the member’s recent letter about changing funding structures for community care forums. I replied to that letter on 28 February highlighting the increasingly important role for the voluntary sector in local planning and delivery of care and our desire to see funding devolved to local Community Health Partnerships.

The Family Law (Scotland) Bill,introduced on 7 February, includes provisions aimed at giving greater support tochildren and families. However, legislationwill not provide the solution to every problem. This is why, at the same time aswe progress our bill, the Executive will be working with key stakeholders on theproduction of Parenting Agreements to help separating or divorcing couples makesensible and durable arrangements for their children, including contact. Our aimis to help separating couples come to voluntary, amicable agreements about the futurecare and support of their children without having to resort to the courts, unlessthis is absolutely necessary.

We have had discussions with the UK Government about both main parts of the draft bill. We are currently carrying out our own reforms of family law but will monitor the progress of the provisions on contact between children and parents, and implications for the law in Scotland. We are continuing our discussions with the UK Government on the provisions to restrict adoptions from certain countries, and we are considering how similar provisions might be implemented here.

Information on deployment of officers is not held centrally. The Scottish Executive holds statistics on overall police officer numbers, but deployment of officers between community, response and other roles is an operational matter for each chief constable.

The Executive intends to continue funding the eco schools programme with £125,000 per year, for the next three years, from the Education Department and £100,000 per year, for the next three years, through the Environment and Rural Affairs Department. This represents significant funding for a programme that has the potential to make an important contribution to the development of active citizenship and informing young people about the importance of sustainable development.

301 (78%) of secondary, 853 (38%) of primary and 96 (52%) of special schools have broadband connections of 2Mb or more.